Saturday 23 May 2009

Chapter Two has landed... At last

So after a bit of brainstorming with my editor yesterday I've finally managed to keel-haul myself into Chapter Two... Of course my inner critic is still bitching about chapter one but I've decided to lock her and her foghorn in a cupboard for the time being. She was definitely getting a bit too big for her thigh-high leather boots.

The relief is enormous, and makes me realise that that's the real unsung privilege (and luxury) of being published. There I was whining about my woes and I have this person at my fingertips who knows what I should be doing. Or at the very least can steer me in the right direction.so I'm going to stop whining now and get on with it.

 That's not to say that in any author-editor relationship there won't sometimes be disagreements. There will be. But having that kind of honest, unbiased, informed feedback is worth its weight in gold - especially when your inner critic has lost the plot. Sorry, I'm so deliriously relieved, I'm overdosing on writing analogies.  

So Heidi's got her mojo back, but what has that got to do with Richard Armitage smouldering in North and South you're probably saying?? Simple, it's my reward for getting to Chapter Two and a little thank you to those nice folks who took time out from wrestling with their own current WIPs to leave a comment. And to add to the party here's a  YouTube fan clip I found celebrating the serial which is currently being repeated on BBC4 on Sundays. After I've slogged through the proofs for Public Affair, Secretly Expecting this weekend I am so going to treat myself to a touch of Mr Armitage in his cravat. Yum.

5 comments:

Kate Walker said...

You've only just discovere North and South? Where have you been Heidi? My advice - get the DVD now and watch the episodes back to back . . .and again . . . and repeat - great research - and inspiration for romance writers.

Good luck with the book. I hope the rest of it flows from now on

Kate

Heidi Rice said...

I think I might just take you up on that Kate, I'm totally hooked and I only saw the last twenty minutes of last week's episode. think I missed an important bit too. See, already justified the expenditure right there.

And yeah, where have I been?? Whenever anyone talked about North and South I thought they were talking about that Patrick Swayze thing from years back. If only I'd known....

Lorraine said...

I loved North and South the first time round, I'm glad you mentioned it as I didn't realise it was being repeated.

I'm also glad to hear your external editor proved more helpful than the internal one :-)

Lacey Devlin said...

Heidi's got her mojo back! It's great that you can brainstorm (and that you have that handy cupboard to lock your inner critic and her boots away). I'm glad you gave yourself a reward :)

Heidi Rice said...

Glad I could be of service Lorraine.

Watched N&S episode 2 last night and was totally blown away by it, even though my youngest son smashed a lamp upstairs right in the middle of it. Had to mop up the blood and give him a stern talking to about playing football in his room (again!!), before I could get back to it. Why do children always have to do these things in the one hour a week you've designated as 'me' time?? Thank god for the pause button on the remote!!

As for the internal vs external editor debate, I take any help or advice I can get... but at least you know with the external one she's not telling you these things just to be annoying.

And Lacey, I expect the mojo will bugger off again at some point during the rough draft of this story, it always does, but as long as I can keep that inner critic locked in the cupboard for a while I should be alright. She'll have her day eventually.