I’m at the editorial stage of a book and I’m spending my days asking myself questions and re-reading scenes to make sure they all serve my story. Also, I asked two good friends of mine to give the manuscript a read and they both gave me excellent insights and asked really good questions. One thing to think about when you’re editing your own work is who would be the right person to read it to help you move forward. You need a reader who is kind, but not too kind, one who is smart but not so sure of themselves that they try to rewrite the novel for you. You need someone to ask good questions, someone who makes you consider the work in a new light and who energizes you, rather than making you feel like you’re ready to give up and never ever ever look at the project again.  A good editor will do all of these things, and if you’re lucky they’ll still be your friend afterwards.  Thanks, Leona Theis and Jen Budney for helping me with this draft.

This week, try and figure out who would be a good reader for your writing. Are you in a writing group or is your partner the best person to ask? We all need good readers to help us move from first draft to polished manuscript. Who is yours?

Taking a break from the house, from the blank page, from the city, I took the family to Pavelich Farm bed and breakfast in Kenaston, Saskatchewan last night.  We arrived around 5, after a work day as the BnB was only forty minutes away from home.  We got back at 9.30 this morning – hardly away at all in terms of time at the desk.  But spending a night in a new place, walking on the frosted grass, eating in a bright sunny kitchen and hearing stories about generations of farming has given us all a new way of approaching the day today.  Is there a way you can renew your view? It doesn’t have to be an overnight stay, even walking round the block in the other direction might give you an insight or two…

I’m doing a blog tour this week and my first stop is at Stuck in YA Books.  Here’s a paragraph of my post…

The first tip is a simple tip, but it helps me whenever I feel grumpy or stressed about writing.  Just write.  It’s a bit like the Nike ad from the 90s: Just Do It.  Turns out that the marketing department at Nike had it right – just doing something is the best way to figure out if you are passionate about it, if you have something to say, if you want to do it again.  And again.  And again.  Because that’s what writers have to do.  Write.  Every day if possible.  And they have to write badly and they have to write messily and they have to get it wrong to figure out how to get it right!

Read the rest and explore their book reviews at their great site.