Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes

When I finished writing The Last Life, the sequel to my first ever novel last year, I mistakenly thought the hard work was over.

Stupid thing to think, for I have spent the last ten years or so editing other people’s books and should have known better. Editing/proofing is something I have always enjoyed doing, and never considered it hard work.

Apparently, the fact that these books were mine has turned everything on its head. I don’t understand why editing my own work has suddenly become so hard, and can only assume that I must have come up with a lesser quality of book than I am used to working on. In other words, it might be a pile of rubbish.

I can’t really think otherwise, or is there another reason?

In the past, I have written short stories and poetry, but reading has always been my favourite pastime. The thought of writing my own book always appealed to me, just never seemed to get around to it.  Life has a way of getting in the way, doesn’t it?

Then I started to be plagued by all these characters. First one, then another and more of them talked to me (and each other) and I became fascinated and involved all at the same time. When I decided to write some of it down, these same characters went into overdrive. What I thought they should be doing was blatantly ignored, to be replaced with their own agenda. In the end, it was as if they were writing the story and not I.

The ending was a bit tricky, as they wouldn’t let on what was going to happen and I worried constantly that it would all go pear shaped. Maybe they didn’t know, and then what was I supposed to do?

I didn’t think this was how you were supposed to write a book. Surely, you were supposed to have far more control than that?

The oddest thing happened to the plot as it went along, involving one of the cast, the ex-husband of Kate, the main character. He started out as an ordinarily bitter man with a small axe to grind, suddenly turned into a vicious serial killer right before my eyes, taking me completely by surprise!

The other thing that surprised me was how hard it seemed to be, even with a very cooperative cast. Writing anything (other than a book) has always come easily to me, but creating a novel turned out to be so complicated. Continuity was a constant problem, as was remembering all of the characters history, their likes, dislikes and foibles. I learnt to keep a running timeline and a storyboard for the plot. This was necessary after the characters kept changing their minds about what they would do next, and was one of the ways I managed to keep up with them.

In addition, I am ever thankful for all the attributes of Microsoft Word. Without their Search and Find, Select and grammar checking facilities and all the other helpful tricks, I think I might have gone completely mad a long time ago.

Editing has always been something I love to do, so is it different because these books are mine, or because I am a lot older now?

Maybe my brain has had enough and is starting to slow down and miss things all together? For instance, I don’t recall having this much trouble with ‘Passive sentences’ before. And the over use of certain words, like ‘that’.

All joking aside, I am having the best retirement ever. Free to do whatever I want is absolute bliss, the only downside being, my old brain is not as agile as it once was.

But will that matter?  Not in a million years…

Both of my books are on Amazon, for just 99p each…(and I would love some feedback!)

Universal Amazon Links    myBook.to/ninthL      myBook.to/lastL