I tend to write at a breakneck pace, 10,000 words a day isn't out of the question. Inevitably, I make a lot of mistakes when charging along and this leads to many proof reading passes, alterations, expansions and changes. Then everything has to be proofed again.
I'm still very new to this and I've got to define and develop my own strategies as I migrate from journals and memoirs to fiction. Talking to a friend, more qualified that I'll ever be, I decided that I would be sensible to take a break from the endless rounds of re-reads and then come back to the manuscript with a fresher eye.
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| Out of My Shell Cover Proof |
The solution? Start a second novel and work on that one for a while. Once at a similar stage of near-completion, switch back to the first novel and take a fresh look. I might even feel the need to start a third one, as my head is full of possibilities.
I'm still finding it hard to make the plot dramatic enough, or at least I think so, but I like a gentle slice-of-life story and it doesn't worry me too much. Not everybody needs drama and crisis in a book. The thread that binds the two novels together so far is my subconscious need to make them deeply, sensually, graphically erotic.
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| Hard-wired for Love Cover Proof |
So, two very different potential novels in different stages of the process are keeping me busy when work takes a break. As you can also see, I take the time to work on the covers, finalize the layout and begin to navigate the intricacies of Kindle Direct Publishing. I'm sticking with Lulu for the printing and paper publishing, at least for the short term, but I'm happy to get Kindle eBook stuff sorted direct with Amazon.
