Raven's View

Another ROW80 done, but no rest for me. We start the next one April 1st anyway, so it's not as if I'm missing a big break. So - just keep chugging along.

I guess that's the point of this, isn't it. We use schedules and commitments, clear goals/objectives, and peer pressure - all to develop good writing habits. I've been editing steadily all week, since - as mentioned - I HAVE A PUBLISHER. My target date to get this done is April 5th. It's doable, especially if I stay off Facebook and out of my local pub - although, I have been pretty good even in the pub. They have free wi-fi, friendly service, cheap beer, good food, quiet corners to work in, and - for a break - plenty of local colour to observe and chat with. 

Status update - have been editing. Courses finished, books returned to library, Fecebook being ignored (sort of). 

Back at the beginning of this Round I listed that one of my long term goals is to become a successful (income earning) author.

As part of that I had an objective to edit my first novel for an hour a day. I sort of did, off and on. Last November I'd shown a synopsis of all three novels to a small local publisher - he expressed interest in two of them and asked me to send them to him when I was done editing. He reminded me a few times, and each time I'd put on a brief 2 day push.

Last weekend he contacted me again, so I decided to get serious about this. I set a target for both to be edited by Friday - not publish ready, but clean enough to evaluate. I met that target, he read them, liked them, and set up a meeting for today. He had a number of changes to suggest - all good - and now I have 2 weeks to re-do the first one for him. Then it will be Beta readers, copy editing, a cover, jacket text, and hopefully up as an eBook on Amazon etc by June. Depending how it goes - maybe printed copies after that. 

Status

• Editing - see above - completed editing my first two novels
• Writing - book review for sci-fi club
• Other - Read book for my club - The Quantum Thief. Caught up on some videos for Aboriginal course - last week

Big push this week on editing, especially this afternoon and evening. I finally finished the first edit of my first novel. I had to do a number of structural changes, plus assess all the additions and deletions I'd pencilled onto the printed copy. Then I had to type it all back in of course. Have created a PDF version now, ready for a select few to review. Next I'll do a quick review of my second novel, a continuation of the same story. Will be basically a sanity check before sending out for a high level assessment. I am happier with the way it turned out, compared to the first one. Could be the topic, or my increased writing skill, or the stronger structure I built it around. 

We've had a lot of snow, so it's been good weather to stay in and work by my kitchen window. Grandkids all have colds too, so good time to NOT spend an afternoon with them. Pushing for Friday afternoon for all this editing - reward will be off to the pub to chat with some journalist friends.

This week's challenge from Flash Fiction Friday was to write about a Doppelganger.

 We all like to think we are unique, but how many times has someone said to you “You remind me of…” or “You look just like…”? With more and more humans on the planet, it does become increasingly probable that out there is someone who is nothing short of your exact duplicate (even if you aren’t an identical twin). In fiction and folklore, this notion takes on many forms, such as stories of mistaken identity, evil twins, clones, body doubles, shapeshifting aliens or demons, surgically altered spies, and paranormal doppelgangers.

Let’s come up with our own take on the concept, shall we?

Prompt: Write a story in which your protagonist encounters some sort of double or doppelganger.
Genre: Any
Word limit: 1,200 words
Deadline: Wednesday, March 20 at 9:00 p.m. ET

I did another Portal story, just to play with this concept more. It went over the limit,  at 1340 words, but I
was having too much fun.