Raine

@raine Mslexicon looks absolutely brilliant and I wish you luck with the bursary!

In other news, I spotted an agent I’d really like to snag and I have now (impulsively) booked a place at York. Later in September my nephew is getting married in Edinburgh and I have to book flights for family. I WILL BE BROKE BIG TIME.

Thanks @raine, @daedalus, @janeshuff! Yes, Snakes and Ladders is exactly how it is. We’re only submitting to PRH at the moment; the situation is a bit unusual in that I got a response from them after pitching directly to them, before I’d even signed with my agent (which happened just after, actually). They’ve already given me editorial feedback so…[Read more]

@raine I adore the baby humbugs. Utterly cute. They have escape ladders and platforms attached to trees in the Austrian woods to get away from angry Dad pigs, though.

I don’t think you have any reason to panic, @daedalus. They will be wonderful.

Thanks @raine and @philippaeast. Encouragement and hugs and tea are exactly what I need!

Thanks @philippaeast and @raine …um, yes, the novellas. I don’t really want to talk about them too much until I’ve written them. I haven’t even started yet and am a bit panicked about it. Will add more when I’m a bit more comfortable with how things are going.

Well done, @raine! I’m so proud of you, as i know what a daunting task it felt. AND getting that word count down. RESULT! (How do you think you did it, BTW? There might be a useful lesson for all us us about cutting / reducing)
I know what you mean about how impossible it can seem. I honestly couldn’t see how I was supposed to achieve these edits.…[Read more]

Yay @raine!! Take all the good feels, that’s several fantastic achievements right there 😘 and another yay for @squidge! Cheering for everyone 😊

Sounds really good progress @raine despite all the frustrations. And every cloud has a silver lining 🙂

Thanks @raine 😊 finishing book 2 is my focus. I have to keep some momentum up or that book world will feel cold, if you know what I mean. Also it might affect book 1 edits once I know what happens next!

Nice work, @raine. That really sounds on track, despite the NoMo days (I’m having a NoMo Day today). I hope overall you aren’t finding the trimming too painful

Hah hah @raine, who said anything about secondary characters?! These are my main characters I’m talking about! But hopefully as @athelstone says, it’s about there not being obvious “bugs” in the writing. Yeah the issue I stumbled into was that, psychologically, a particular character arc made sense if certain events happened when her child was…[Read more]

Yes, and the leaves drop early so you’re stuck with them quite a long time @raine 🙁
Agree that contractions are good mantra for a lot of things!

I do it on my kindle, for exactly the reasons you state, @raine . But I like to do it sitting by my computer, so I can make the changes as soon as I spot the need to. Speaking of which, I still stick with a desktop for the actual writing because I like to have a ‘proper’ full-size keyboard. My daughter gave me a rather upmarket keyboard…[Read more]

I like the plan, @raine. Slow (SloMo) and steady. I’m also switching it up – spending a couple of hours mentally revising elements of book one and then an hour or so sketching ideas for book 2. I switch sides of the table in between!

Hi @raine. I feel your pain! Is that comment about trimming one that you have only just received? If so, then it might need a little time to digest. Is it a change that you are, in principle, in accord with? Do you think it’s a case of losing some scenes / a subplot line, or more a case of just tightening everything and trimming words throughout?…[Read more]