So, had a fabulous chat with my editor on Thursday morning. And she lurved the new WIP! Hallelujah!
Frankly, this was the make or break manuscript for me. Because I sweated buckets over it before I sent it in. After the nightmare that was the last two books, I tried to look for all those tell-tale signs of trouble this time around - you know, little giveaways like a complete lack of conflict between my H and h, or long conversations in which they bicker but get nowhere, or avoidance techniques such as endless descriptive passages or overdeveloped secondary characters... and this time I thought I'd caught them all... So to find out I mostly had was a huge, huge relief. Also good to know that after all the pain of the last two books, I've finally got some gain out of it. That said I'm not going to get cocky and think I won't make the same mistakes again. I've begun to accept that blind alleys and wrong turns are all part and parcel of my writing technique (seems there's no such thing as a Tom-Tom in my writer's life, more's the pity). But I can improve my chances of not going up too many of those blind alleys by writing a plot outline to avoid any major plot black holes (before I spend pages falling into them) and then I just have to watch for those telltale signs again, so my editor doesn't have to do it for me.
Me and my editor also had a very productive chat about book six, which is going to be a linked book to my latest WIP. All I'm saying is another Irish Bad Boy is in the offing. I'll be letting you know the outcome of that when I've got the 'little tweaks' done on this one.
Okay, now on to my other good news... And the excuse for that gorgeous picture of Hugh and Nicole in period dress. Actually it's more like mega exciting news. Went to the cinema on Saturday to watch a chick flick called The Women with my oldest son (I know, bless him!) which isn't nearly as chronic as the critics will have you think (is it just me with my feminist hat on, or are male film critics hard wired to hate chick flicks?) but even so the highlight of the afternoon came before the main feature when they screened the trailer for Baz Lurhmann's new film
Australia.
We're talking three minutes of pure bliss ladies. Hugh in his cowboy dudes, Hugh in a dinner suit, Hugh just looking generally gorgeous and rumpled and sweaty and sexy - and Nicole Kidman to complement him all pure and beautiful and feisty. This film is gonna be awesome... And not just for the Hugh factor. Anyone see Strictly Ballroom? Moulin Rouge? In my opinion Baz Luhrmann is bringing epic romance in it's purest form back to cinemas. And let's face it we can all do with a bit more romance in our lives... Not to mention Hugh Jackman on a horse with added stubble (Hugh that is, not the horse!)...
I'm working at IPC magazines again next week and hoping to do a blog on this film on Whats on TV's film blog, will keep you posted on that if I manage to pull it off...
