I suppose the big news this month for me is that I have now submitted Safe and, although I’m sure I have many qualities; unfortunately patience isn’t one of them. However, once you’ve pressed the SUBMIT button, the fact remains there is little to do but wait, and so my test begins.
Luckily there is still plenty for me to do as I continue my edits, with invaluable feedback now coming in from all my wonderful readers (ten so far), who have given me their thoughts, suggestions and general feelings about the book. This has been interesting, as some of their views were the complete polar opposite of each other, which made me realise how important it is that you understand why you’re writing the story in the first place, what is its’ purpose from your own point of view, particularly regarding your potential audience. Luckily for me they all managed to pick up a number of general errors with their eagle eyes, most of them spotting something different, which goes to show that no matter how many times you think you’ve got it right, you still miss something.
I will definitely be asking people to read my future work, as I found it to be an extremely useful exercise and it’s always lovely to chat about your story with such great people over coffee, cake and the odd glass or two. I would add that some of my readers were friends of friends, so I wasn’t really sure what they would think of Safe and I didn’t tell them any details in advance, as I wanted to get a wide range of perspectives. However, it’s safe to say they were probably my most nerve-wracking conversations, but again, proved to be extremely helpful discussions that gave me a broader insight into what readers looks for.
So far I’m happy to report that there are no major re-writes needed, although there are a few areas for further development, and the general thoughts are that it’s a page turner with strong characterization, a unique plot, although makes for uncomfortable reading in parts (but that’s as it should be considering the subject matter) and the writing is good…phew!!
Other than that it’s business as usual. I’m happy to report that I managed to drop the Christmas excess, although whether I can keep up with all this healthy living malarkey, remains to be seen, and this afternoon I’m off to a Spa hotel for an afternoon with my lovely colleagues from work (Living Social special deal), where I plan to relax reading someone else’s story – Girl on a Train, who I’m sure at one point, before they got their publishing deal, also found themselves questioning whether patience was indeed one of their virtues.
Detty Tyler Aspiring Author 