Editing is due to start!

I have just had notification that the editing process of my novella, Broken, is due to start in about a month's time. So exciting! :)

Grammar

I have to say that correct grammar does not come naturally to me. Through experience (getting slated for grammatical errors when posting early work to online communities) and good friends who pointed (and continue to point) me in the right direction, I can now produce cleaner work. As I have been guilty for most common errors, perhaps that is why I seem to notice errors so much more lately.

I am a member of a writing community on facebook, and when I saw a link for a free e-book I thought I would give it a go and then review the story on Amazon for the author. The story had so many grammatical errors that even I found it almost completely unreadable. If the plot had been stronger, or the characters more likeable I would, most likely, have been able to blank out the poor grammar, but unfortunately that was not the case.

I embrace the fact that people self-publish now, but this book is one which really should not have been made public in its current state. It is just terrible and could be held as proof that people should never self-pub! 

I haven't left a review as I honestly couldn't have said anything nice about it, and thought constructive criticism should not be given publicly. I messaged the author to politely offer concrit if she was interested and to date I have had no response which perhaps wasn't surprising. What is a surprise though, is that the author obviously doesn't want to improve.

I squirm at my early mistakes, and berate myself over current ones, but I strive to improve and hopefully the editors at Dreamspinner Press don't wince too much when they open my manuscripts!

It is a strange person indeed who seems happy to continue to make the same mistakes!

Wet weekend - pros and cons.

Well, our lovely warm weather had certainly taken a turn for the worse this week, and we face a wet and windy weekend. Now, there are many things that such weather would make less fun - walking the dog for one! But there are also plus points and it is on these I shall concentrate.

As the owner of a lovely mare and foal there is nothing quite like seeing them all snug and warm in their stable, happily munching on their hay. The foal, Florence, has grown so much and will soon be weaned from her dam, Mabel, so seeing them together and settled in away from the wind and rain is great.

My dog, The Norm, loves his walks, but importantly on such a weekend, also likes sitting on the sofa next to me, which brings me neatly to the best thing about wet weekends... I will be able to write, write, write without feeling guilty at all! \0/

So all in all, I am rather looking forward to a weekend of gales and rain! :)

Good weekend.

The weather was once again lovely this weekend, and I was out and about enjoying it. On Saturday my mum and sister came up to visit. We had a lovely walk with the dogs and then went to see my mare and foal.

Mum hadn't seen the foal since May when she was just two days old so saw a huge difference now she has reached five months. Florence is such a sweetie, friendly, but not pushy and already a champion in the show ring.

We then headed into Stamford, which is such a nice place, and enjoyed lunch before I had to go to choose the frames for my first pair of glasses - it seems I have reached a certain age and need them for reading. After visiting three shops and deciding not to go into another, we finally made a choice. Hopefully they will suit me. It was really difficult to decide as when I buy sunglasses the criteria is simply 'can't see my eyebrows and can't see my eyes'! LOL! Not much use when buying reading glasses.

When I got home I wrote some more of a story I intend to submit to Dreamspinner Press when complete.

I spent Sunday, caring for both the horses and the dog, braving a trip  to a huge supermarket and writing some more.

I have included links below for my short story, Out of Left Field, which is available from Dreamspinner Press and Amazon.

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3937

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Out-of-Left-Field-ebook/dp/B00D4KFY72/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1381177876&sr=8-1&keywords=raine+norman

Would love it if you would give the story a try. :)