The Big Reread Has Commenced #AmWriting #AmRereading #AmCringing

28 Apr 2018 50 Comments

by Ritu in #AmWriting, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Well, some told me to leave it ages, up to three-six months, before rereading my baby. Others said get right on it. By the time you are ready to reread from the start, it will have been a while since you began anyway.

#AmWriting new

Updated this too!

I decided to take the middle road, and it’s been around three weeks.

Yesterday, I took to my printout with pencils and post-its, and read the first few chapters…

Sonu Singh was at the ready to help me along.

And it really struck me, as I read, just how much my writing has come along since I started this project 18 years ago.

Sure the ideas are good (I think) and the characters are forming, but some of the writing!

Wow!

It’s clumsy and repetitive in places.

I didn’t know exactly how much I used the words actually and really in my manuscript, and that was the first three chapters!

But at least I’m looking at it with a more mature head now, and hopefully, I can rectify these issues.

I need to use this reread to find silly errors and plot holes and make copious notes about what needs rewriting… EEK!!!

And even though I’m not remotely at the stage where I will be ready to publish anything, I started wondering what the cover could look like.

#ProcrastiQueen – yes I believe that may be me!

This is what I came up with…

Mock Up cover

The bangles have some significance which you find out as you read the story…

I’ve been looking into the whole self vs. traditional publishing thing too, and researched agents… It’s a bit mad!

I’ve had quotes for editing/formatting too if I was to go down the ‘self’ route, and I have had some wonderful offers from great friends, to help along the way.

Once I do this mammoth reread and first change around, my next step will be beta readers.

I need to know if this is WOW! enough to even go down the agent/traditional route. Or if I get decent feedback, whether to push myself on the self-publishing route. Or if it is truly awful, and needs a lot more work!

This whole writing journey is a long and winding one, and I hope you are enjoying following it with me, Peeps! Your input has been invaluable so far!

In case you didn’t get it before, the prospective blurb is:

Aashi’s life was all set.
Or so she thought.
After finding out her fiancé was not the man she thought, she vows to put him, and her innocence behind her.
Accompanied by her brothers and best friend, she embarks upon an enlightening journey, where memories created and new relationships forged, have far-reaching effects.

I will also need to work on a synopsis too!!

This whole writing journey is a long and winding one, and I hope you are enjoying following it with me, Peeps! Your input has been invaluable so far!

What Happens After You Finish Your First Draft #AmWriting

13 Apr 2018 133 Comments

by Ritu in #AmWriting, My Writing, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

So, you know my BIG news from this week, that WIP is finally a fully formed first draft!

#AmWriting

What is a writer supposed to do once it is all done?

I’ve had many tell me to put it to bed for a little while, before reading it again.

Then, get it out, read it, and start the LOOOOOONG process of editing, and redrafting, getting it beta-read, redrafting, editing, re-reading, more editing… you get the picture…

If it took me 18 years to write the first thing, I may be finally ready to publish in, oh, about 2050! Then it could be classed as historical fiction too!

And all this before thinking of covers and actual publication, and suchlike!

I’m at a loss… Do I think to send it off to traditional publishers or do I go Indie, like I did with my poetry book, Poetic RITUals?

Pah, I’ll think about that after getting some opinions on the manuscript, I think.

Still, the idea of putting it to bed straight away was hard for me.

I wanted a paper copy.

I know many of you said you edit on screen, the paper edit is too tiresome and very paper-heavy… But the feel of that first tome… it just had to be done.

My home printer wouldn’t have coped.  I contacted someone local who does printing, and arranged to pop in on Friday morning to get it all ready for me so I could have my copy to scribble on, and generally cherish.

I had it saved on my cloud, my machine, my hard drive and a USB stick, ready for print-off…

But I couldn’t let it lie, could I?

Oh no!

I thought I’d do a quick (Quick? Who was I kidding, there were 300 pages to go through!) spell-check and edit via the Word editor and Grammarly. I did start off with ProWritingAid, which promises so much, but it kept crashing the programme… Sorry, I am not risking losing all those words!

All was going well, then I realised there were a couple of schoolkid errors, like consistency with how I’d written certain words. And Word has a great Find and Replace tool to change them all…

So I used it with a couple of words – all good!

Then I wanted to change Er to Err… as it appeared to show in one of the editors as the best way to write that procrastination “Err” in speech.

So I did it, and instead of changing what I wanted, it changed EVERY word with the letters er in, to having Err in it instead!

mothErr, fathErr, sistErr, watErr… you get my drift?

And it wouldn’t undo!

I was up until midnight trying to correct as many as I could… after all I had a 9.30am appointment with a printer!

Woke up and was determined to get the niggles ironed out before going.

I even found a great discount on the Grammarly Premium… 50% off!

So excited was I that I went through the whole thing!

And it took me to 12 noon!

Dang!

Well, I got the kids ready (remember, I have little-ish people to look out for too) and we raced into town.

The girl at the shop was expecting me. Her colleague was the one I had spoken to, and she was prepared for the mammoth print and bind job that was due in.

She read my mini blurb as it printed, and mentioned that it was intriguing… I liked that! (I left her with my blogger business card!)

Then we left the precious manuscript with her to be bound, whilst I fed the kids and got my nails done – my treat for myself.

And here it is…

I’ll put it to bed now, honestly… for a little while at least, but I’ve tucked it away with some special bedmates, ready for editing…

Post-its and pencils!
Gotta be done!
When I get to the next stage, I’ll be sure to update you all!
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I’ve Only Gone And Done It! #AmWriting

11 Apr 2018 107 Comments

by Ritu in RiNoWRiMo, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: , , , , , ,

I’ve been at my screen all day today… writing and deleting, and writing again, but, just maybe, I think I might have finished my First Draft!

#AmWriting

My baby WIP, now an adult, having hit 18 years old, has finally come of age officially!

I wrote over 4,000 words… boy am I tired!

The ending has a slight ambiguous twist, but that leaves an opening for a possible novella for a minor character…

Still…

I FINISHED!!!!!!!

So, for those of you who are interested, here is the first version of the possible blurb, for my baby, tentatively named Wedded Stress.

Aashi’s life was all set.
Or so she thought.
After finding out her fiancé was not the man she thought, she vows to put him, and her innocence behind her.
Accompanied by her brothers and best friend, she embarks upon an enlightening journey, where memories created and new relationships forged, have far-reaching effects.

So… are you intrigued?

It’s set in 2000, in the Indian suburbs of Birmingham, UK – Yes Indian, because every city here seems to have a mini India where the Indians seem to congregate!

Spread between Birmingham and India too actually.

It’s a story of a British born Indian girl, Aashi, and her family, as they come to terms with her broken engagement.

There’s love, lust, humour, and a little bit of seriousness too…

Oh man. I can’t believe I did it!

Time to let it lie before rereading and hacking it to pieces!

Starting To Feel Like A Real Writer! #AmWriting

09 Apr 2018 81 Comments

by Ritu in My Writing, RiNoWRiMo, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: , , , , , , ,

We’re back from our little family break.

I vowed that I wouldn’t think about my writing for the few days we were away, and I didn’t… well, not technically!

Yes, I did venture into my reader… yes, I did draft a couple of posts… yes, I did manage to take part in the challenges I like to participate in, a few days later, but I did it.

But I didn’t open my WIP.

I was tempted.

I guess the urge was there, having picked up a real momentum last week, but I didn’t want to rush the end.

Having spent so long getting it to this stage, I didn’t want to mess things up!

#AmWriting

I’ve mentioned this before, but as a blogger, I am truly a pantser! And somewhat the same when writing 80,000-word stories so it would seem!

I tend to write posts about what comes into my mind at that time, and not think too much.

With my story, it was the same. I mean I had a skeleton idea when the WIP was born, eighteen years ago, but that was it.

I managed to write brief character profiles for a couple of the main protagonists as well, around fourteen years ago, but that was it.

Last summer, I stepped totally out of my comfort zone.

I actually planned the whole thing. From start to finish!

 

20170802_215634

I created a storyboard and everything!

 

And that is how I write too. I can’t jump from chapter to chapter, write the middle first, then add a preceding scene before bouncing to the end, then back again.

I need to go from the beginning of where a story starts, and build upon it, to a suitable end.

I am but a mere couple of chapters away from finishing this epic first draft, and I decided to take advantage of a bit of free time today, once we arrived home.

And I wrote.

Just a few hundred words, but it was something quite key to the ending.

Until I had a mental block.

Things weren’t flowing.

So I stopped, intent on starting up again properly, tomorrow.

Then, sitting here, my mind started to turn… how about I move that bit to there, and add this bit here, to make that scene lead into this one…

And then I got it.

That feeling.

Look at me, thinking about storylines and flowing…

Dang, maybe I really am a writer, instead of just a blogger who waffles on!

Onwards and upwards Peeps!

Here’s hoping I can finish this first draft by the end of the week… Now that would really be epic!

All Fired Up! #AmWriting

03 Apr 2018 49 Comments

by Ritu in Fiction, My Writing, RiNoWRiMo, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: , , , , , , ,

Hey! I hope my Peeps are all well out there, not shaped too much like the chocolate eggs you may, or may not, have consumed over the Easter weekend!

I am officially at the start of the Easter break, Hubby Dearest is at work, and the kids are occupying themselves with TV, computers and more TV!

We are off on an impromptu London break again this weekend, so I thought, “why not be a little productive these next few days, before going?”

I loaded up my infamous WIP.

I say infamous as I appear to have guest posted a few times about it… here, at Shaun’s Clockwork Clouds, and here, over at Blonde Write More… and even here at Sue’s Daily Echo!

My plan was to re-read what I had written over the month of August last year. If you remember, I decided to have my own writing month, #RiNoWriMo, and I did a grand job, if I do say so myself, finishing at just over 69,000 words!

But I still hadn’t finished that age-old WIP. It’s so old, it’ll be able to drive soon enough, and drink too!

So, the idea was to read, and refresh my memory, and maybe, just maybe, start thinking about how I could finally finish it.

Well.

I read it. And ended up smiling.

I don’t know how right it is to smile at your own writing. But that’s what I did. I enjoyed reading what I had managed to create in the summer. And that was it, the fever pitch had been reached.

I needed to type!

And now!

So, I made sure the kids and pets were all fed and watered, then hunkered down for some serious writing.

Two hours and 2100 words later, I surfaced!

I read the scene I had written to Lil Princess. My kids have both been really interested in my writing, and though I have had to censor some scenes, they have heard a lot of it.

She sighed at the end. (A good sigh, I mean!) “Mummy, even though I have kinda read it all already, I think I’d really like a copy of this book.”

I know she’s only ten years old, but my first beta reader is happy… and even though there is still a while to go to tie up the ends, and truly finish it, her comments have given me the will to carry on! I guess I have another couple of writing days to use now before going away!

I really #AmWriting!!!!!

#AmWriting

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