The Period Of Nothingness

After the amazing achievement of reaching 1,000 views on the blog the other week, I realised that it has been some time since I've posted something up here that is solely book related. Those of you who follow me on Twitter may have picked up on the fact that recently I have been ill in bed with tonsillitis, but more importantly that I'm now currently at University and therefore a great deal of my time is taken up sleep- I mean working. Several of the pieces I've worked on in class have actually ended up on the blog (See Writing Bursts) but little time has been spent writing anything that is vaguely related to the book at all. Why, I hear you ask? Because of a little thing I like the call "The Period Of Nothingness."

So what exactly is this unusually titled entity? I finished the second draft of my book after solidly working on editing it over the summer. Emphasis on the word 'solidly;' literally, I spent my entire holiday in Thailand religiously trying to iron out the many creases of a first draft that by the time I had finished, I was pretty much sick of the sight of Anna, the VW bus and half of the essential plot lines. So I made a conscious decision as I stared at the full printed out manuscript: I wouldn't look at it or even touch it for several months (as many celebrated writers do) simply to give myself a rest from it. I gave the copy to a trusted friend and told her to read. It has been a while since I've seen her or the only physical copy of the book that exists, but my decision to keep it from the front of my mind until she returns it still stands. Obviously, I have days when I think about plotlines and character development, but my eyes haven't glanced at the document for any longer than copying and pasting the first chapter onto the blog since: it has been sat festering away on several memory sticks and computer hard drives since completion.

Don't get me wrong, I may have earlier stated that I haven't been working on the book itself, but I'll reveal to you all now (drum roll please...) that I am in fact in the careful planning stages of two, if not more sequels. Now that I've experienced what it's like to actually have a complete manuscript that I've written myself in front of me, I've realised how bad my planning was for it!! Thankfully with all the Creative Writing lectures too, I've been able to refine the planning technique and actually have some kind of a storyline in my head instead of writing with no deliberate direction this time.

I plan, now that the Christmas holidays have started, to return once more to the book, and possibly attempt to read it myself - forgetting as much as I can that every single word it contains has been written by yours truly. I'm hoping that these past few months away from it can give me a clear head and a clear view of what I'm reading so that mistakes, plot holes and all the other creases can be identified and ironed out. The Twitter account is once more getting closer to that 500 followers milestone and the revelation of the next chapter online, so maybe achieving that could spur on the reading and editing process further (Yes, that was a subtle 'SHARE THIS AND HELP ME TO GAIN MORE TWITTER FOLLOWERS NOW'). Or, to be more polite, keep on checking out what you see on here, and if you're interested, mention it to somebody who you think might also be interested. And of course, contact me if you have any interest in what I write at all: all nice tweets that aren't spam replied to, Facebook wall posts commented back on and especially comments on blog posts themselves!!

Peace. x

A Very Belated Thank You

I know that this post is a little overdue, however I just thought I'd do a short thank you to anyone who has ever shared my blog with someone else, given me a Follow Friday on Twitter or even just had a curious glance at the the kind of stuff I've been posting in the three and a bit months that it has been in existence for. It is all down to you guys that I get the confidence and determination to carry on writing, and I am so incredibly grateful to every single one of those 1,000 views I have now received. So here's to another thousand, and another thousand after that and fingers crossed that maybe one day it won't just be the blog that's getting 1,000+ views, but the book itself. This post is dedicated to all of you, thank you for all of your support and encouragement.

Peace. x