Well, I read through Public Domain again, and spotted a couple more boo-boos. I always like to read through proofs a couple of times at least, in case I miss some dreadful howler on the first pass. This is a big task with a 75K manuscript, but not so bad on a 4K short story. There are a handful of thingoids in PD that need dealing with... mainly because I sent a draft of the thing to the editor for a look-see at quite an early stage. Because it's not my usual type of story, I wanted to know if it would be acceptable, and if not, I'd write another... But it was acceptable, and I never went on to work it over any more, when under other circumstances, I might have done. The good news is that it was pretty much okay as it was... there are just a couple of repetitions here and there that I might have spotted on another round of editing. Otherwise, I don't think I would have changed it anyway...
That's about all I've done today so far, except for some pottering around on MySpace. Which is fun, but it scares me too. Not for the timewasting, which is bad enough, but for the fact that I feel it's a dangerous space, wide open for the nefarious activities of spoofers, hackers, crooks, creeps, nutters and general mischief makers. I think one needs to be very wary there, somehow... It's a great promotional opportunity for writers and other kinds of creative types, but it does merit some care and caution...
Well, I still don't know what project I'm going to do next. When Suite Seventeen is turned in, I'm out of contract, and that's a very depressing state of ungrace to be in. My editor has murmured about projects, but so far, not come to me with anything more concrete than that... and I feel that because I'm not proactively pushing stuff at him, he might forget about me and work with other writers who are hungry and eager and full of dynamic ideas. I suppose I must really discuss this with my agent, but in the meantime, I have various bits and pieces to edit inc. a novella and a short story or two, which could do to be polished and put out there. Nobody's going to accept anything that's still festering on my hard drive or in a heap of A4 in my office!!!
In other news, I've just started reading Alison Kent's how-to book The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Erotic Romance. I read a preview of Chapter 20 aka Getting Wild and Kinky and that was totally fabboo, but now I'm going to work my way through the whole book. This book is perfect for me, as I need to understand better how to meld romance and erotica more harmoniously, and raise the volume on the romance side of things to match that on the erotica side of things. It's also v. apt for me because as most people who've read my blog for a while [both here and at the old place] will realise, I am actually a bona fide Complete Idiot! :)
I think there's much to be gleaned from writing how-to books, even if you've been in the game for a while, like I have. There's always something new to be learned, or something that you need reminding of that you've forgotten. Or, and just as important, you can find affirmation in them, in that, you can find yourself going... 'Oh god, yes, I do that...' and you realise you're doing something the right way, or at least in a way that's one of the right ways to do a thing. I think that when I've read Alison's book - which I know is going to be invaluable - I'll dive into Janet Evanovich's book, How I Write. Obviously, I won't be writing romantic crime in the near future... at least I don't think I will... but I expect there to be a lot of great advice of use to writers of all genres amongst the pages.
Ah well... better get on with something, I suppose...
