After the fun of those interviews I staggered along my own red carpet in my office (the carpet tiles are officially ‘tomato’ colour – I think that counts as red) to review yesterday’s new chapter. Just as I thought: it read like a first draft and needed ripping apart and carefully stitching back together again. What started out as a 600 word scene is now a much more coherent and tense 900 word mini chapter. I still haven’t worked out exactly what the enormous seed I’ve planted in that section will grow into, though. The bath and the sleep didn’t spark the inspiration last night like I was hoping. However, I still have another 80 or so sleeps before my self-imposed deadline for finishing the book is upon me (not to mention two or three scheduled baths as well), and having spent another half day working on it I was satisfied that it was time to keep moving forward and continue my editing skim as far as chapter 6.
Those who don’t want me to reveal the plot should look away now. Still reading? You might as well look away, because I can’t give away the story in this blog. What would be the point in writing the novel? But it’s hard to write about my progress through the drafts without giving a few snippets away, so I’ll give a general overview of what’s happening in the pages I edited today…
Basically, some characters interact with other characters by means of dialogue and actions, creating exciting and interesting results that push the story forward and heighten the mystery and tension.
What, too vague? It’s been a few years since I wrote blurbs for books. Probably lost the knack. But it won’t hurt to reveal that archaeologist Ruby Towers is being taken against her will to meet a dangerous and powerful man with an obsessive interest in ancient Mayan history, whilst her lover, Matt Baker, again fails to get to her on time.
Anyway, no sooner had I recovered from the excitement of this morning’s Hollywood red carpet interviews when awards fever struck again: the Independent Publishers Guild announced its shortlist for this year’s Independent Publishing Awards. This may not attract quite the same level of international hype as the Academy Awards, but it means a lot to those of us in the British publishing industry. And would you believe it, an e-mail arrived at 11am saying that Summersdale has been shortlisted in the category Trade Publisher of the Year. Last year we won E-Publisher of the Year, and it would be great to win the Trade Publisher category this year. The awards take place on Friday 19th March: if we win I hope Carla Romano doesn't interview the MD and then shove him aside when someone more interesting comes along.
The E-Publishing award we won last year would look great with a companion.
