Goodbye Vietnam – hello lovely dirty London

November 16, 2009 at 11:04 am (Uncategorized)

This post will probably make even less sense than usual. I’ve been traveling since 6.30am, have been in Hong Kong airport for five hours and have another seven (yup, seven) hours to go before getting on another plane. That’s right peeps I’m headed home to the Big Smoke.
How do I feel about the end of my adventure in sunny Vietnam and arty Auckland? Pretty good actually. No one had to pries my fingers from the doorframe this morning and I haven’t cried.

The truth is it’s been amazing but I came to something and I did it. I have a fifth draft novel (and a lot of  possibly ill-chosen souvenirs) in my possession and I feel fucking* good.

And this isn’t the end, not really. Next week I move into my houseboat and the week after that I send my novel to an agent. So it is just the beginning of a new sort of adventure  - though admittedly the weather won’t be as nice and I will have to go back to work during this one!

I take back with me incredible memories, the dodgy souvenirs and a belly full of sticky rice that a Vietnamese woman gave on me on the bus the morning from her and her son’s portions. Now I am off to grab myself a bucket of latte, eat a few Oreo’s and delve into the edit…thank goodness airports are strangely brilliant writing spots.
See you back in Blighty and Gawd Save the Queen.

*First blog swear it’s all downhill from here…

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Read alouds, perspective and British Council Brulee

November 13, 2009 at 10:49 am (Uncategorized)
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I finished the read aloud draft the day before yesterday. Though I found it embarrassing and (of course!) it took longer than I anticipated as far as I’m concerned this is the King (Queen?) of drafts. It was so incredibly helpful for me in checking the rhythm of the language, for spotting awkward turns of phrase and omitted/duplicated words and phrases.
Read aloud draft = Mortifying but brilliant me thinks.
On the last day of my read aloud one of my Alpha Readers sent through a lovely email saying she had reread the novel for the second time in its entirety (the first time she was receiving it in instalments) in just four days and she thought I had written something touching and compelling. It won’t surprise you to hear that this person loves me and my writing and that is the reason she got the potentially ego shattering position in the first place but she is also super intelligent and no-nonsense and because of this she also attached two very detailed pages of notes.
Alpha Reader Ego Stroke + Helpful and Accurate Critique = Very happy writer.
The last few days I have been cycling up to the British Council Library where they have wifi, a clean quiet library space and a onsite cafe.
Hours of editing + creme brulee and iced coffee – the usual noise and bustle of Hanoi = Lots of work done and a very satisfied tummy.
I’m getting there, I can see the novel more clearly with each draft (I’m on number five for those of you have lots count) sometimes I get sick of the sight of the bloody thing and then I get on my clanky bike and go for a big ride around the city chased by children shouting, ‘Hello, hello, hello!’ And then I remember it is a big world out there and gain enough perspective to return to the keyboard!
Perspective + Hard Graft Gene = At least two more drafts in me before insanity beckons!

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Dead pigs, rice whiskey and (finally!) a breakthrough

November 6, 2009 at 8:37 am (Uncategorized)

Finally a break through. After months of what feels like the minutest changes and three drafts with no real effect on the novel I started working down my task list and realised that the ‘weak scenes’ that I’d ear-marked for some rough treatment to increase the tension and the sorting of rubbish chapter openings’ had taken care of themselves.
There I thought I was just deleting the crap and changing a word here or there and without knowing it I have the novel vastly already.
So with all my free time I’ve been checking out Hanoi with the local ex-pat crowd. I had a hedonistic halloween, have been eating lots of street food washed down with Hanoi beer and spent last nigh in a random part of town drinking shots of rice whiskey with a bunch of french people.
Let me tell you that a rice whiskey hangover is not a pretty thing. It is especially unpretty when you have to cycle behind a motorcycle with a freshly slaughtered pig over the handles. In case you are wondering what a freshly slaughtered pig looks like it looks quite human, with white soft skin, limp, staring head and blood trailing from it’s slit throat – in other words horrific.
Tonight we are off to the Asian Indoor Games Kabbadi finals. Kabbidi is a bit like british bulldog but with breath holding to boot. Apparently skills needed are those of ‘breathe holding’ and ‘penetration.’ Very excited for the stadium snacks and Bia Hoi (fresh keg beer) but not too much Bia Hoi as tomorrow is the beginning of the mortifying ‘read aloud draft.’ Arg!

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Hanoi, Bun Cha and the completing the third draft

October 28, 2009 at 6:30 am (Uncategorized)
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I am back in the heat and bustle of Hanoi in Vietnam. I’ve been here almost exactly a week and have been mostly:

Completing the third draft -paper edit to screen. I haven’t blogged about it because I mainly found it tiring and frustrating. I finished yesterday and so am moving onto much smaller and more gratifying manuscript fixes first up character motivations, sorting out the eccentric chapter breaks and getting to do some new writing in the form of some added scenes.

Moving into my room in an *amazing* apartment by the Truc Bach lake. There are floor to ceiling windows so no matter where I am in the house I can gaze out at the lake (except the bathroom, obviously we don’t have floor to ceiling windows there – that would be wrong.)

Eating rice cracker mix and drinking gallons of Diet Coke when I’m at the screen and mountains of Bun Cha and ice-cream (Kem) when I’m not and then cycling on my rickety, 1940’s green bike around town to avoid writers arse but getting a sore arse for my troubles – old bicycle + cobble stones = sitting on a cushion when I write.

Thinking about being back in London in just over two weeks and veering between excitement and horror and at the same time as contemplating winter coats in 29C weather and researching what I’ll actually need to ‘do’ once I live on a boat.

Thankfully, when it all gets too much though I just curl up here with some plum tea :

chair

and....relax

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Call yourself a writer?

October 19, 2009 at 6:26 am (Uncategorized)
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Do you call yourself a writer? When you meet someone for the first time and they ask the inevitable (inevitable in London anyway) question, ‘What do you do?’ do you tell them you’re a writer or tell them about your day job?

Back in London this was a no-brainer and my standard answer was, ‘I manage events for a charity’ and, depending on who I was speaking to, ‘but I write in my spare time.’  Here New Zealand or in Vietnam it isn’t so simple because people you meet want to know why you are closeting yourself away in your room/the library for hours at a time in such beautiful places. So I’ve ‘fessed up,

‘I took some time off work to write a novel. I’m on the first/second/third draft.’

‘So you’re a writer?’

And there is a pause while I consider this blushing and then change the subject.

The simple fact is I don’t consider myself a writer. Don’t misunderstand me, I am someone who writes, I take it seriously and have faith in the work that I produce. In that respect I don’t consider myself a ‘hobby writer’ either because I write with serious intent. However – *and this only applies to myself not my opinion other writers* – I won’t feel that I’ve earned the right to call myself a writer unless I receive the validation of having my work recognized as publishable.

I would never self-publish, though I respect others decision to do so, because that validation – professionals in the industry telling me they think my work is fit for public consumption – is important to me. And if that never happens then I’ll continue to call myself ‘someone who writes’ rather than ‘a writer’ until I am carried, cold hands frozen in typing claws, out in a box.

And now, when new friends ask me if I am writer I’m going to smile and say,

‘Not yet, but I’m working at it.’

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Lardy-arsed scenes, lists and cake rejection

October 15, 2009 at 8:31 am (Uncategorized)
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I’m at page one-hundred in the paper-edit to word doc application and starting to realise what massive job I have ahead of me. I want to finish this part of the edit in seven days which means getting through fifty pages a day. It takes about an hour per ten pages and it’s all on paper so it really should be too hard except for the fact that I’m also trying to knock some of the characters’ Scots dialect (again for the cheap seats in the back: Scots dialect – what was I thinking?!) into shape during this stage too.

Already I have edited out ten pages of wordy faff and lardy-arsed scenes – apparently Stephen King recommends cutting text by 10% so at least I am bang on in  that respect.

Today I had a big coffee and a bigger slab of caramel shortbread and made a list of everything I wanted to address in the remaining thirty-one (thirty-freaking-one) days I have scheduled to edit full-time…it covered three pages of notebook and left me reeling to the extent that I (gasp!) left cake on my plate…just a bite, but still!

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Arg, ah and why I need a new hat…

October 13, 2009 at 10:05 am (Uncategorized)

Arg! had my first real incident of novel doubt today when I started implementing the paper-edit to the word doc. The opening feels stiff and stale and so very boring…how had I not noticed this before? What if the whole book is like this?

Ah! Am reading a ‘Million-selling’ international literary novel now and am also finding the prose stiff, stale and fairly (though not so very) boring – I suspect I am maybe just grumpy today.

Arg! My whole iPod got wiped and I don’t have my music library because some thieving bugger in China does (along with my laptop).

Ah! I have downloaded lots of literary podcasts (did someone shout geek?) including the Guardian Book Blog podcasts and iTunes Meet the Author ones.

Arg! According to a Guardian podcast one of my sub-themes is considered ‘the last real taboo in literature.’

Ah! That means it’s relatively unique right?

Arg! In a month my days of only writing will be over and I’ll have to return penniless and shivering to Blighty.

Ah! I’ll be seeing everyone I love, going back to a stimulating, worthwhile job and (AND!!) moving into a houseboat on an island on the Thames – just call me Cap’n Kerry all I need now is the hat….maybe a beard.

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Arsenic capsules and punctuation for losers

October 8, 2009 at 11:06 pm (Uncategorized)

First of all a hello and big welcome to my new blog followers who arrived via google searches for, ‘Vietnamese swearwords,’ and, my personal favourite, ‘Boobs in windows.’ My, they must have been so very disappointed.

So, I’ll finish the paper edit by the end of Sunday. It’s taken me three weeks but there is still a lot of work ahead, implementing these changes, structural edit, adding new scenes, proof reading….I did a punctuation test yesterday (in, shame, Style and Grammar for Dummies) and my score just read Hahahahaha -loser. Still, I feel fairly good about my progress and (though I had my arsenic capsule at the ready) really, really good about what I’ve written so far. I’ve the whole three days ahead to do my last pages – interrupted only by  night out when I will be drinking shandy…rock and roll.

Remember the patronising L’oreal strapline ‘here comes the science part, concentrate!’ Well, sorry folks, ‘here comes the numbers bit, please feel free to let your attention drift.’

Pages to paper edit in the next three days: 144

Pages already paper edited:  315

Average pages over 21 days to finished paper edit: 22

Average words per day (over 21 days) to finished paper edit: 3689

Considering I’ve been having a jolly good time, had jetlag for the best part of a week and had a horrendous experience at the weekend from which I was lucky to escape with only scrapes and bruises, I think this is pretty decent. It’s now only a month and half until I’m scheduled to have a polished submittable (<–apparently this isn’t a word?!) manuscript.  The heat, my friends, is most definitely on.

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Tequila hangovers, saunas and sub-themes

October 1, 2009 at 8:27 am (Uncategorized)
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I have been a bad blogger but it’s because I’ve been having a lovely time. Today I managed to paper edit 7500 words in two blocks of time at the library. At the end of the first session I went to the coffee shop at Borders and read the glossies over coffee and cake. At the end of the second session I headed to the Tepid Baths to enjoy a swim, steam and sauna – for my aching editing bones you understand, it’ hard wielding that pen for oh, hours at a time.

In other news I’ve been indulging in some Auckland night life (but not letting those tequila hangovers slow me down) a lot of art galleries and a smidge of vintage shopping.

The day before yesterday I also noticed a new sub-theme in the novel which I plan to develop because I think this is what will make it an unusual novel. I am excited. I actually love editing and am pleasingly ruthless with my red pen. I aim to finish the paper edit in the next week and half and then get back on the ‘puter and implement them and thankfully am already seeing areas where I need to do some structural work when the time comes. I really thought editing was going to be my nemesis but instead l wonder if there’s any part of novel writing that isn’t going to be a joy…um, possibly the submission part?



				

				
				

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Happy homes, boob parades and the Quran

				
				

					September 23, 2009 at 6:59 am					(Uncategorized)
										

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The man at Saigon airport used my phone to call Australia and New Zealand because he needed proof that I didn’t need visas for those countries though the internet told him so, Royal Brunei gives each flight a blessing from the Quran and when you enter Brunei they give a list of offences that will be punished by the death penalty. In spite of all these strange happenings the two day three country journey was fun and bizarre and I met lots of lovely people to boot.


My room in Auckland is incredible as is the house, which is owned by artists and has lots of international people living in it, Dutch, Maori, German, Mexican, even making a cup of tea gets interesting here. The house is a big old wooden house and everything right down to the kitchen utensils has been carefully (and brilliantly) chosen. My room has a sofa, a huge wardrobe, a comfy double bed and two sets of floor to ceiling windows that let the gorgeous New Zealand sky in. My room also has three customized surfboards in it, painted like the sea with lumps of shimmering paua embedded, they are a restful sight for edit tired eyes.


Speaking of which – the edit! See the picture below? What big stack of white paper? That’s the novel wot I wrote. I am still hugely jetlagged but headed off to Central Library (Amazing! Warm cosy full of little nooks to write and there’s an onsite coffee shop – I am in love!)  to stumble through the first 5000 pages. I emerged just in time to witness the strangest event on my travels yet – the Boobs on Bikes parade – It was 2pm! On a Wednesday! Absolutely, jaw droppingly strange. If you are curious you can watch some of the parade here – though I must warn you it does indeed contain a multitude of, well, boobs. Oh deary me!


The ticket man at Saigon airport used my phone to call Australia and New Zealand because he needed proof that I didn’t need visas for those countries though the internet told him so, Royal Brunei gives each flight a blessing from the Quran and when you enter Brunei they read out a list of offences that will be punished by the death penalty. In spite of all these strange happenings the two day, three country journey was fun and bizarre and I met lots of lovely people to boot.


My room in Auckland is incredible. As is the house, which is owned by artists and has lots of international people living in it, Dutch, Maori, German, Mexican, even making a cup of tea gets interesting here.


The house is a big old wooden house and everything right down to the kitchen utensils has been carefully (and beautifully) chosen. My room has a sofa, a huge wardrobe, a comfy double bed and two sets of floor to ceiling windows that let the gorgeous New Zealand sky in. My room also has three customized surfboards in it, painted like the sea with lumps of shimmering paua embedded, they’re a restful sight for edit tired eyes.


I work best in chaos...
I work best in chaos...


Speaking of which – the edit! See the picture below? What big stack of white paper on my writing desk? That’s the novel wot I wrote. I am still hugely jetlagged but headed off to Central Library (Amazing! Warm, cosy, full of little nooks to write and there’s an onsite coffee shop – I am in love!)  to stumble through the first 5000 words. I emerged just in time to witness the strangest event on my travels yet – the Boobs on Bikes parade – It was 2pm! On a Wednesday! Absolutely, jaw droppingly strange. If you are curious you can watch some of the parade here – though I must warn you it does indeed contain a multitude of, well, boobs. Oh dear.




				

				
				

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