If I were counting writerly success in amount of original fiction written, then February would be anunmitigated disaster – I’m guessing my word count would be far below zero, when I take editing into consideration.
However, the joys of having what I could grandly call ‘a portfolio of work’ – which is more of a monthly lucky dip – means that I’ve been stuck into a variety of very productive author-ish tasks.
There are the ongoing novel edits for my own publication deal (I’m still being annoyingly reticent about the details until I have a cover and official publisher announcement). It’s an interesting situation doing these, giving myself permission to work on my own books, because I’m – finally – being paid to do so! This sits alongside my ‘ghost-writing’ (I use the term lightly) of a novel based on the compelling (I don’t use this term lightly!) memoir of an Indian-Scottish women’s experience of arranged marriage. I’ve done similar projects before but never so easily got into the head of the protagonist, to the extent that I’m still surprised I wasn’t actually there…
I’ve had the privilege of writing the Foreword for a forthcoming anthology; participated in a Creative Futures editing session – practical and eye-opening – and a Beating Rejection masterclass from the powerhouse that is Writers Ink (aka Sam Blake and Maria McHale); and won a pitching session live to agents, courtesy of I Am In Print and The Writing Sphere.
All in all, it’s been a short and sweet February, nicely balanced with the ongoing puppy-wrangling, and school plays and World Rubiks Cube competition for the twelve-year old.
See you all in March!
Anne x
