I mostly procrastinated yesterday…did a bit of tidying, played around on the internet, talked on the phone for an hour and a half with Kathy, walked into town to buy a birthday present for Biddy and ended up trying on maternity jeans instead (I had no success, but did find a top and some leggings), then had to lie down for an hour because I was so tired and sore from walking up and down the hill and around the shops. Pregnancy really does for your feet.
I did call my agent. I’d sent her the synopsis for Close Encounters (that’s the erotic science fiction romantic comedy I wrote with Kathy), and she thought it was hilarious. Both of my editors have heard about the book now, and both of them think it is very funny, but unfortunately there isn’t much of a market for funny erotica in this country, so I guess we’ll be concentrating on submitting it in the US. The market is definitely different there, and we’ve had requests from three publishers (two big print houses and one e-pub) so we’ll see how it goes.
I picked up a copy of Alison Baverstock’s Is There A Book In You?. I was one of the many authors who Alison sent a questionnaire to when she was preparing this book, so I was thrilled to see myself quoted talking about writing along with such authors as Katie Fforde, Phillip Pullman, and Stephen King. (I’m not worthy, but I’ll take the association however I can get it!)
It looks like a very good book, though I haven’t read it through yet–full of little nuggets of information, advice, and experience. It’s the second general “how-to” writing book I’ve bought recently, because my friends Lee Weatherly and Helen Corner, of Cornerstones Literary Consultancy, have written a book called How To Write a Blockbuster. The books are different–the Blockbuster book is more about clearly explaining technical aspects such as structure, genre, characterisation, and submission, and Book in You is more about discovering how you, personally, fit into the world of writing and publishing. I think they compliment each other quite well and I think they’ll both be very useful for reference and enjoyment.
I also wrote 1300 words, which is over my minimum, though not quite as much as I wanted to. I couldn’t figure out my hero’s motivation. I’m having a little trouble balancing the conflict for this book, possibly because my attention span is about ten minutes long. This morning I got up and wrote nearly 900 words of just musing about what the hell my hero thinks he’s doing dragging the heroine hundreds of miles to see his mother. I’m still not entirely sure it’s correct, but I’ve got enough to work with now, and maybe I can change in the edits. It’s not bad enough so that I think it sucks. Yet.
Doesn’t sound like you wasted time, sounds like you did a bunch of stuff! So don’t beat yourself up. And take care of yourself cos that pregnancy stuff is exhausting.