Wrestling with Words

Most of the comments, edits and changes have been handed back to me for my new contemporary romance, In the Deep End.

I’m now in the highly technical phase of ‘turd polishing’ as it’s officially known in the publishing industry. The BIG question is; How perfect and shiny can I get my second book before it hits the shelves?

It’s Autumn and I set myself an April deadline to get ‘In the Deep End’ published. I can still get there but now in the cold light of early April, I can see there’s going to be a lot more spit ‘n polish required than first anticipated. Ahhhh yes those heady salad days of summer when it all looked perfect. UNTIL, on closer inspection, several chapters needed rewriting, some of the story line had veered off the tracks, taking the plot into hell and back. I’ve also had to cull segments of useless prose and rebuild that abomination into something magical. Sweat mixed with sleepless nights and aching finger tips connected to hunched shoulders. I mean, what am I doing writing this? There’s much more work to do!

Of course, reality dictates that a turd can only be polished so much and I need to release my imaginary written world to the cut and thrust of public opinion. I still face the purgatory influences of wayward typesetting and formatting. A simple example, look back at the top of this article. See that indented dot outside the margin to the left of the first word? Standing their bold and defiant. What the hell? Even here the vagaries of body text and spell checking haunt me.

Anyway, deep slow breathing and grim determination will lead me away from temptation to check social media, go for a walk, pat the dogs or silently dream as the receding summer sun disappears for the new season to take a grip on my April deadline!!! No Pressure … NOT Much!!!