How are your balancing skills?

I have concluded that writing is all about juggling. You must be an expert juggler to keep the balls, or is it plates or hoops? No, it’s novels! Up in the air at the same time. Or is balancing the better concept? I’m a Libran, so balance resonates better, juggling feels like it could spin out of control at any moment, whereas balance is calmer, less frenetic, feels right.

Photo by Deniz Altindas on Unsplash

I am in control, right?

From the sheer excitement of having your first meeting with the cover designer and seeing his interpretation of your ideas come to life before your eyes to the grind of checking the copy editing on book one, editing book two and then aargh – A whole new series has popped into my head and is demanding to be written.

But first, cover design! 90 minutes of discussion and watching Jeff draw my ideas in front of me, and then mocking up that first cover with my name on it!

OMG! What a feeling of absolute delight and pride. It may be a raw sketch but just wait until its finished, I love it already. I debated about posting the initial concept here, but I think I’ll wait to show you the rough draft versus 85% finished!

Just a sneak peek if you’re interested. Let me know!

Copy editing is almost finished on Book One: Sentinals Awaken. Each revision I learn something new, which is great, and means each book will improve: next maps and internal formatting.

I’ve edited Book Two: Sentinal Rising, cut and consolidated chapters where needed; I suppose 135k words was a bit long. Moved some things around, then corrected my grammar. I’ve sent it to my number one fan Michael to beta read and put it aside before I return for another edit. Then this idea for a whole new world bubbled up, and I’ve been capturing the ideas and planning out the skeleton of the story, and I’ve already written 20,000 words. Holding name is the Freedom series, can’t wait to see where it goes.

How to fit it all in is the challenge. But it is fun, and I love it, and I wish I had started writing a long time ago. Sometimes, I suppose you just have to wait for the right moment, and then take that step and begin. Who knows where it will take you, but wherever it takes me, my balancing skills can only improve.

Editing Book One : Sentinals Awaken

Sentinals Awaken is the first book in my Sentinals series set in the world of Remargaren.

I invested in a Market Editor to make sure my story was on point and made sense! And was surprised to find out that my weakness was grammar! Sentence structure and use of commas. So back to the grammar drawing board to relearn the grammar rules and how to avoid the dreaded comma splice! And hello semicolon. I’ve never used semicolons, and was interested to see that the eye does run over it more than a full stop, which if used too often I think can make sentences choppy. (Unless you want choppy of course!)

The good news was that she loved the story, found the plot original and the characters engaging. And learning grammar is probable simpler than rewriting the story or having to address plot holes or flat characters! I am sure there will many who disagree.

I addressed the issues the editor raised and relearnt my grammar (and groaned over the comma rules), and had a discussion about Point of View (POV) and how to bring out a character’s inner thoughts. I then developed one of my Sentinal characters a bit more as I had deliberately down-played him as he was threatening to take over, and he was obviously down-played too much! I have written a book just for him so he doesn’t get too downhearted and that led to me writing his backstory which became the prequel as it was such fun discovering where the Sentinals came from to begin with.

Next step is to get a few beta readers to do a final sanity check and then to find a copy editor/proofreader to check the final version, and then it will be on to formatting and cover design as dip my toe into the world of self-publishing.

Welcome

The first step is always the hardest, as is the first word on the page. But once you get going, they don’t stop.

Join me, Helen Garraway, on my journey to get published, or self-published if that ends up being the best way to go.

I’ve spent the last four years writing fantasy novels, and now it’s time to do something with them. This is because I have more ideas tumbling, and I’d like to share them. Hopefully, my future readers will enjoy my characters and world-building as much as I do.

Let’s start at the beginning.

Welcome to the world of Remargaren.

I first started writing when there was that ‘perfect storm’ of a moment when my mother passed away, and my daughter graduated from university and left the nest to travel the world. Suddenly I had an empty house and time on my hands, and ideas started bubbling, and I had to get them on paper.

I’ve always been an avid reader. I got that from my mum. We were both bookworms, and she was one who would watch the telly, read a book and knit at the same time, quite astonishing. I can’t do the knitting bit!

But I have drafted quite a few books and need to do something with them. I want to see them in print and to share my wonderful world.

Now. I’m new to creating websites and blogging, so don’t expect to get inundated with posts, you’ll probably be lucky to get one a month unless something EXCITING happens!

Thank you for joining me. I hope you subscribe and enjoy my writing when it finally gets out there.