Whats wrong?

With Blogger that is. At first I thought it was just me that was having a problem commenting on certain blogs (even my own) but then I have read that others are having similar problems. Did I miss something when I was away from Blogland?

Working out where to start

So, I have read everything that I have for NMBK and I must say that i was a little surprised where I had left it but there you go - thats life. Like I think I mentioned before, it does very much read like a first draft but that's probably because that's what it is so I'm not too worried about that. My problem - not that it is one really is how to start again. How do I write the next sentence? How do I get the ball rolling again? But hang on a minute, didn't I just say that it is a first draft so whatever I write next will not be written in stone and can be changed so what does it matter what I write next as long as I get things moving again. I think I will start with "Michelle gave up the effort of trying to sleep." That'll work I think and if it doesn't that's what the delete button is for.
Thanks for listening.

First drafts and short memories.

After enjoying 2 days off its back to the salt mines this morning (ya boo hiss and all that) but before I go up the mountain I thought I'd read more of NMBK as part of the getting to know you again stage. As a first draft it is okay but there is a lot of polishing to do before it ever sees the light of day. Having said that the premise is good (I believe) and the emotion is there but the writing just needs to be tighter. Its full steam ahead though with the reading. I'm changing nothing and I'm going to get the whole of the first draft down before I go back and start tweaking.
Talking of work, some of you will remember that I was made redundant in March but was lucky enough to find another job in the same field but with a different charity. It surprises me to realise that sometimes its hard to remember that I ever worked for another charity or on another location. I am so pleased with the way my brain has just adjusted to my new situation. Maybe this was how I got over being dumped by whatever that very tall lad was called that I used to go out with when I was a teenager (sorry can't remember your name if you're reading this which is possible if HIGHLY unlikely). Sometimes having a short memory span comes in very handy.
Mountain here I come.

Aaarrgghhh

I'm off to the hairdressers shortly for a couple of hours pampering but I thought that I read a bit more of NMBK before I went. While I was reading chapter 3 I had a ? moment followed by an aaarrrgghhh one when i realised that T's dad has a different name from the one he has later on. I thought that I'd changed all of them when I decided change his name (after about 10k words) but clearly not. Of well, changed now so all's right with the world again.
So shopping and hairdressers here I come. This is the first of two days together that I've managed to wrangle off from the day job in the world of charity retail and I aim to enjoy them.
TTFN

Full steam ahead

Well not quite full steam but certainly steamier than it was. No, not in that sense. I just mean that it is moving again.
What is? I hear you cry.
NMBK - that's what. You remember - novel number 2.
Its been on the back burner for a few months while I anguished over what to do with BTL (so far unpublished first novel but will be one day) but now that that's sorted in my head at least I can go back to NMBK which is currently around 25k words. Also as some of you know I struggle sometimes with fitting everything in but I have at last come up with a way of
a)working on the non fiction which while not my day job does help to pay the bills and makes me work to deadlines
and
b) having time to work on my novel on a regular basis.
So everyone is happy - well me at least.
Fiction is my first love, though I still don't have my mojo for writing short stories back yet. I do however love working on my novel - you know on this world that lives in my head.
There is a lot of conflict in the world in my head though so I am currently reading through what I have already written to get back into the heads of the people that live there and remember how they were feeling when I left off. As I recall, T was angry, M was scared and R was just the arrogant so and so he's always been.

Hurry up Smudge

I know that I should be working on the assignment that I need to finish but its one of those days when something else is on my mind. I had a call from a friend earlier saying that their cat (Smudge) had gotten out through an open window and, as it is a house cat they were naturally worried. I had hoped to have heard by now that it had turned up but no such luck. I know how much this cat means to my friend and no matter how much I try and concentrate on the job in hand I just keep thinking about the cat. I'm sort of clinging to the hope that she has turned up but my friend has just not called on account of it being late. Hopefully I will get a call in the morning. She'd better turn up soon because I only have 2 days before this has to be on the editors desk.

Final decision

What a job I had logging on? Talk about going around the houses - which we won't so I'll leave it there.
However, I did have something to say so I went around those houses I wasn't going to talk about and here I am.
I have made a final - yes I repeat FINAL decision about G - that is to say George, for that is his name.
Remember how I have always said that I love George and how I didn't want to get rid of him even though others had suggested that I should? Well you know that I already decided not to but I was going to try and give hime a back seat. Well not any more!!
I love George and he is what make BTL the book that it is which is a book that I love. I have read it several times and while its not Dickens or Shakespeare I enjoyed it. And it is only the way it is because of George and his relationship with E (not ready to reveal their name yet)
And how did I come to this decision? I read it again.
I decided this morning and I'm not sure why to read BTL in its original form. The one where George appears half way through chapter one as a voice rather than the rejigged version where he is the character in the retro clothing at the end of chapter two, and do you know what? I smiled . And despite what I might have been trying to convince myself of over the last few months E felt better for having him there right from the start. Sorry if I'm talking as if they are real people but they are real in my head.
What made the decision for me though was when, at the end of chapter 2, he utters the immortal words "Yes Love, I'm afraid you are."
So now its time to be honest about most of what I said here over the last months regarding the rijig making my MC a stronger character. I was trying to convince myself that I was doing the right thing and I now know that I wasn't.
A writer of dozens of books (who I will not name because its a personal relationship and they haven't given their permission) told me a few months ago, after reading both the original and the rejigged version told me to stick with the original and I should have listened to her. She said that George made it interesting.
So that's it - the rejig is over - the original stays.
Now, as my writer friend told me, I just have to find someone who loves it as much as she I do.
Can't tell you how much better I feel now.