Just when I think I've seen it all, another one pops into view. Yesterday I was looking at Pinterest hints on packing. Okay, I do think I know it all on that topic, and I don't have any pressing need to review the latest tips, still I like to see what people have to say about packing.
This one particular set of hints had nothing earth-shatteringly new, but I found one sentence or part of a sentence that I just can't get out of my head.
The lady is explaining how she packs differently for just herself or with her husband or with the whole family. Then she says, "I just pack Jason and I's stuff into...." I couldn't get past that. I stopped right there. I's?????? Did me get I's coffee this morning? I's? Really? Seriously? I's?
I can't get it out of my head! I's.
Thursday, July 12, 2018
Tuesday, July 3, 2018
Writing this novel
I thought I'd finished it. But that was almost a year ago. Then, after several non-responses from prospective agents, I decided to get it professionally evaluated. Not edited. I think I can do that myself. With a degree in linguistics and another degree in education, plus nearly forty years experience teaching English, I think I can do my own editing. I'm not perfect. I can make mistakes as easily as the next person. And I know that I'm the worst person to do my own fault-finding when reading my own work. That is why I truly crave a critique group. Some people with similar goals and interests as myself. But an evaluation would be helpful.
Now, my master's degree in education was in curriculum and instruction, and included a lot of work on what curriculum and instruction evaluation looked like. But it seems that none of that applied to this manuscript evaluation. At the very least, I'd hoped the editor I paid to do the job would tell me if the story was worth rewriting or if I should just abandon it. But she said nothing about that.
She was, however, extremely helpful in other ways. She couldn't resist editing, though. Most of which I ignored because I didn't agree with her. Also, she didn't understand one of my main characters--the mother of the protagonist. That character happens to have serious personal flaws. Mainly, she is not a good mother. She doesn't listen to her daughter's concerns. She doesn't always remember to provide for her daughter's needs. She puts her job ahead of her parenting, and so on. That's who she is. That's one of the problems that my protagonist has to deal with. But my editor is a good mother. I can tell by the criticisms she has of "Fiona." So I have to seriously think about each comment she makes about the relationship between Fiona and her daughter in the story. It's most irritating, because I know my characters and how they have to interact.
Back to the helpful bits, though. My editor has a daughter in a wheelchair, and my main character is a teenaged girl in a wheelchair. So, although I've had a son in a wheelchair, and I've had a close friend in a wheelchair, and I've worked in a rehabilitation centre where most of the patients I dealt with were in wheelchairs, there's still a lot I don't know about life in a wheelchair. My editor gave me a lot of advice that was extremely helpful.
So now what? I'm still working on editing and rewriting this novel. I've been at it for about ten months now, and I'm only half way through the rewrites. I'm feeling totally lost, and very discouraged at this moment.
The other problem with this slow progress is that before I sent House of Secrets away for evaluation, I was already halfway through the first draft of the sequel! And I want to write a third novel with these characters to make it a trilogy. If these books are going to take as much time as H of S, then I'll have to live well into my hundreds!!
Now, my master's degree in education was in curriculum and instruction, and included a lot of work on what curriculum and instruction evaluation looked like. But it seems that none of that applied to this manuscript evaluation. At the very least, I'd hoped the editor I paid to do the job would tell me if the story was worth rewriting or if I should just abandon it. But she said nothing about that.
She was, however, extremely helpful in other ways. She couldn't resist editing, though. Most of which I ignored because I didn't agree with her. Also, she didn't understand one of my main characters--the mother of the protagonist. That character happens to have serious personal flaws. Mainly, she is not a good mother. She doesn't listen to her daughter's concerns. She doesn't always remember to provide for her daughter's needs. She puts her job ahead of her parenting, and so on. That's who she is. That's one of the problems that my protagonist has to deal with. But my editor is a good mother. I can tell by the criticisms she has of "Fiona." So I have to seriously think about each comment she makes about the relationship between Fiona and her daughter in the story. It's most irritating, because I know my characters and how they have to interact.
Back to the helpful bits, though. My editor has a daughter in a wheelchair, and my main character is a teenaged girl in a wheelchair. So, although I've had a son in a wheelchair, and I've had a close friend in a wheelchair, and I've worked in a rehabilitation centre where most of the patients I dealt with were in wheelchairs, there's still a lot I don't know about life in a wheelchair. My editor gave me a lot of advice that was extremely helpful.
So now what? I'm still working on editing and rewriting this novel. I've been at it for about ten months now, and I'm only half way through the rewrites. I'm feeling totally lost, and very discouraged at this moment.
The other problem with this slow progress is that before I sent House of Secrets away for evaluation, I was already halfway through the first draft of the sequel! And I want to write a third novel with these characters to make it a trilogy. If these books are going to take as much time as H of S, then I'll have to live well into my hundreds!!
still more about "I'm back"
It's been a few weeks now since I got back from that trip to the UK.
After Dalgellau, we spent a couple of nights in Porthmadog, still in North Wales. I don't remember much about that place. I wasn't keen on the "bed and breakfast" we were in. Nothing wrong with it, but I just wasn't very comfortable there. The name of the place was, if I remember correctly, translated as "The Old Bakehouse" but I can't remember the Welsh name. Breakfast was served in the "restaurant" attached next door--more like a pub that just closed down to give us breakfast before we left for the day.
We had a good trip down to Aberystwyth, which was really funny for me. I was there almost exactly sixteen months before. I stood on the same spot where I had photographed my son and husband in January 2017. And there I was with my daughter on June 3rd or 4th, whichever it was, in 2018. Aberystwyth is a very nice town. It has a beautiful beach--but not really good in January or even June. Kind of chilly in the Irish Sea.
We went to a historic mansion for tea. That's not a drink in the UK, it's more of an institution. Sometimes it's sandwiches and cakes, sometimes it's a full dinner. This time it was mostly cakes. And we had it outdoors, looking at the mansion. The mansion was chosen as a place to visit because some of our group wanted to visit a haunted house, and this one is said to be haunted. No ghosts for us, though.
The next day, we went to a slate museum. I found it very interesting, but the other three females just wandered around and didn't go. Too bad, because the slate museum had a few good ghost stories. Much better than the mansion.
Next day, Catherine and I took the train back to Gatwick airport, which pretends to be in London. We spent a night in a hotel, the Crown Plaza, which I don't recommend. Then, next morning, I flew home while my daughter flew to Scotland to spend a week there.
After Dalgellau, we spent a couple of nights in Porthmadog, still in North Wales. I don't remember much about that place. I wasn't keen on the "bed and breakfast" we were in. Nothing wrong with it, but I just wasn't very comfortable there. The name of the place was, if I remember correctly, translated as "The Old Bakehouse" but I can't remember the Welsh name. Breakfast was served in the "restaurant" attached next door--more like a pub that just closed down to give us breakfast before we left for the day.
We had a good trip down to Aberystwyth, which was really funny for me. I was there almost exactly sixteen months before. I stood on the same spot where I had photographed my son and husband in January 2017. And there I was with my daughter on June 3rd or 4th, whichever it was, in 2018. Aberystwyth is a very nice town. It has a beautiful beach--but not really good in January or even June. Kind of chilly in the Irish Sea.
We went to a historic mansion for tea. That's not a drink in the UK, it's more of an institution. Sometimes it's sandwiches and cakes, sometimes it's a full dinner. This time it was mostly cakes. And we had it outdoors, looking at the mansion. The mansion was chosen as a place to visit because some of our group wanted to visit a haunted house, and this one is said to be haunted. No ghosts for us, though.
The next day, we went to a slate museum. I found it very interesting, but the other three females just wandered around and didn't go. Too bad, because the slate museum had a few good ghost stories. Much better than the mansion.
Next day, Catherine and I took the train back to Gatwick airport, which pretends to be in London. We spent a night in a hotel, the Crown Plaza, which I don't recommend. Then, next morning, I flew home while my daughter flew to Scotland to spend a week there.
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