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Tuesday 3 April 2012

Evening all,
                      Great night at The Writers Group. My treat, away from my own work, to appreciate the work of other, very talented, writers.

I have been working flat out editing this week. Does anybody else get up at five thirty and think 'on to chapter twelve?' And for why? I shall enlighten you.

I give this as a warning;- For the FIRST TIME I printed the whole novel, and I read it in hard copy!!!
I know, first time - I can hear your gasps of disbelief from here!!!

Usually I edit on screen and end up bug-eyed. However, after sending the finished (ha!) mss to my editor I decided to print it and read it at a leisurely pace - Whaaaa!

For some reason - and don't ask me what happened because I don't know, I found, somewhere in the middle, half a chapter that didn't live in the midst of the story. It should have been bimbling around in the first third! I also saw other things my eye might have missed onscreen. The work looks so different on the page, I think.Bearing in mind I had read this story a centrillion times on screen when all seemed fine.

So, I set to fixing it - after e-mailing my editor to beg she didn't read it yet! She told me she was working on something else but she wanted it next week - No probs, I said. Anne if you read this I meant it!!!
(I know there are a lot of exclamation marks - but they're important here!!!!

Now, for the purpose of this blog I will  (unaccustomed as I am) pass on a piece of advice, and if I never advise anybody ever again, take heed -

Print your work and (hold on to your hats here come another gasp of exclamation marks)  read it OUT LOUD!!! It works. It is necessary. And it's what makes us writers!

TTFN ;-)