New Website Alert – “SAHNIWRITER”

As some of you may be aware from my previous posts, I have been busily working towards my first novel, The Amazing Road Trip Home – England to India with Strangers. The manuscript is complete and I am hoping to publish it in 2021. I have created a dedicated website to keep everyone up to date. Would be great to have my blog community onboard! Please check it out.

#Friday 16.0: Don’t let “#NewNormal” take away old feelings

Each week I will (try and) share a small segment of something useful I learnt. While this is for my own amusement I hope it resonates with my lovely readers.

The announcement a community was waiting for

                  Last week a number of announcements were made throughout the UK for the opening of religious establishments, restaurants and shopping malls.  Many like myself in my community, the message that our local Sikh Temple was going to open it’s doors from Monday the 15th June was a huge relief.  While I say open it’s doors, I mean to the general community.  Technically our local template in Gravesend never closed it’s doors, but served up to 850 meals a day to vulnerable people in the community during this pandemic.  But the message was that for those attending, there would be changes, procedures to follow.  That change made me apprehensive at first; wearing a mask to worship was going to feel strange.  Also was it too early to visit? 

#Friday 15.0: Editor recommendation needed

Each week I will (try and) share a small segment of something useful I learnt. While this is for my own amusement I hope it resonates with my lovely readers.

I’ve been following the standard model

                  Today’s what have I learnt post is more a reach out to the blogging community on Editor recommendations. For those who have been following me, you will know that in 2015 I started working on my novel. As of May 2020, and after copious amounts of wonderful, helpful feedback I have taken the book as far as I can. If I follow a standard model for manuscript development, then it looks something like this: 

How to combat fear of novel editing

(Photo by Kiwihug on Unsplash)

Disclaimer: I am not a published author (yet), nor do I profess to mastering the arts. 

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I’d like to share some images with you to kick off this post.  I took these while riding along some country lanes last week.

“In my world, this is how editing my first novel feels like”

I completed the first draft of my book in 2017, two years after starting it. Then it was time to share it out with my group of readers.  There was a group that included friends and family (alpha readers) and the feedback was positive, but there was much work to do. Then I widened the net, some new readers I knew of, some I had said “Hi” to once or twice at the gym, or a contact through a friend (Beta readers).  The feedback was great and a real boost, but I can safely say the editing process sometimes felt like an SAS training camp.

Like the images show, just as you are getting near it all seems far again! 

Tips on dealing with editing

So the situation is, your lovely group of readers have fed back their comments.  In my case, that was comments x 5.  It felt like the letter I knew was sitting on the console table but one I didn’t want open.  I’d walk past it, but I knew at some point it had to be dealt with.  So lets try and open that letter
(P.S. written in the notion that we are NOT in lockdown, and life is back to normal – hectic)

(1) Don’t see it as a chore – I’d say reverse this back to the moment you put pen to paper and decided to write a book.  If you see it as a chore, stop right there.

(2) Don’t take the feedback personally – You’ve asked for feedback based on a subjective piece of writing. Remember your reader has shared thoughts on what they have read, not what they know of you personally. 

(3) Set a timer to review edits – If you are working during the week, then try and set a timer each day.  I set a 30 minute countdown each day for my edits in a working week, and stopped right there.

(4) Book in weekends and stick to it – One of the main reasons, as I see it, why our draft copies can sit in a drawer for long periods is because of the reality of priorities. Simply put, we feel guilty spending time on ourselves. The weekends give you a good opportunity to work through those edits. 
Book the time in with family for your edits and stick to it.  For me, it means that one weekend my wife will cover the kids sports drop offs and picks up, while I delve deep into editing. This also includes setting times during the day for editing.  Sometimes you will need to balance your optimum time for editing vs immediate family requirements. Don’t get frustrated, there are moments when you will just have to get off that chair to complete something around the house. Take a deep breath! 

(5) Keep your phone well out of distance – Distraction! Distraction! Distraction! Need I say more? If you have it with you, you will pick it up and this will break your focus. It’s like when you were taking your exams, and you came downstairs for a 15 minute break.  You then put the TV on for a quick scan, and 1 hr later you’re hooked on some programme and the books are sitting waiting for you.  Find it easy to re-focus?

(6) Visualise the end goal – Tell yourself every day that you will get the editing finished.  Each time I start to edit, I visualise my end goal, and that is a finished book sitting on a shelf in a bookshop – or in someone’s bookshelf at home.  
 

If you are in the editing process of your novel, please share your thoughts.  

 

 

 

Character build for your story

I have an idea for a new story which needs quite a lot of development. It will feature around 7 characters and this presents the challenge (and joy) of building them. There are a multitude of tips online.
I did my normal doodle to pick a few items for building my characters. Eventually they’ll make it into a spreadsheet for further refinement, validation and tick in the box.

Do you have any tips to share?