The low-down on the down-low

Reader, I confess, I haven't meant to stray away from the blog for so long, or be so 'DL', as it were. Just time gets away with one but I can report that I have not been idle - not I!

Goals have been achieved and it's a good reminder for me to actually write it out here because it's a little perturbing how the brain tricks one into thinking one hasn't achieved anything!

Last I left you reader, I had finished the first draft of 'The Novel'. Since then, I revised it several times before getting an editor to read it so I had fresh eyes as I was beginning to suspect my nearest and dearest were not about to unleash their maximum criticism guns and shoot at me - even though I wanted them to! Getting a professional editor/writer who also writes in your genre to have a looksie is tres invaluable and if you have even the slightest of means, I would recommend it to anyone else. Count it as a investment in yourself and your writing.

How did I fare with the feedback? I honestly welcomed and relished in it, reader. I cringed where valid weaknesses were brought up - not because I was embarrassed in myself but because I knew it was a weakness and was acknowledging it sheepishly. I was keen to then ingest the notes and work on making the ms better. I also tried to keep the first note the editor wrote ('Great idea for a story') in a easy-to-see place as a reminder :)

Anyhow, I'm actually in the trenches of 'querying agents', reader. So again, apologies if updates are a little slim as one is focussed on that goal entirely. But the good news, my posts will now be living up the name of the blog itself, eh, eh?

Breaking the blog hiatus

Hi all. Sorry for MIA blog status of recent months. Last I reported anything of import it was to say that I'd finished my first draft of a novel-in-progress. Well, the good news is that the draft has been through several revisions into a penultimate version and is currently circulating with a few select people to get some initial feedback :D.

In this weird pocket of time in which I'm not writing everyday, I've been trying to fill it with getting brushed up on how to approach agents/publishing world etc. It feels odd not coming home with an intent purpose to write and a manuscript taking shape. So I think I might go ahead and get cracking with the next novel. I have felt rather listless but I also didn't have a huge urge to start tapping away at the keyboard for the next round of writing either - something I was becoming keenly worried about. Was I losing my enthusiasm already? I, who had been enthusiastically working away at a MS for well over 18 months? Would I be able to continue such a spree or was it a one-off? Silly thoughts, of course. I reminded myself I'd been writing pretty much non-stop for 18 months so what if I was not really doing any real writing for a month or so?

But I want that 'month' to be over now. I think not having a project to focus my energies on is detrimental to my wellbeing. Ok, little dramatic but essentially I mean not having a project that is the anchor to my days and weeks, well yes, it casts me adrift, like a planet bereft of orbit. No thank you!

I did make myself goofily happy by purchasing these though:

Also, not sure how much I will update this blog. Currently re-evaluating whether I have something of worth to share and tbh, I kinda wanna do a blog/vlog that focusses on Greek and Roman mythology etc. Will keep you updated on that.

Final note - made plans to take a trip to Crete at the end of the summer, so will be visiting the Palace of Knossos and 'soaking' in the setting of the my novel. Very excited about that!