It's not all bad

The brilliant Noel the Ultimate Proofreader and I headed off to Lindisfarne, or Holy Island as it's also called. Noel's wife Chris couldn't come, which is just as well as we probably would have had to carry her up some of the dunes. I swear someone's changed the layout. Jeez, it was climb every mountain the closer we got to the beach. I fell, Noel fell; he fell again, I fell again. Even the Vikings would have given up their invasions the way things are now. We were shattered by the time we got to the shore, accompanied by the sound of seals 'laughing' at us from the water. Same to you lads - I bet our fish n chips in Berwick tasted a lot better than your raw fish a la Gollum lol
Still, it was windy enough to blow the cobwebs from my head and I began to feel a bit better about my latest work. And I also needed some space, and a chat with Noel, once I'd rediscovered that my writing heroes (Tolkien/Dickens/Koontz/Banks to name a few) did the same things I did. Or was I doing the same as them??? Well, they came before me, so I guess I must be just a copycat. ;-)
All in all, it was a great day. A step forward mentally, and the company and conversation was great. Positive...

Editing

I'm breaking rules.
I'm breaking POV rules. Breaking 'interest' rules. I'm boring the ass out of everyone because I'm looking at the things from the wrong angle. Sometimes, that is, but that's all it takes. Sometimes is too many times.
You know, I've never sent or presented anyone loose work. I'm not a rough writer. Yet I'm so proud of this new story, I believe I can show any one of my readers an unedited chapter and it will stand up to scrutiny. Totally forgetting it has never worked for me, and never will. No matter how good I think it to be, this story won't be going anywhere in a hurry unless I edit it first. And by 'edit', I mean rewrite. I've always written stuff loose. But then, when I need someone to look at it properly, I give it the works.
The only chapter that has had the works is the first chapter. And it's the only one that works from start to finish. It took a blast from Solvey before I galvanised myself properly to write it the right way. After that, Solvey said it was 'focused'; Noel said it was 'self-contained'; Becca said it was 'uncluttered'. A result!
The rest must be done the same way.
Note to myself: without the need for prompting...

Curious tale of the exploding spud!

Just me being careless; I stuck a couple of large spuds in the oven, totally forgetting to prick them to let the air out. The inevitable happened: one of them exploded when I opened the oven door!
Careless.
Which has also been the case with my writing, lately. Everything has been askew, not gelling, not exciting. As messy as my spuds on opening the oven door.
I haven't been concentrating, lately. I've been wondering why. Hmm, I'm only at my best when writing the real thing, and not the notes. I've come to understand, from the crits I've received from everybody (not least the amazing Solvey) that my notes and structure/plot writing carry little interest beyond the thought that this could be a good story. If only there weren't as many mistakes.
And that's the truth. Unless I'm writing as though my life depends on it, I'm not going to write anything that's gonna affect anyone else's life, either.
Half a thought produces half a story. Half-hearted. Half of nothing much produces nothing.
I'd better shape up, otherwise I'll lose big style... lose everything I've been working on...
To quote Elvis: A whole mess of blues!

Capturing the gloom

I'm probably gong to be in Newcastle for a short while tomorrow. And, while there, I'll visit the place that is the focal point of a good part of the story. The gravestone there is wearing now, a lot more than I feel it should. In the story, it is well looked after. But that is not the case right now. You can barely read the inscriptions on the top, though the side, naturally, is a lot better. One day, I hope, all will be revealed to the world. Until then, we're just dreamers...