After passing my million draft words target last Sunday the first action has been to give the Allrighters a few days holiday from writing. It has been quite nice not to have the pressure of writing so many words a day. Like most holidays the intent does not quite turn out like that ... I have had to write e mails and letters of complaint about slow broadband and also a letter to a national daily about a blood boiling report over the weekend. I have always found writing letters to the press a useful exercise in composition and proof that friends and enemies do read the letters pages.
I really need at least six months to clear the house of all the wreckage from the million word writing challenge. The Allrighters have so many bad habits. The deferred repairs, decorating, piles of paper, piles of read, half read and books still to be read and other things left while writing on and on. The problem is inclination - it is far more fun writing than doing housework!
My first priority is to check again that I have all the million words backed up. An old file failed to open a couple of weeks ago. I keep my fingers crossed this was an exception.
The second task is to read and print off everything I have written to annotate what more needs to be done ... filling in gaps in the stories ... self editing and also to cross check inconsistencies in different stories about the same subjects.
The third task is to set out a methodical approach to self editing and then get on with it. I do want to have all my writing self edited by 31st May 2015 ... five years after I started writing.
I will need to go through all those paper cuttings and read all those notes I made ... will I be able to read my handwriting and did I write enough to enable me to grasp that precious thought again? I fear the worst on both counts.
Then the likely diversions:-
I have various small books, as follow ups to Ywnwab! on the stocks. A Winter Story Book, a book on Postcards from Wales, a book for Reading in the Little Room and another about my Sailing Experiences. All will cost much time and money to produce and not sell well.
My first long book - "Look no touch" with its top shelf cover (when I can find someone brave enough to pose in red shoes and little else) is virtually freestanding and 90% complete so I could make a big push to complete and publish.
After deciding once I started writing not to go the traditional publishing route when reading Helen Corner's description of the process in How to Write a Blockbuster I have been wondering whether to at least give the process a try.
Helen also said writing children's books is very hard. So I have made a start and quite like the process having worked out a suitably unusual, care free and mysterious main character Blossom to strike fear into all my potential young readers! Blossam is well linked back into my main books.
No doubt there will be more diversions on the way ...
I ramble on too much as usual.
Douglas of the Allrighters
