BookWeek Scotland here I come!

 
Hello Thursday!

The days disappear in a haze of writing, editing and child-minding. The usual domestics? Yes. Almost. Remove gardening from the picture, since every day has been rainy and misty- definitely no outside tasks since I'm a fair weather gardener.

The main focus of this week has been tidying up the loose ends of this current version of my manuscript for early teens/ YA. How long does it take for an author to complete a book? My answer is much like many others- as long as it takes to be at a completed stage that I'm happy with but also my editor will be happy with.

The last bits are often the hardest to write. I might think I’ve got a nice ending but too short and the reader feels it's rushed. Too drawn out and it gets boring waiting for those final words.

The first edits to this manuscript indicated I really needed to do a lot of work on the ending, and I have. I’m desperate to do a last re-read before I send it to my beta-reader and editor. 

 http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/book-week-scotland

But first since it is BookWeek Scotland I have a ‘Meet The Author’ talk to do at Inverurie Library tonight at 7pm. Inverurie isn’t my local library but it is in the ‘county town’ only 4 miles away from my home. Local enough.

What have I been tasked to do?

After a general intro, I’ll be relating my pathway to publication in one of those ‘The Whole of Shakespeare in 6o minutes’ jobs and tell my audience what happens after the novel contract is signed. The post - publication promotions. Generally- the hardest bit. I’m hoping for a lot of questions to answer and I’ll give some options for short readings and see what’s preferred.

My talk at the library is only one of many events that are happening all over Scotland during this BookWeek Scotland week.

Slainthe!