The Book, part eleventy billion

Wow, I've been quiet haven't I? Well, it's a mix of playing catch up after Evil Virus, and then spectacularly putting my back out last week. Sleeping on the wooden floor of my house is fun. But, I had a cunning plan. I would drink as much gin as possible during Jane's For Books' Sake Ladyfest Ten fundraiser quiz, in the hope that this would make the pain go away!

No, it didn't work.

But, in the midst of this, I had a chat with Sarah about books and she basically kicked my ass for not doing The Book. Yes, remember that? I talked about it oooooh five billion years ago. It's been a long time since I did anything with The Book. I can see a print-out of it from here (I'm typing under my duvet watching cookery shows). It's hidden under some interiors magazines, which I think says a lot. It's not like I've done bugger all over the last year, but I'm mad at myself for not doing any fiction for months.

My main problem with editing the book is that I can't see it as a whole. It's too big, too much going on and I was scared that if I tampered with one bit, the rest would fall apart. Precious much? Well, yes. I've never edited a book before, and actually, it's a bit scary. But Sarah convinced me that I just needed to work on the first three chapters. So, I did.

And now, after four days of pretty extensive editing (which was rather fun, who knew?), I did something I've never done before. I emailed the pages to other people. Seven people I love, trust and respect have my pages, and at some point over the next week, they'll let me know what they think of the work I've poured a huge part of me into.

It's quite scary. But, I wouldn't have sent them if they weren't ready, and if I wasn't happy with them. The approach of concentrating on three chapters worked well. I didn't have to think about what happened in the rest of the book - just the previous chapter. Much easier (and dare I say it, it's probably because working online has changed my attention span and the way I work). I've enjoyed grabbing little snippets of time throughout the day to work on things. Finishing my online writing early, and getting the afternoon to write fiction feels like a treat. I want to do more. It's fun.

So excited about getting started again, and looking forward to the feedback from everyone. I deliberately asked people for different reasons. Not just because they'll tell me what I want to here (although that was tempting). But I'll still carry on working on it. It's fun. I'd forgotten that writing fiction makes me happy. And writing should always make you happy.

Flickr image from smoorenburg's photostream.