Editing, un-editing, and gooseberry bushes.

I have been extremely quiet on the blogging front - again. I last posted when I finished Camp NanoEdMo, and had a completed edit of the current novel under my belt. That is now with BInk, and I'm waiting to see what they think of it.

Would you believe, as I sent that one off - the second in Tilda's adventures - the first book came back the other way, having been edited by BInk. (Publication is September, so things are starting to move, with cover design and title ideas being thrown around!) I'd already spent some time working on the first book, because it didn't feel as much in Tilda's head as I wanted it to be, so I ended up incorporating some of my most recent changes into the MS as I checked through BInk's edit.

Problem was, a lot of the stuff I added went it, then a lot of it came back out.

Sometimes, I was only playing with the word order. The alterations I'd made added nothing of value to the scene, so I was un-editing myself and reverting back to the original - which most of the time BInk had no issue with. Realising this led to a very interesting discussion with fellow authors over in the Den of Writers, because I started to wonder whether I was making changes for the sake of change, rather than to make an improvement.

Editing's a weird stage in a novel's life, especially when it's an editor that's made suggestions, rather than you being self-critical of what you've produced. I try not to be too sensitive to the suggestions of A.N.Other, but it's hard.

Some issues arise because the US editor works to a slightly differently format to the UK and we end up bouncing back and forth a bit until I understand why certain punctuation has to be a particular way. Some are because I'm not being grammatically correct - and I'll admit, I don't know all the rules so I do break them; I often write how I'd speak, but when written down, that doesn't always work.

Of course there are places where BInk make a suggestion and I can see that there is an improvement needed, but I have to find my own - Squidge - way of saying it. This can be as subtle as a change of word choice, to ending up re-writing whole sections of the novel. And it's never clear which it's going to be until I start.

There are a few places where I dig my heels in and don't want the change that's been suggested. In this particular novel, I often write actions linked to 'began to...'. I think it must be due to how I picture the scene in my head - I see a sequence of actions, so in writing about the action, it begins before it continues or changes. I can accept that's not always appropriate though, and to state more simply that the action happened is better. But not always...

So, having accepted, amended and rejected - mostly the first two! - the edit of that book's back with BInk too.

I felt rather bereft once it had gone. I tried to go back to book 3 - currently being handwritten in a notebook - and got seriously stuck on a plot point.

Perhaps it's a genuine sticking point. Perhaps it's just that I have focused so much recently on editing, I'm not allowing myself to make mistakes and play any more.

So, in an attempt to give myself a breather, I've done some gardening. I've often said I love my garden, but I don't like gardening, so this is a major form of procrastination/need for thinking time if I'm actually weeding. Mr Squidge wanted some more gooseberry bushes, so the two of us set to on a patch of weedy ground we'd not sorted out since the garden room was built; it was covered in borage. Now bees love borage, and it's very pretty - looks like a prickly, large, forget-me-not plant - but boy, does it spread. It's overtaking my garden, and a real beetle to dig up.

Borage, bramble (lovely blackberries so we keep it), and bush!

Lots and lots and lots of borage

But we cleared the space and yesterday, planted two goosegog bushes and some ground cover flowers. Hooray! I also planted up a couple of blueberry bushes in pots...

Planted!

Pots. I do like blue in my garden

Has it worked in terms of giving me headspace and mulling time? I won't know that until I get back to the notebook, but I'm hopeful. At least now, when I'm sitting in the garden room on a sunny day and staring out of the windows looking for inspiration, I'll have the fruit bushes to look at.
 

Baby goosegogs! These will be red, the others yellow-green

 

And teeny tiny blueberries beginning to form...

And even if I struggle a bit more with the latest novel, there'll be gooseberry wine and blueberry gin to look forward to later this year...so at least something good's come of the writing break!

Winner, winner, Chicken dinner!

It's official! I am a winner - apparently.

Here's the update if you don't believe me...

16/4  - 173

17/4 - 0

18/4 - 1315

19/4 - 1219

20/4 - 828

21/4 - 1579

22/4 - 1729

23/4 - 889

24/4 - 1855

25/4 - 1879

Total words at final count - 48025 (Target was increased to 48K from 45K about a week ago)

I realised that the end number of words, when added together, might not match my final total, because some days I went back over short sections of what I'd done the previous day - especially when I was writing rather than editing near to the end. But ultimately, I have completed a first, fairly well edited computer draft, of a 48K fantasy novel. 

I'm not going to say I've finished, because I know I haven't. I need to rest this story for a while, then come back to it with fresh eyes. It's never really finished until it's in print. (If it ever reaches that point).

And I have to say that although I'm pleased, I don't feel like a 'winner'. That implies I've been racing against others to get my project completed, but I don't like to think of myself as being in competition with folks on the writing front. All of us in our Camp NaNo cabin made progress on our projects, so in that sense, we're all winning, even if some of those projects won't be completed by the end of the month.

The best lesson of this whole intense writing camp that I'm taking away is that I have proven to myself that I can be disciplined enough to write a little (sometimes a lot) every day if I need to. That alone is worth the win.

So what's next? Book 3, of course! And finding beta readers for numbers 1 & 2. Any takers?

Batik-y and zingy quilting

Although I've been 'camping' this month, editing my next novel, I am trying to do other things as well.

If you're a regular reader of the Scribbles, you'll know I also knit and stitch - and in recent years I have taken to quilting. In between editing, I've given myself breaks by working on some quilting. I thought as a change from updates of 'number of words I've edited', I'd post a few pics of 'quilting I have done' instead.

My last quilting update was back at the beginning of February; I'd finished two large quilts for myself and Squidgeling T, and was about to embark on a lap quilt in zingy colours AND a large blue batik-y quilt for Squidgeling J. Here's where they're at...

Blue Batik-y quilt:
The top was pieced together a while ago, but as Squidgeling J was in Bristol, I waited for her to come home so we could go to our local fabric shop to find the backing fabric and all the other bits and pieces I needed to start the hand quilting. (We went last week - also bought fabric to border and back a lap quilt of whirly hexes that Squidgeling J's making for herself). We ended up with a beautiful turquoise and deep pink-red batik fabric which draws out the pinks and purples and brighter blues in the quilt top.

Yes, it's the back of the quilt top and just a little bit of the backing fabric

Next step is to join two pieces of the backing fabric, then pin all the layers together before hand quilting. Not sure what pattern to use yet - we've played around with some ideas, but nothing's fixed. And as the weather gets warmer, it'll be too hot to do. Might have to wait until the autumn to get going on it...

Zingy Lap Quilt:
I managed to piece this together fairly quickly over a few days, and had enough cut-offs of wadding to not need to buy any new.

The backing - well, I admit I skimped on this one. I bought polycotton rather than 100% cotton, but I was so taken with the colours (which match the top) I knew I had to use it.

I found seven coloured cottons that matched some of the fabrics, and proceeded to hand quilt by picking up the patterns on the top.

spirals, wavy lines, flowers, crosses, squares...

I realised quite quickly that I didn't like the plain white in between all the coloured squares, so I made extra work for myself by deciding to stitch just inside the borders of all the white rectangles as well, making sure - as far as was possible - that there weren't any two adjacent rectangles stitched in the same colour of cotton.

Guess who likes sitting on it...

All that's left for me to do on this one is piece together the border strips, machine sew them onto the quilt, then catch down on the back by hand.

Probably ought to put down my needle and get back to camp now, though. Haven't edited anything yet today...and that story won't edit itself. Catch you later!

Camp update 4

Well, things have been a bit up-and-down over the past few days. Had another no writing day, a very low word day, then a couple of good days.

12/4/19 - zero.
13/4/19 - 690
14/4/19 - 3460
15/4/19 - 2285

Total to date: 36366 words edited.

Actually, what I've produced over the last couple of days is more like first pass writing, because I'm at a part in the story where I got stuck before. VERY stuck. So it's all written in note form, without formatting; I'm having to do a lot of filling out and formatting as I go.

I also increased the word count I'm aiming for, because my original estimate of 45K for this novel seems a little low. So I increased it to 50K. I may not get that far, but I'd rather be working up to it realistically than looking like I've gone over and above my target if I set it too low at the start.

Onwards and upwards - like my word count.

Camp update No 3

Camp update:

7/4/19 - 3256
8/4/19 - 2754
9/4/19 - 1167
10/4/19 - 0 (Zero. Nada. Nowt)
11/4/19 - 6456

Total words edited to date: 29,931

Yesterday was a busy day, church wise. I DID write, but at NIBS, not on the novel. So it wasn't a word-free day, just a non-novel day.

Today was a good writing day, as plans changed and I didn't get to do what I'd intended to this afternoon (the not so good bit) so I edited instead. I was also working on dialogue, and I can whizz through more of that in a session because there's usually less editing required here than on descriptions or action sections. (I think I must have a knack for dialogue - it comes easily in the first instance. It's all the rest of it that slows me down!)

I'm also very aware that I am getting close to the place I got stuck on for so long (until I wrote something really simple and passed over it for more exciting bits!) I'm fully expecting my pace to slow down noticeably then, as I'll be editing much rawer material.

Probably a good job I've already had a good day today, eh?

Camp NaNoEdMo update 2

So the 'update every day on the blog' thing isn't working... it's working out as every few days instead. But I'm still glad to be doing camp NaNoEdMo, because I've discovered that even an hour a day is enough to get anywhere between 1100 and 2500 words edited.

And it's not proving so hard to find an hour. Today I've done the hour early in the day, because we're cooking dinner for friends tonight and I need to get a lot of tidying and cleaning done before I even start going near the kitchen! More usually, I'm editing in the evening, when everyone else at home is doing their own thing.

Maybe being an almost-disciplined writer isn't completely beyond me...

Here's the update so far:
4/4/19 - 2483
5/4/19 - 1157
6/4/19 - 1902
Grand total edited so far: 16296 words.

My aim is for 45K words by the end of the month. I'm on track. Happy Squidge.

Camp update 1

I forgot to update yesterday... I had a cold and was feeling a bit rubbish, then a quarter of one of my teeth broke off. So I was not in a happy, blogging place.

Instead, I'm giving you a double update today:

2/4/19 - 1365
3/4/19 - 1533

which takes me to a grand total of 10,754 words edited.

Mind you, it's taken me this long - and the assistance of my cabin buddies on camp - to work out exactly where to update my stats on Camp NaNoWriMo. At one point I was minus 9K words!!

Onwards and upwards...