At the same time as writing this post I have Microsoft Word open with ‘Frozen in Crime’ frozen in mid-edit. I have to write an action scene so naturally I am using all my available procrastination powers to avoid doing it.
Apart from this the edit is going very well. If I can get this scene out of the way then the plot should actually start to make sense to me, and after that I just have to write the final chapter which will explain it to everyone else. Some of the characters may be surprised at how it all turns out. Christopher is permanently surprised, of course, and as Jock McLean has been away for part of the story and missed a lot, he may not even believe the things that have happened in his quiet backwater of a town. I myself have been surprised by some aspects of this novel and by the characters who have taken it over. But that’s all part of the fun.
When I say I just have to write the final chapter, of course that isn’t really all. I still have to carry out at least one more edit to check for over-used words, this time particularly words describing snow, ice and blizzards, and also to see if I’ve marked any more chapters with asterisks to remind me to come back and do something with them, although by this time I may well have forgotten what the ‘something’ is. Then there will be a grammar and spelling check. After that I will be ready for the task of designing the cover, which in this case means trawling through my personal picture library of snow scenes, before feeding the novel into Lulu so that I can get myself a printed copy to facilitate my final final final edit.
Yes, all right, I’m going back to the novel now.
Cecilia Peartree - woman of mystery 