I stopped editing last night, once I convinced myself I’d put in every last detail that niggled at my mind.  I’m still on pins and needles, but nothing jumped out at me this morning, so slowly, I’m allowing myself to relax.

Now, more than ever, I’m a believer in outlining, simply because it saves time.   I wrote Contraband four years ago without an outline.  I’ve edited it too many times to count, and yet there were tiny details that I missed.

Over the years, I’ve thought about adding in bits and pieces, but who has time to write down every thought that comes to mind when they’re on the run?  Still, I breathed a relieved sigh every time I did think of something that had to go in, that I actually remembered to include.

Which brings me back to outlining, and why it works for me.  Time - a commodity I used to have in abundance - has dried up.  Maybe because I now work longer hours and watch too much CSI, NCIS and Law & Order, but the point is, I don’t have as much time to go round as I’d like.

That said, it’s clear as crystal that I must outline my projects properly to avoid wondering about missing pieces and where to go next.  While writing without an outline worked well for me in the past, it’s not working anymore.  Writing as the story comes to me makes me feel disorganized, and I tend to panic when nothing significant shakes loose from my mind after a brainstorming session.

My current project - the standalone sequel to Contraband - has a loose outline, but based on the complexity of the crime committed, I need to put some more into the how and why of it.  I’m gonna be honest and admit the next chapter is stuck because I don’t have a clue what the hero plans to do, especially since he doesn’t yet know his lady love’s been kidnapped.

But I digress.  I’ve listed below the items I’ve been thinking about adding to Contraband over time.  I only got them in at the last minute and that scared me, simply because the book is better with these details.  If I had left them out, a discerning reader would perhaps think I’d done a sloppy job.

Anyhow, here’s the stuff…

Family matters My main character (Paul) is a loner, who only has two male cousins to call family.  By the end of novel, Paul’s girlfriend is pregnant and he tells her with confidence that she’s gonna have twins boys, since they run in his family.

His prediction does become reality, so last night I went back to a conversation he had with his cousin (Vernon) early in the novel.  There, I inserted a howdy do for Vernon’s twin, who’s wife was also pregnant.  Vernon’s remark was that she was huge, and was probably having twins again.  A small detail I know, but it lends credence to Paul’s remark.  If I expect the reader to suspend belief to immerse himself in the story, I must lay the groundwork for that to happen.

Friends, How Many of Us Have Them? In this particular novel, my main characters don’t have a lot of friends.  Paul is self-contained, but he does have people who work for him with whom he’s close.  Now Janine is a different matter. I do mention her co-workers and family, but she doesn’t have friends that I know about. Unnatural right?

Thing is, in all the action that surrounds Paul and eventually extends to her, there isn’t much need for additional window dressing.  This forces me to think about myself.  I can’t point to a close girlfriend that I see all the time, share secrets with, that sort of stuff.  But I do have friends and family that I can call any day and it feels like the six-month-long interval between contact never happened.

Methinks Janine might not be so unnatural after all. Or so I hope.  Point is, I’ve improved on this with my other novels - people need other people.  As it is in life, so should it be in fiction to convey a sense of reality.

Miraculous Healings Before submission, I was careful to insert follow-up sentences to deal with Paul’s gunshot wounds to the stomach.  The agony he felt when he had to drive, sit up, and lie down.

The players in the novel also got knocked around a bit, went to hospital, and had bandages applied.  One day, it occurred to me that the bandages disappeared, but I made no mention of when they did.  Seemingly inconsequential details I agree, but for me, they fit like pieces of a puzzle to complete a picture.

It wasn’t hard to insert these floating bits afterward.  Paul removed a band-aid (and no I didn’t show or tell of him doing that) and I had Janine touch his forehead and ask if he was sure he should have removed it already.  Another small thing, I know, but I have a terrible time leaving the tiny things hanging.

Inserting Key Details Subtly The editor had some problems with the way I’d wrapped up the crime. She didn’t think it was done so as to satisfy her questions.  It became necessary to write in an entire scene and put additional touches on others.

Paul had to provide some contraband, along with money to rescue his woman from the kidnappers.  Based on the kidnapper’s demands, the family did not tell the police of the abduction.  However, information was leaked, and the police turned up at the point of exchange and cornered the criminals.

At the end of the book, Janine asks Paul if he’s sure he won’t be implicated for turning over drugs to the kidnappers.  He assures her that he won’t be connected to the drugs, and reminds himself that it pays to be thorough.  He’d instructed his staff to wear gloves while handling the weed, as well as the boxes, and he too wore gloves.

After that light bulb came on, I went back to the exchange scene and had him resist the urge to pull off the gloves (which I hadn’t yet put on him - yeah, you caught me).  He eventually took them off when he got Janine home to her family.

The information is planted subtly, so the reader probably won’t think about why Paul wears driving gloves that one time.  That’s pretty ordinary stuff.  But at the end, when he’s thinking, it becomes clear that this is how his mind works and why he’s successful at what he does.

When a character takes out a gun, he’s expected to use it. Paul does have a gun, takes it out when he feels threatened, but because of time constraints, he neglects to have target practice.  Eventually, he does have to carry the weapon, but by this time, the novel is winding down so I have him hope that he doesn’t have to use the firearm since he’s neglected to get that refresher course.

I know it’s another small thing, but it does give a sense of continuity and adds realism.  How many times have we intended to learn something new or upgrade our skills and then something happens to remind us that we should have gone and done it before the emergency situation now staring us in the face?  I’m sure you can relate to that.

Am I anal?  Maybe so.  But when I read a story, it’s not the obvious details that make the book a good read. The small things that fit together to form a cohesive whole leaves me satisfied on the last page.

What have I learned from this experiece?  Go back to outlining.  It’s makes novel writing a thousand percent easier for me.

When the publisher told me my manuscript was on the way back to me, I hoped that I wouldn’t have to make many changes.  Luckily, I didn’t.  But what I do have to work at is wrapping up some stuff I thought I was complete.

I hinted at some of the stuff in conversation, thinking those ends were nicely wrapped up; however my publisher thinks otherwise.  The hanging threads need to be sewn up tight, leaving no doubt as to the outcome of two critical situations in the novel.

The facilitator at the workshop  I used to attend always warned the group never to write down to the reader.  Always assume the reader is more intelligent than you are, he used to say.  I’m wondering if I took a good saying too far.  Nonetheless, I’ve learned some good things from this experience.

1.    Don’t gloss over solutions: Better to write in what I consider tiny details that could turn out to be important in terms of leaving the reader satisfied.

2.    Don’t be sloppy: In the story, one of my characters is abducted.  The men who did it got nabbed, but I never mentioned how the accusation was laid against the kidnappers and how the police tied that crime to the heroine’s uncle, except to say that he knew his cohorts would finger him to save themselves.   That’s one of the things I have to fix.

3.    Never stop learning: Like a lot of other writers, I’m learning on the job.  When I went through
the manuscript , I noted that the editor added a lot of comma’s I missed the first time around.

In the interim, I’d done some more editing and put most of the commas in, so that wasn’t a
hardship.  The point is that I’ve improved in my craft, so much so that I got most of the commas
in the right places.  I’m a firm believer in learning something new every day, and I figure as long
as I’m writing, I have tons more that I need to know.

4.    Beware improper document formatting: Somehow, I ended up with a nightmarish situation, wherein I had double spaces in my double spaced manuscript.  The extra spaces refused to go away, no matter what I did.

My writing pals gave wonderful advice, which should have worked, but all to no avail.  I started the document in Word 2003 and eventually transferred it over to Word 2007, so I’m not sure at what point my file might have got corrupted.  After half the day spent deleting spaces one paragraph at a time, I’m not willing to take on that kind of horror again.  I plan to be very, very careful with formatting my manuscripts.

5.    A manuscript is never, ever complete: no matter that at some point, usually after the 50th or so read, the body of work in question feels as if nothing can possibly be out of place.  The editor put in some simple questions, which made me realize that I hadn’t shown how the character felt about a particular situation, or a significant bit of news.

Needless to say, I’ll still feel there’s stuff to edit an I will want to edit the book when I have it in my hand.

6.   Spare some of your ‘had’s and ‘wases’: Unpublished writers tend to be hard on each other for the dreaded ‘was’ and the loose use of ‘had’, but hey, like other writers about to be published, I’ve come to realize that sometimes there’s no getting around them.  I’ve gone to the point where I avoided the use of these two words at the peril of having my sentences sound unnatural.  I’m not advocating going overboard, but if my story is compelling enough and I limit myself, then there’s nothing wrong with making use of ‘had’ and ‘was’.

7.    Relax and enjoy the ride: I’m now ready to admit, I’ll never cross every ‘t’ and dot every ‘i’, but I’ll come as close as I can to submitting the perfect best possible manuscript every time.

If I can remember this stuff for my next manuscript then I’ll be way ahead of this game.  Hope this will help you as you navigate through your work-in-progress.

I’m sure you’ve had one of those days when you really should be… insert the appropriate ending here…instead of idling at the keyboard.

I really should be editing, but I doubt that’s gonna happen tonight. I got my fair share of word juggling done earlier this evening and thought I’d do some more when I got home.  But ‘herself’ refuses to cooperate.  My batteries need re-charging, I think.

Sooo, I’ve answered email and checked out Facebook, plus the other places where I’m supposed to be networking.  I’d be lying if I said I did anything useful though.  Think I’m just tired.

Nonetheless, I’m turning over ideas for the next scene of the novel-in-progress. My heroine was kidnapped, and at chapter’s end, had a gun pointed at her. Now for the life of me, I haven’t figured out what the hero is doing in the following chapter, other than wondering why she disappeared.  Meantime, I’m visualizing how my seductress manages to escape in her follow-up chapter.

I’m one of those writers who almost never writes out of sequence — well, except for love scenes — but anyway, if I get bored waiting for the hero’s material to shake loose, I might just get on with writing the escape chapter next.

I read Corra’s blog today, which reminded me that I have a character blog I’ve been ignoring.  Gotta get on that too, because I have some story material percolating in the background. She suggested I link to it from my blog page. Excellent idea.  Then, I’d remember sometimes that the thing exists.

But for now I have to concentrate on the edits for Contraband. After that, I’m free to swan off in any direction I like…or so I think.

More anon…

I’ve been falling behind on the assignments I have to complete, so I’m writing this post as a reminder to myself that I need to get back on target.  Last week was a crazy one at work.  We had a major function on the property last night.

When I woke this morning, I was ecstatic that it was over.  Stressful is an understatement.  But I guess any major event carries its own set of headaches.  I enjoyed watching Sean Kingston perform and thought the show would have been wrapped up after his stint on stage.  Not so.  It was three o’ clock before the police shut off the sound.  Should I mention the word ecstatic in relation to how I felt when everything went quiet?  Naw.  I’ll restrain myself.

I got the edits from the publisher, which was another challenge.

Some government workers make transacting business downright unpleasant.  Anyway, it would help matters if responsible adults like myself  ensure they have current identification cards to assist with smooth transactions. The lady behind the counter told me my signature on the two ID cards and the one I signed didn’t look the same.

I behaved myself, politely told the post mistress she was withholding a box of paper with no value to anyone but myself, and was eventually rewarded with my manuscript - after my husband came back with identification and signed the postal notice which I had already put my signature on the previous night.  I wondered why I bothered to send him to collect the package in the first place.   To say they closed the door behind me with indecent haste is an understatement, and it wasn’t even closing time yet.

Only in Jamaica.

Thankfully, the edits won’t constitute any major rewrites.

I need to get moving on an article to submit to the paper, which will fulfill my target for January.  If I don’t get it written within a week, I suppose I could cheat and send them a short story that hasn’t yet been published.  That’s getting something out there once per month, right?  We’ll see.

Long story short, focus, focus, focus.

On the hair saga…you know how versatile hair styling has become these days.  Following on my accident with the box of Brown Sable permanent colour, I saw the stylist on Friday.   We had a laugh over my black-as-midnight hair and then she set me up with some tracks that are a nice shade of brown.  I’m breathing sighs of relief and looking lots better for the addition of the colour.

Note to self - Don’t mess about with permanent colour ever again, even if the box shows pretty pictures of brown hair.  The professionals know best!

Have a wonderful week!

I said I’d come back to talk about what I have on the front burner in the writing department for 2010.  I don’t want to burden myself with too many goals, some of which might be impossible to achieve.

*  I definitely must make more writing time.  I’m on deadline for a project and need to pick up the pace there.  I must have that book written by the end of February, so I can do several edits, before I send it on its way.

*  I plan to write an article a month for the local newspaper’s literary pages.  Last year, I was almost on target with this.

*  The sequel to Sweet Music Man/Distractions is begging me to finish it.  I need to make time for that.  This is the least demanding of my projects, so I’m still thinking about what time line to set for completion.  I just know I have to finish this before year end.

*  I shelved the young adult novel I planned to write for NaNo and went with book two above.  I need to start putting some ideas together for this next in the series of three books.  I really wanted to enter this book in the 2010 Jamaica Cultural Development Commission Creating Writing Competition. I might be living in a dream world to think I’ll get this written and edited by July.  Realistically, I might have to sit out the novel segment this year, despite what my extremely competitive self is telling me. I better focus on a short story.

*  The edited version of Contraband is on its way to me.  That has top priority.

*  I need to find me an agent.  The trouble is the lack of time.  Based on my output already — and in a perfect world — I should be writing full-time.  Both my YA novels won awards in the competition mentioned above. I need to edit them and get them to an agent. In these days of vampires, witches and  kids with super-powers, I wonder how well coming-of-age novels will do.

*  I’d also like to find an agent for Sweet Music Man/Distractions, after I’m done editing.  Adultery is a ticklish subject and I’ve found that some people don’t seem able to separate fiction from their personal beliefs long enough to enjoy a story.  Let’s just say I’m putting this on my list of things to do so that I don’t forget it.  If I can see it on a list, I’ll get around to doing it.

On another note — I have to do something about my hair.  Sometimes, I think I have quicksilver in my head.  Got me a great haircut and my hightlights were beautiful.  Then on Friday night I got home and pulled out a box of permanent hair colour I’ve had for a while.  The colour listed was Brown Sable and the hair segment on the box showing the likely results had brown hair.  I ain’t lying.  I applied this stuff — forgetting to separate my highlighted section which is mostly in the front.

On Saturday morning, I woke to a head full of jet black hair.  To put it mildly, I’ve been concerned ever since. What to do now?  Can’t use any more permanent colour for a while, but hair the colour of midnight is just not exciting to look at.  ‘Course, my stylist had a whale of a time with this.  There’s hell to pay for being an impulsive soul.

Sigh.

I’ve never been big on New Year’s  resolutions, but this year, something’s different.  I’ve gone as far as to write down the things I’d like to achieve.  When I go to the trouble of making a list, I try to keep up with the things on that list, and usually I get the job done.  I want more of everything in 2010, starting with:-

Me Time

We women spend our time nurturing others at the expense of what we need.  I want to read more, relax more and do nothing sometimes.  Yes, do nothing. I’m one of those people who multitask all the time.  If I’m at the computer, I’m also watching television or some other thing that doesn’t work well with writing and editing.

Family night is in the bedroom and that’s every night, so there’s that distraction.  I can’t recall the last time I sat down and watched a movie from beginning to end, mostly because I feel it’s a waste of time.  Like I should be getting other stuff done while I’m vegetating in front of the television.  I’m changing that mindset.  I’m also going to visit the salon to get my hands and feet done semi-regularly.  I think I deserve it, and when I look good, I feel great.

My spiritual life needs a LOT of attention, but that’s between God and me.

Family Time

I have a psychic connection to one of my cousins. When we don’t talk for too long our spirits become restless.  Despite the whispers inside…call, call, call, that telephone conversation doesn’t happen until one of us decides to stop and make that call.  My family means a lot to me.  We live far apart, so we love from a distance, but that’s no excuse not to call. Once per month, doesn’t matter when, I’m going to talk to my folks.  I’d be devastated if someone passes suddenly and I had it on my spirit to touch base with that person, and didn’t.  When friends fall away, there’s always family, unless they disown me.

Despite having a bedroom of his own, my son lives in my room.  He’s always trying to get me to play Chinese Checkers, Dominoes, Monopoly, or some card game he doesn’t understand.  He’s eight, and growing fast.  I need to capitalize on this time when he’s free and generous with his attention and love.  All too soon he’ll turn silent and unwilling to communicate.

Health Goals

For too many years I’ve been overweight.   When I say that, people look at me all bug-eyed, but  yes, I do have a bit of excess baggage in the trunk area.  A ten pound loss would make me ecstatic, twenty and I’d be walking and telling every cow ‘howdy’.  I’m gonna work on that.  I’m getting older and the old body’s slowing down.  This business of exercising in fits and starts has to change.

Also, I need some Ginko for my memory and I need more rest.  I’m not remembering stuff.  A case in point is the conversation I had with my son last night within an hour after I got home.

“You brushed your teeth, S.?”
“Yes.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.” (Insert air of impatience here.)
“When?”
“When daddy was downstairs reading the Bible and you were eating ham and vegetables.  D’you remember that at all?”
“Okay, fine.”

Yeah, definitely not recalling stuff.

Trimming the Budget & Cleaning Clutter

Wiser financial decisions are a must. I don’t know how much more I can cut from my budget, but with the new tax measures we’re facing, I must do some more nipping and tucking.  Enough said.

I have so much junk, it’s unbelievable.  Paper is my weakness.  I have more books than I’ll ever read.  Bills, old mail, receipts, articles printed and read…I have to do what I did last year…compile all the articles on writing and get them bound, tear up old bills, get rid of old newspapers, and the scraps of paper, which seem to breed and multiply at the speed of light.

And this clutter extends to my office.  I’m overrun by paper there too.  I clean up when I can’t stand looking at the files anymore.  Good thing is, I have them in those stand up magazine racks.  If I had them in piles, I’d have gone bonkers by now.  But seriously, some of this stuff is gathering dust and there is a school of thought that says if you haven’t moved (insert the name of your clutter here) in a year, then it can be put away or trashed.

I’m not gonna go overboard and take on the pile-up of years in one day.  I plan to sneak up on those buggers. Once each week, I’ll rip what needs ripping, store what needs storing, and free up some space.

I’m finished, you say?  Perish the thought.  I have my writing goals left.  See you in a couple of days, after I fine-tune that list.

Not to worry, it won’t be a long one.

More anon…

Once upon a time, I dreamed I’d be published by a major publishing house.  My book would be snapped up, oodles spent to market it, and I’d watch the money rolling in.  Then, reality hit.  I did eventually get a contract, the books will be published, but that’s where the dream ends.

I research most of the things I plan to spend lots of time doing, before I begin.   So, when I got the email that said to expect the contract, I immediately started reading everything I could find on book contracts.  I sent it to a relative who’s a lawyer.  He passed it to a lawyer who deals with publishing contracts and intellecutal property rights.

When my cousin gave me their combined thoughts on the contract - which luckily coincided with mine -  I signed the document with lots more knowledge under my belt.  I didn’t get all I wanted, but it made sense to me to get my foot in the door. Negotiating bigger things can come when I have something with which to bargain.

After I sent off the contract, I  turned my attention to the business of marketing the book.  My publisher is in America, I live in Jamaica, so the next question was how to get  the books here, into the stores, and sold.

One of my girlfriends is a manager in a book store, so naturally I spoke to her.  She advised me to contact her closer to the time and reminded me that distribution is very important to sales.  I have another bookstore in mind, one of the biggest distributors on the island.  Now my son is a member of their bookclub,  so the people there know me.  Making my approach won’t be easy — I hate being in the limelight — but at least I have an edge.  The next time I’m in the store, I’ll find out how they make their book selections, and whether they’ll carry my book.

I don’t think it will be too difficult to convince them.  I’m banking on the fact that I’m a home-grown author, and the fact that they’ve always given prominence to books written by locals.  They also have shelves for Caribbean authors.  If I have to buy the books myself and sell it to them, then that’s what I’ll do. Anything to get my work in the public eye.

I write short stories and articles that I’ve sold to one of the local papers, so of course, I’ll be contacting the editor to see whether they will print a release when the book comes out.  Naturally, I’ll provide that press release.  I know better than anyone else what the story is about, and it will make that editor’s job easier to have the material sent print ready.

Networking has eaten up a fair portion of my time these last few months.  The fact is that people need to know I exist and that they trust my skills as a writer, before they run out and buy my book.  So making links is laying groundwork for what I’m selling.  This is not to say that every link I make is a calculated move to sell  my book, however, in the back of my mind, I must remember that each connection I make is a possible book sale. Even if my friends don’t buy my books, there are other people who will take a chance if my story sounds intriguing.  Besides people say that word-of-mouth is the best form of advertising.

Which brings me to my website.  I started out with cutesy pages that fit the theme of each of my novels.  Slowly, I’m overhauling each one, so they look  more uniform and professional.  Who’s gonna take me seriously if every single page has a different theme?  Let’s face it, people come to my website to find content, not eye-catching wall paper.  I like an attractive storefront.  Nothing wrong with that, but the focus has to be on what I’m selling.

Based on an article I read on Rachelle Gardner’s Blog, I revamped my home page.  No more boring ‘Welcome to the website of…’ I replaced all that with synopses from my books to be published.  Makes a lot of sense to grab a visitor’s attention right away.  I also have to present a site that looks as though I’m serious about what I’m selling.

I’m learning as I go.  Sometimes I’m overwhelmed by what I have to do - media page yet to be made, press release to be written, book trailer to be made, what give-aways I’m gonna use, more connections to make, what book reviewers to contact, book signing to organize, radio and  press interviews to set up — the list is never-ending.

I’ve been lucky in that I’ve been watching  published authors from the my writing website, and they’ve been very helpful, for which I’m grateful.  Doralynn Kennedy, Karla Brady, Lisa Lipkind Leibow, thanks a million! Corra - another writing friend - has been very proactive in getting people to read her words, and she’s not even ready to publish yet.  You all inspire me.

I’ve come a long way from the dream world  I inhabited months ago. With contracting markets and therefore less money to go around, the reality is that publishers cannot print and market writers’ books alone.   The job is harder for a small publisher trying to make their mark.  Some require that a marketing plan be submitted with query material.

Let’s face it, a book will be as successful as the amount of time and effort the writer puts into capturing the public’s eye and staying there.

What do you plan to do to make your writing journey a success?

Still having techincal problems with Internet Explorer.  Seems there’s no end in sight. Hmmm…

I haven’t read much this year. I have a stack of books that I started reading and didn’t get around to finishing. In that pile is Anatomy of Fear, Cat O’ Nine Tales, Cruisin’, That Faith That Trust That Love, and The Memory Keeper’s Daughter - and the list goes on… And should I mention the list of how-to books that I have in another pile?

I’ve been tossing around the idea of doing something different with my blog, but reading Corra over at From the Desk of a Writer cemented in my mind what I want to do. At the end of each month, I’m going to do a blog post on what I’ve read. I figure posting will help me stay on track and keep up with my reading. I believe that a writer MUST read. No ifs, ands, buts, or maybes. But that’s a subject for another post. The last book I read was Cloth Girl, so I’ll begin with that. Feel free to share your thoughts on my thoughts.

Storyline: The book is set in Africa in the 1930’s and tells the story of Matilda, a fourteen-year-old girl, who gets married to a much older man (Robert Bannerman) soon after he sees her in his family compound. Julie - Robert’s first wife - is affronted by her husband’s marriage to a ‘cloth girl’ and makes Matilda’s life hell. The ‘cloth girl’ reference comes from part of the traditional dress.

Life makes a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn for Matilda, whose family is eager to capitalize on her new fortunes. She eventually meets Audrey, an expatriate, who teaches her English. Audrey hates everything about Africa, grows apart from her husband Alan, and turns into a drunk. Alan and Matilda meet and disastrous consequences follow.

Players: The characters were well-drawn, and likeable, except for Julie and Matilda’s mother, Ama. I suppose their individual situations brought out the worst in both women. I found Julie pretentious and spiteful. When both Ama and Julie passed, I was sympathetic, but not overly saddened.

It was easy to identify with Matilda, a teenager thrust into adulthood, and forced to deal with an uncaring husband, and a jealous rival. She quickly adjusted to her new life and made the best of her situation. I admired her for her desire to improve herself.

Every girl needs a champion, and Patience was spunky and egged Matilda on to take her rightful place as a second wife.

Robert Bannerman struck me as selfish, wrapped up in his own desires, still he wasn’t hateful, more clueless, and I felt for him when he was humiliated in front of his peers.

I liked: The view of Africa, both from the perspective of the locals and the ex-pats. The lifestyle and traditions of the town’s people, which contrasted with their Christianity. Matilda’s maturity made her admirable, along with her willingness to adapt to changes. She made the ultimate sacrifice, which branded her as a woman of character.

I could have lived without: Julie’s discontent with everything, and yet I came to a point where I understood her plight. It’s hard to empathize with someone who’s determined to be unhappy. Sometimes, I was tempted to skim her chapters to get back to Matilda’s story.

The Message: Women tend to make sacrifices at the expense of their own happiness, settling for the status quo, rather than trying to battle the unknown. Riches do not translate to genuine acceptance, particularly in a colonial society.

Overall Comments: This debut novel was long (561 pages), and took me a while to read, but I enjoyed it thoroughly. Matilda’s gradual movement from childhood to womanhood was handled with style and grace, so too the tragedy and turmoil in her life. The setting came to life, which provided a rich backdrop for this well-told story. I look forward to reading The Association of Foreign Spouses, also written by Marilyn Heward Mills.

Rating: For the fact that the book stopped short of un-put-downable, and that the forays into Audrey’s point-of-view became a tad bit irritating, I’m giving Cloth Girl 4.5 hearts.

With a book coming out in April of this year, I should be working on the stand-alone sequel.  Note I said should.  I’ve got six chapters done and put them up for critiques at the workshop where I’m a member. 

In the past, I would have completed twice the amount of chapters in the time I’ve been fiddling with this new story.  I admit that I’m not as focused as I used to be, which I find peculiar.  Before I got a book contract, I worked harder.  I was always on a story, trying to write chapters as quickly as possible to satisfy my readers. 

Thing is, I’m not as focused now.  Partly because I have so many things going on in my head.  I’m thinking about the various things I can do to get my name and book cover out there. I’m also working out how to generate demand, to ensure good sales. 

I can’t deny it, I also like to browse the net.   Not random sites, mind you, just a few places where I hang out daily.  But I’m finally admitting to myself how much time I waste doing that, and this is stuff I do several times per day - mostly when I’m bored or between tasks. 

I started a chapter last night, but then I decided to ‘check on things’ before I got down to writing this morning.  I did an-hour-and-a-half worth of surfing and interacting and I didn’t got a single word written. 
Now, the book in question is scheduled for release in October;  I told myself I’d get it done by the end of February, edited by the end of April and off to the publisher, so they’d have five months with it. Ideally, I wanted them to have it six months in advance.  That’s definitely not possible.

But I know what I need to do to stay on track.  Cram email, Facebook, Twitter, and what not, into two time slots for the day and limit myself to those periods.  I’ll consider rewarding myself with a third slot AFTER I’ve got another ten chapters or so written.  It’s the only way I’m gonna get anything done. 

How do you keep yourself from wandering the net all day long?