I forgot that I participated in a survey for St. Martin's Reading Group Gold after I volunteered at Book Group Expo back in October. The survey mentioned a complimentary book, but somehow that escaped my memory, so it came as an unexpected surprise when a package arrived in the mail today bearing a free book. Huzzah! That is always a good thing. I hadn't heard of the book, Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah
In other unexpected news...
I noticed today that the pages weren't numbered in the last two chapters I worked on. When I inserted them, I discovered I'm on page 298. (OMG!) Tomorrow I will breach 300 manuscript pages, and I still have three chapters to read through. Oh dear. I fear I'm going to have to cut at least 50 pages from the manuscript when I finish this draft, although given some of the drivel I've been reading, that may not be too hard. I may cut half that number in adverbs alone!
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Unexpected
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7 comments:
Oh how lovely to receive a surprise book. I love reading books set in places I know. A strong sense of place is important to me.
Wow to your pages! Cutting is easier than trying to find another 30 pages, though.
Well done.
I agree with JJ. How uplifiting to be surprised by a book in January. And, yes, however painful, cutting words is easier than adding them.
xxx
I long to find myself with too many words. My 1st drafts always seem to be full of short cuts and episodes that need "unpacking." I know as I approach the end of the 1st draft of my new novel, I'm tearing my hair out saying "where they hell will I find another 10,000 words to put in?" It's interesting, though, how differently we all go about this thing.
I've heard good things about that book you'll have to tell us what you think.
Well done on the writing, ah to get to the point where I need to cut stuff, seems along way away :) Good Luck with it.
I always find cutting words difficult; whole chapters go at the click of the 'delete' button, but I agonise over individual words!
Great news on both fronts! It's great to have extra words to cut, my edit was a bloodbath!
JJ, I love stories with a strong sense of place too, and I don't very often find books set in the NW.
I know. Apparently I'm wordy. Who knew? ;) I have big plans for cutting.
Hullaballoo, it was the best surprise! It should be easier, I just have to be in the mood to be ruthless!
SueG, that's interesting. I bet you have a lot less fluff in your first draft though! I have extra words if you would like to borrow some? :)
m&t, good news. I'll report back once I've read it.
I remember that feeling. Now I'm wishing I hadn't given myself permission to write quite so much crap!
The Dotterel, that's funny. It really depends on my mood. Some days I slash through paragraphs gleefully with my red pen, other days I agonize over every word too.
Yvonne, it sounds like I need to follow your example in this next stage! Thankfully it is easier to face cutting than to find I'm coming up short.
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