I can't stay and chat. I have work to do! :-)
After what seems like ages (I dare not count), finally, the first draft of my novel 'Dancing with Shadows' is almost complete. Whoo, hoo!!! It's all very exciting as I see it take shape and the loose ends coming together. But, there's still a bit of work to be done, filling in the gaps (small things like characterisation, location descriptions, atmosphere) and fixing timelines, not to mention the research I put off until later. Well, later is now here!
I can't stay and chat. I have work to do! :-)
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My writing is chugging along in fits and starts. My crime novel from Nano 2007 is almost at complete first draft, but I am not quite there yet. A character from my Zambian novel meanwhile decided she needed to be heard, so I have been working furiously (at times) on that one, telling her story. It's quite exciting pouring out words almost faster than I can type!
In between I have been blogging, reworking some of my articles that have been lying around - either unfinished assignments from the writing course I have been doing for the last 3 years (!) or unpublished articles (unsubmitted or rejected). Might as well get them out there! My latest blog is posted here: http://kalemba.wordpress.com/category/life-in-zambia/lusakas-history/ Until next time! Excellent workshop with Martyn Waites at the Guildford Book Festival. He gave some great tips on how to drive a crime story forward. He also outlined a writing exercise which he called 'A crime story in five paragraphs' to help you work through some key elements of a crime story. He was really pleasant and very willing to answer any questions about all aspects of writing and getting published and his own journey into crime writing. Most illuminating! I am not sure whether it was encouraging or discouraging to find out that his first novel took five years to get published. This year I have finally managed to get organised enough to attend the Guildford Book Festival this month. I have booked myself on the crime writing workshop in an effort to gain some insight to help me move my crime novel along. I may even attend other workshops as well. We'll see what happens. I am really looking forward to it. My website is now up and running though still a work in progress. I am surprised at how additive it is and I find myself thinking about the layout and content all the time, thinking what I can change and what I can add to make it more interesting. Never mind just filling up the pages I have created so far. |
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