What a relief. I managed to do a lot of editing yesterday (Sunday) and I am feeling that relief one gets when moving out from the focus on a piece of creative writing.
Actually I chopped almost 10,000 words out of the story – fairly harsh editing, but not as harsh as I would have liked. It’s just so hard to find any one part that you can completely delete. Anyway I am just working on finishing touches now – some secret codes that go on Chapter Titles and a few names left to do.

It’s strange how a name can cause you so much difficulty – the name of a detective or the name of a hero. I am still struggling over the latter although he is not the main character in the book.

This may be a short post as I can’t really say too much more without revealing too much of the plot. Anyway I am hoping to get it to a small, select group of readers this week so I can get some feedback, which will almost certainly involve some more editing.

The sci-fi story idea is going around and around in my head – quite delightfully actually. There are so many ways of telling the story – just a matter of finding the right one.

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I found myself on the day before New Year’s Eve (New Year’s Eve eve) watching TV and to my amazement saw two of my all time top 3 films showing back to back on ITV2 (could be been ITV3 or 4). Well. I settled down to watch ‘633 Squadron’ and ‘The Wicker Man’ (original version with Christopher Lee, Edward Woodwood and Britt Eckland) with glee. Wrapped up warm on my bed, I could just drift back to my childhood.

But about half way through the first film, I began to wonder why they had both turned up together. Surely too much for coincidence? It must be, I thought, because I conform to a certain demographic. Are there really any other men (or women) out there who really like these two films (my third fave is Gladiator but surely there isn’t anybody else out there who would choose all 3 as his or her top films?)? And if such a demographic exists how come I have never in my life met any of these people?

Also a mystery is why they would choose my demographic on the day before New Year’s day. Since I guess most of us would be baby-boomers, it seems surprising that some scheduler has figured out that most of us will be out on New Year’s day and thus better show us our films the day before. Or perhaps I am just overestimating our importance here. Whereas The Wicker Man used to be shown about 3am on New Year’s day, perhaps now that demographic is ranked lower in importance. Still, its nice to be important enough to be catered for on the day before. A second-ranker is not too bad. Has any body else noticed themselves in such a TV demographic and did it surprise you?

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It’s the day after New Year’s Day
Yes – I was writing yesterday but I found it tough. Actually I intended to just edit, thinking I had finished the writing but then found I had forgotten an important detail in the plot so I had to go back to this. Anyway, every time I was close to getting on the PC something would come up and I just couldn’t get there until late evening. It messed my day up and messed with my head. I often feel that someone or something is trying to stop me. It’s a weird feeling but not unlike the feeling the guy in the book has. I guess that’s why I wrote it. Nevertheless, I wish I didn’t have to go through these trials. I did complete the main story and now I am back on editing. I am making good progress so I hope that I won’t have that feeling any more.
I have a sci-fi idea for my next book – at least an idea which I think would best be presented in a sci-fi format, and I am optimistic that this will be easier to write. I need a break from the intensity of writing this last book.
In editing it I am cutting out large chunks which do not work but it is a pleasure to read again the bits that do work. I will soon be looking for reviewers of the book (in draft form) so if you are interested, get in touch.

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