The Leaning Tower of Paper

In case you've ever wondered, this is what the accumulated rough drafts of three novels looks like - 22 inches in height and - shortly after I took this photo - all over my study floor, when the table decided to tip over. It looks a bit like a giant angel cake because I use different colours of paper for each complete draft. That way I don't mix up different versions of the same book. This is all three books - the final drafts are kept safe elsewhere - and all this needs recycling somehow... As you might have gathered from this, I've spent much of the first two weeks of my holiday trying to find the house beneath the clutter and junk which accumulated during the time I was writing SCOTCH PINE. Finally, I feel as if I've got my house back but I'm ready to stop being domesticated and be creative instead!

It has been a busy few weeks for other reasons too. I spent a very interesting day at the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival 'Creative Thursday' for writers and came away with at least one good idea for Grouse and Partridge as well as the determination to try and see if I can get an agent interested in the first book. It needs some re-writing, but I think I could face having a try at untangling it for a new audience. I'm also determind to stay a little longer next year and indulge in some of the excellent author events they arrange.

And this week I spent three days in London, indulging in theatre (including the wonderful production of La Cage aux Folles at the Playhouse Theatre, starring Philip Quast and Roger Allam who are two of my very favourite actors anyway! I can't recommend it too highly - it was inspirational!) shopping for art and craft materials and visiting the John William Waterhouse exhibition at the Royal Academy. I also drooled over the Crime Fiction Department of Hatchards bookshop in Piccadilly - it's wonderful! - and saw a fantastic photography exhibition at the Photographer's Gallery off Oxford Street. More on this in the next post, I think!

Best cake? Found in the Royal Academy Restaurant, without doubt. They called it 'Orange and Almond Cake' but to my mind it was more of a marmalade orgy on a plate, dripping with syrupy orange pieces. Huge portions, went down well with a large (strong!) Americano...

Ride your Motorbike to Work day!

Apparently, today is Ride your Motorbike to Work Day, which will please Grouse. As I don't have a bike, and couldn't ride one even if I did (I'm not much good at balance!) I went to work on the train as usual. However, it's nice to think lots of people did ride to work. I got very excited the other day when I spotted a Bonnie (in emerald green!) in our local service station - a most handsome beast!

Speaking of handsome beasts, SCOTCH PINE has been duly delivered into the hands of those who requested a copy. It's strange to think that so many people I know are taking it on holiday with them this year! I haven't been able to bring myself to read it yet - I'm waiting till I can face it like a book, rather than something that needs another edit!

My summer hols start in two days and for the first time in six years, I'm not in the middle of a writing project. I'm really looking forward to six-and-a-bit weeks of doing very little at all. Fingers crossed for some nice weather. I'm going to Harrogate to the Crime Writing Festival and then to Edinburgh to see Ian Rankin at the Book Festival so it won't be an entirely non-crime fiction holiday and I have a pile of reading waiting for me!

Best cake of late - something rather delicious in the Bakewell line in the Imperial War Museum at Salford Quays - a truly amazing building and a really good - and entirely free - day out! Drover would have liked it! We were in Salford for the final 'fixture' of the ballet season - got to wait a bit for my next fix! I love Salford Quays.

THEY'VE ARRIVED!

All present and correct and the pages seem to be in the right order so I can start breathing again. There's nothing quite like taking multiple copies of your very own book out of their cardboard box for the first time. Even though you know exactly how it is supposed to look, it still looks different as a book rather than a huge pile of typed pages. Glancing through it last night I was just amazed I'd written it all. It's so pleasing. Just hope everyone likes the contents now...

They're on their way...

Just had an e-mail from lulu.com - the books are printed and on their way! This is the scary part: waiting for them to arrive and hoping (praying!) they are fine! The traumas of last week's sending seem a lifetime ago and real 'work' has taken over. The house is still a tip and the cleaning just keeps getting put back and back! It's too hot to do anything -that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! Not much on the cake front this week - hoping to make up for it this weekend! Wonder when the parcel will arrive...?

And then it all went pear-shaped for a while...

It was all going so well. Too well. All I had to do was upload the file to the lulu site and then it was done. That was on Friday...

Today - two days AFTER the launch date, SCOTCH PINE finally reached lulu! It's been unbelievably difficult to transfer the text to PDF this time. The recommended route - using Open Office - introduced a number of annoying little glitches and I realised that I'd have to completely re-check the entire text. So instead I downloaded a free trial of Adobe Acrobat - only to discover that my beloved and antiquated lap top didn't have anything like enough memory to run it! Two computers and a different lap-top later I finally managed at 6.45pm tonight to create a lulu acceptable PDF! The cover was a doddle by comparison.

And now, it's there - I keep going to the website and looking at it!!! Can't quite believe it's actually FINISHED! By the way,for the next 30 days you can get a 10% discount on the cover price by quoting JOANNADUNCANXMM3 in the coupon box at the checkout, thanks to lulu. And you can have a look at the free preview as well - just go to http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/scotch-pine/3169764

BEST CAKE? without a doubt, fruit tart in Druckers in the Bullring on Sunday just before I got the train home from a mad ballet weekend. Delicious. The tart was good too...

IT'S DONE!!!!!

For better or for worse, I've put the final touches to SCOTCH PINE and it is all ready to upload to lulu.com...Scary! Equally scary is the vast amount of Malteasers which I seem to have consumed this week! Just hoping my PDF maker works now... See you on LAUNCH DAY!!!!

Dotting the eyes...

I have dots in front of my eyes. I'm in the final stages of the final FINAL edit of Scotch Pine and I'm combing all 390 pages pulling out rogue full stops and renegade question marks which have invaded my prose and have evaded the eagle eyes of me and the Editor! Still keeping to schedule, but terrified I'll leave in some whopping mistake which will effectively ruin the whole thing! I have two days effectively to get things finished... Watch this space for launch on Monday! There'll be serious cake, I promise.