Proofreading

I am busy proofreading my first proofs of Rosie and am enjoying it. I have already come across a couple words that they have changed and I disagree with. The first one was 'lie' and they put 'lay' but they are right, the second is mum after the word my. They have capitalised it and I am right on that one, another is aunt, which again they have capitalised and I am sure I am right again. I have asked another author about this so wait to see her reply. There aren't many major changes at all so far, only minor ones like the above and changing wording and adding commas etc, which is good as the structure of the story stays the same. While I am proofreading it I am seeing what I have written and it is making me realise what I have done wrong with Allie. I can now see that I have made Allie more complex and deeper and need to make it simpler. So when I revise it I will take out a lot of the deeper stuff like what happens in the lessons and a bit about Georgina, and concentrate on the magic and entertaining side of it. I won't be doing any proofreading tonight, the next session is Friday afternoon when I am on leave. I am going to Neil Gaiman's talk at the LSE that evening and really looking forward to it.

Well, this is all for now. Back to work.

My First Proofs

I got home yesterday from work to find a big white jiffy bag on my chair. I looked at the back to see whom it was from and it was from Pegasus (my publisher) and knew immediately what it was. I opened it up with anticipation and inside was...my first proofs. I was so excited because to me this means that I am an author and a proper writer. According to my contract I have 21 days to proof read and change anything in the book and return it to them. This I will double check with my editor this morning. I will get cracking on it tomorrow afternoon. I haven't read it properly but what I have seen it seems not a lot of dramatic changes, more grammar and wording which seems OK to me. Will read it thoroughly tomorrow.

Have a busy weekend ahead of me. Tomorrow morning Mum and I are doing our weekly shop at Sainsbury's instead of Sunday because on Sunday Mum and I are going to Dad's flat to clear out a lot of his odds and ends. It has been decided that he won't be returning to his flat from hospital and will be going into a care home, so he will be getting more care than he has been getting which is a good thing. He wants to go to the care home he usually goes away on holiday to in Kent we shall have to wait and see. Then after Sainsbury's hopefully we will have time to go and visit Dad in hospital. Mum said that if he does get to go to Kent then I won't see him again this year as it's so far away.

Well, must get back to work now.

Allie progress

I am very busy with Allie right now after having a week off not doing anything with it. I have just started chapter 9, half way through her second week of magical experiences, and have made things rather difficult for her, as well as helpful. I have made her enemy try to get helpers to beat Allie but she isn't having any luck due to some of the teachers casting their own spells on her which affects the other girls, so Allie appears to win. And I have made more teachers have powers to help Allie and her battle. It now appears that there could be a new enemy on the arizon, who will turn out to be the father of the current enemy, and whom will appear in the third and final book of this set. He will be more powerful than his daughter, the current enemy, so therefore I will make the teachers more powerful to help the next candidate for the next book. I am really enjoying writing these books and am getting a buzz out of it, making me love writing even more than I usually do. I even came up with a brill idea on how to promote the books more if and when I get to do book signing for Rosie next year. I had the idea of creating a competition based on questions about the book with prizes of things mentioned in the book plus bits of my own promo products ie bookmarks, if I get those to use.

Well, this is my news for now. Must get back to proper work here.

A horrible week

You know the Queen had an annus horriblis one year, well last week was my weekus horriblis. I had a rotten cold at the start of the week so was off work, then on Tuesday my dad who is in hospital after having falls, choked on his dinner there and had to be put under to have a tube put in his throat because he couldn't breathe on his own. Then his heart stopped and they had to resuscitate him and he caught pneumonia. After all that the drs didn't expect him to live but....he did. Just as mum and my brother were leaving he opened an eye and just under a week later he has beaten everything. The only problem now is his eating. He has to have supervision whilst eating his meals and I don't think his carers at his flats can provide that. They prepare and cook his meals then leave him to it after that. So we don't know if he can go back there or not now, or if he has to go into a home where they can provide that care. He was all set to go home yesterday but then Mum told the nurses that his place had told her they can't offer any more help than they have been doing, so it went up in the air. It is all down to the speech therapist who has said that Dad needs supervision. We shall see.

Meantime, I didn't do much writing last week and have only just started writing this week.

I hate blood tests!

Yesterday I had to have 2 medical tests, including a blood test. I hate needles but now hate them even more (if that's possible). The nurse first tried my left arm and the blood flowed slowly out then dried up, so she had to try my left hand, and as there isn't as much flesh on the hand it was very painful, and the blood dried up again. I now have bruises on my arm and hand and thankfully they don't ache as much as they did yesterday. The other test was a Doppler ultrasound to find out the pulse rate in my feet as I'd been getting sharp pains in my left foot when I walked fast. They had trouble getting a good pulse in both of my feet and it turns out that I have poor circulation and I have to wear compression stockings during the day now for up to 6 months, when I have to have the scan done again. As if I don't have enough medical problems to cope with, I get one more. Oh well. Just have to keep writing to take my mind off these problems.

A Depressing Thought

This year I have enrolled and typed letters for a few new students who weren't even born when I started here at work. OMG, I thought when I did these. I started way back in November 1989 and these students were born the year after that. I am starting to feel old now.

More exciting times

I got some more forms through the post on Saturday from my publisher. I got the contract payment form, which I completed and sent off already, and an author questionnaire. The questionnaire is quite long and asks for lots of personal details as well as details about my book and ideas for promotion and a sample press release. I have been asking around to see who is willing to quote my book but have been told that this isn't that important, what is is to think of lots of ideas for promotion in the way of specialist magazines for reviews and interviews, esp local ones. I do already have ideas for magazines and papers that the publisher could approach and am still investigating some more ideas. Someone did suggest Jamie Oliver, and I might just do that later on, as I am a fan of his tv programmes and have his garden book at home. Thankfully my publisher says there is no hurry for this questionnaire so I have time to think about it, esp about the press release. Have to think of how to sell my book and myself.

Well, must go now.