Writing

I know I wrote yesterday about nearing the time for sending out my manuscript for Crime Writing for Beginners, but it has somehow caught me by surprise that I found no good reason not to press "send" on the first submission. Now I feel sick. I have submitted to my top three (if not number one) agent, with whom I had a few email exchanges with between July 2024 and February 2025 about my previous novel, Infinite Possibilities. She read two versions of that book and was very e

I peaked way too early today. After feeling so sluggish and bleugh yesterday, I was full of energy this morning and went into overdrive. Before 9am I’d had ideas for how to write a basic agent letter template, I’d baked a loaf of sourdough, baked a rhubarb, marzipan citrus cake (BBC Good Food recipe, and it tasted AMAZING, especially hot out the oven with a rhubarb compote/mush), fed the birds and messaged a few friends. By 10.30, I decided to reward my good efforts by going

I’m slacking a bit with my updates. On Monday, I had a video chat with my friend Fiona who had read the first three chapters (no more) and gave me feedback. I’m impressed, she spotted an error (which I feel I should have noticed some time ago!) about how someone took out a piece of paper, wrote X on it … but instead of “it” or equivalent, I’d repeated that she took out a piece of paper and wrote X on a piece of paper. Sloppy!

I was in London from Wednesday to Sunday. I did very little in terms on working on my novel, but I did make some progress, hence writing this as one day. I met Narissa on Friday, which was mainly a catch-up but we did talk about our writing. She had read through my 500-word synopsis and gave me feedback. I also made notes on information I think is relevant/important to incorporate into agent emails. I’m still impressed with myself for reading the whole novel in one day ...

I really should set myself targets and deadlines more often. I’m driving to London tomorrow until Sunday. I decided that, today, I had to try to finish rereading version 7 again (3rd or 4th time!), starting at chapter 4, which is as far as I got yesterday after doing quite a lot of editing on chapters 1 to 3.

I had a lovely break with my mum. We visited lots of places, including staying a night in Ayr. The weather was lovely and sunny and it was good to keep away from my book. Today, I reread the first three chapters, then had a long video chat with Chris W. His feedback was way more useful than I think he could imagine. We don’t know each other well and he knew only what I’d sent him in advance, namely the two-liner and the title.

Because I wanted to get through version 7 and be ready to send Crime Writing for Beginners to my friend’s brother (CW) before my mum arrived on Tuesday afternoon, I put my head down and got on with it. Which includes rewriting chapter 2, which was far easier than I expected.

Not quite how things looked, particularly not with the location of my bowl (dough) and the tea towel that's supposed to be covering the bowl not the radiator. My instruction to AI was: Woman with white pixie-cut hair and thick-framed black glasses. She is wearing black. She is sitting at a desk, working at a computer. Through the window, trees are swaying in the wind and there is rain. An electric heater is on the floor. Next to the heater is a bowl covered with a tea towel.

A significantly less exciting day than yesterday on every level, though Chris has just finished reading my book. He’s given me some invaluable insights and comments, which I’ll think about in the coming days. It felt good that he seems to have genuinely enjoyed it, not just because I wrote it.

62. Tuesday 14 April 2026 I have impressed myself more than I could have imagined possible. Not only have I now written a two-liner I’m happy with, reduced from 37 words to 32 words, I have written THREE synopses, for 500, 400 and 300-word limits. Every single time I’ve written synopses for my books, I’ve spent WEEKS working on them; I’ve skimmed through my manuscript, made notes, stressed myself out about the highlights, etc. This time, I didn’t refer to my manuscript, I jus

It’s taken me five days (not full days) to finish this edit, which ended up being a proofreading stage. For once, I feel pleased with myself for reaching the end of a round of editing. There are also two people currently reading my manuscript (gulp). As well as finishing this read-through in chronological order, I have also written a possible version of my one-liner (though it’s a two-liner). It’s not quite right but I think it has promise.

I’m pleased with myself. This read-through has become a proofreading exercise rather than editing, which is kind of good (in that it feels more done than I perhaps expected). My only issue, and it is a big one, is that I don’t foresee culling a few thousand words. I think I’ve reduced it by about 500 words so far and there’s something I need to add later.

I didn’t edit/read/proof much today. I don’t know if it’s a mental block (likely) or just a thing (unlikely) but I find it really hard to start working in the afternoon. I needed to take my car in to the garage (tyres) this morning so I left home at 7am. From 8 until almost 10, I wandered around Hawick (“Hoyk” to those in the know), feeling full of the joys of spring. The drive over the hills to Hawick was stunning. Not only was the sky blue but there were very, very young la

Every time I finish a stage of editing it feels a bit disappointing. Today, with the exception of one paragraph, which is a fictional blurb of a book, I have gone through all highlighted areas. I definitely feel I’m near the end, but I think the looming round of agent submissions is making me feel gloomy. It must be great to be published and already have an agent and not need to finish a book and then have to send it out to agents, which is a thoroughly demoralising and slow

I haven’t had the last five days off from editing but my progress has been minimal so I thought I’d save the update for today. I took Thursday off and enjoyed lounging by the burner, reading, eating lunch in the sun and I spent ages tidying and cleaning the interior of my car, which was surprisingly satisfying. On Good Friday, I merely wrote a few notes. Saturday, Sunday and today, I went through more highlighted sections, taking it easy. All in all, I probably did a day’s wo

finished going through my highlighted printout for version 6! I did feel pleased but it also felt mildly underwhelming, maybe in part because, of the nine pages I had left to edit, about five of them I didn’t really edit, ie that section needs a proper rewrite. I highlighted almost all of that chapter with a view to coming back to it. It felt a bit like I was cheating. I don’t know if I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to try rewriting it or I was being lazy for merely read

I’m on page 199 of 207. I did think about finishing today but I know it’s best to stop when I start getting tired and feel that I’m rushing through without properly thinking about what I’m doing. The biggest achievement today was that I somehow just got on with my problem chapter and it’s kind of okay, most definitely a better voice and language than it was before. It still needs work, but tweaking rather than anything more drastic.

I’m on fire! I edited yesterday and today and have stopped at page 185 of 207 as it’s a significant chapter which is pretty much entirely covered in highlighted chunks and scribbled notes. I even had time to be happily distracted thinking of party food for a crime-themed canape party. How could such a party not feature ketchup?!

I edited on Wednesday morning before my friend Catherine arrived at Lockerbie station, on Friday late afternoon after I’d dropped her off and for a few hours today. I would have reached page 130 of 207 on Wednesday were it not that I ended up adding a new thread based on what occurred to me was an obvious question the amateur sleuths needed to ask (and answer). That seemed a good place to stop, roughly page 127.

Check me out, 26 pages today! I think I’ve had some kind of weird virus because today I felt significantly better than I felt for the past few days. Weird. But great to feel okoy, even though it was another grey day with on/off rain.