I'm deep in the editing forest. Or should I say one of my characters is lost, deep in the forest and I'm on the journey with her, feeling her fear as she stumbles around, lost in forest.
As alien landscapes go, this forest looked mighty alien to me. I hate that there is no grass under these trees, and that as far as the eye can see you are surrounded by these ghostly gums. Getting disoriented is only a matter of time... I'm a regular blood donor, and this week is National Blood Donor Week. Today was my 66th donation and so I'm almost to 2/3 of my goal of 100 donations in my life time. Where else do you get a medical check, the ability to lie down for an hour and read a book ( The Diabolical Miss Hyde by Viola Carr ), then be fed.
The blood service is also correct in that the Chocolate Chunk Cookie by the Byron Bay Cookie Company is the Best. Biscuit. Ever. And they are only available at the donor centres. Rather than sharing a photo of me in the chair, needles or any blood, I thought I'd share a photo from this morning. I walked across Southbank Parklands to the city and for a second, had the bougainvillaea covered arbour all to myself. It was magic. Hey everyone
I finally bit the bullet and started an Instagram page . Head on over and follow me if you want pictures of nature, black dogs and the occasional family member. Disappointment is the gap that occurs when reality doesn't meet your expectations. Recently we went to the mountains - we wanted cold weather, we wanted to sit around a roaring fire drinking hot chocolate. First up we did our prep work and we had our ducks (firewood) all in a row. The hot chocolate and marshmallows were on standby. Our manuscripts and red pens were ready to go. Everyone had a picture in their mind how it would be. (Here's mine above) Then... this happened. We went to load the timber into the fireplace, and look what we found.(Scroll back up and you will see the note in behind the glass.)
Nooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It reminded me of the submission process for manuscripts - and no-one explains this well to beginner writers. You can do the work, you can do your homework about what lines the publisher is interested in, you can write the best book you can write, and when you submit, it isn't what the publisher is looking for. Or what that person, at that publisher, on that day is looking for, to quote my favourite editor of all time. It doesn't make it a bad book. It just means it isn't the book for them. It's ok to be disappointed, so long as you get back up, review that manuscript and send it out to someone else. Of course, our disappointment over the fireplace was short lived. It wasn't that cold, I had a sensational hand-knit scarf keeping my neck warm and we still had hot chocolate. However we're hopeful the repairs will be done by the next time we visit. |
Fiona Greene AuthorWhen you set out on a journey and night falls, that's when you will discover the stars." Archives
November 2022
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