Monday, October 29, 2007

Christmas card and Other Bits


That time of year has arrived again when I bully my lovely children to smile for the camera for the annual Christmas card. Now we do try and be creative with this endeavour which pisses the kids off no end. However this year we don't even have the Santa hat to brighten the photo.
Having lived here before we have explored all sorts of options for the photo but this year the time frame was short and more tricky by the littlest being in school and my middle ds leaves tomorrow.
Desperation kicked in and we did a sunset shot on the beach. It is boring but it will have to do.
For the curious I have update the first chapter link for August Rock to reflect the latest revision here.
Now Leigh dropped by and posted a few questions which rather than reply to the comments I thought I would post here:
1. How many times do you rewrite your work? This time, ten but there will be at least one more that I know of for August Rock - am hoping to cut this number down on current and future works as I have learned so much from the whole writing progress of AR
And how do you know when it reaches its finished state? Good question - when I can't stand the sight of it any more? I'm not sure, maybe when it has been accepted by someone or I just can't see how I can make it any better...
2. How long do you leave your work before revisiting to make changes? This depends on the type of rewrite. A Cornish House has been sitting months before I picked it up so that I could look at it with new eyes. However some of my rewrites of AR have been close together - days apart. AR is resting now and I will read it through fresh next week. I think one of the good things of being pre-published is that I have time - no deadlines racing me through the process expect the ones I set.
3. How long since you submitted your work to the agent? I sent an email submission on the 8th of this month. Not long ago, I know but I was told that email subs are looked at quite quickly so I have no qualms sending off a postal one to a different agent when I am in the UK in two weeks. I have have personally met the next three agents I will be sending to and plan to give those each six weeks between submissions........
So, the next piece of writing for me will be the Christmas letter.......I somewhat dread this and yet love putting it together. Hence any temptation I may have had about NaNoMo is dead before it begins.......
Oh, did I mention that I am now a full Dubai expat as I am now driving a huge 4x4 (better safe than sorry).......but still living in a hotel.

16 comments:

Ray-Anne said...

What a fantastic photo! Love it. Best of luck with the agent submissions. As for the Christmas letter? No, don't do one. Won't do one. Not for me - so you are extra brave for making the effort!
LOL Ray-Anne :-)

Flowerpot said...

great photo Liz and good idea too. I don't do a Christmas letter either - so I admire your hard work.

Rachel Green said...

Well done Liz. I'll have a nosey at AR shortly.

Anonymous said...

when I can't stand the sight of it any more.

My sentiments exactly.

Rachel Green said...

Okay (note the spelling? Your use of the abbreviated 'OK' threw me out of the story at one point) I've read your fist chapter.

I liked it very much. I'd read the whole book based on that chapter. You've thrown in some hooks to the later parts and Jude's flashes to the Cornish past have me intrigued.

There were a couple of things I had trouble with. The 'pink, stinking lilies' was one. I don't like the phrase. Is there another word you could use? Suffocating?

The other was at the church, where her Bridesmaid deduces her intent to run from the single 'Jude swallowed' I think that needs a little more - Jude shaking her head with an anguished expression, perhaps.

I'm looking forward to getting my hands on a published copy :)

Unknown said...

Ray-Anne and Flowerpot......The life of an expat makes a Christmas letter inevitable...friends in far flung places and once a year contact!

Yes, Rebecaa, when I can't stand the sight of it :-)

Rachel, thanks for taking the time to read it and for the great feedback......I will go through and change OK :-)

Lane Mathias said...

Love the photo. It says alot about where you are:-)

I'll go and have a nosey at AR.

Fiona Mackenzie. Writer said...

Well done! I've had a very quick read and will go through it again, properly, later. There's a lot of intrigue there which would make me want to read on.
One tiny little thing - which is probably just me - 'tears caused it all to blur to pink.' It took me a while to understand this and I find the sentence tricky to read. As I said, it may be just me so feel free to tell me to sling my hook.

You do have a good voice and I can see you're becoming more and more proficient.

cs harris said...

We did Christmas photos this last weekend, too, with my youngest home for fall break and Sam taking a year out of Yale Law for her pre-med classes. They spent half the time laughing about all the yearly photo shoots they endured as kids. It was funny to realize that it has become a tradition they will remember fondly.

Lane Mathias said...

Back again Liz. That read really well and left me wanting to know how they interweave. As leatherdykeuk said, the 'stinking' lilies seemed to harsh, especially as they are 'decadent' a few sentences later.
I like the pace. The dialogue works and the character's are believable and I want to read it in book form!

Small point, because you're using the perfect tense quite alot, maybe you could sometimes use a contraction (she'd/they'd etc) to break up all the 'hads'. (Very small suggestion that you can feel free to stomp on:-)

Anonymous said...

You call that photo boring?
How lovely the rest of your surroundings must be!

Unknown said...

i really wasn't making myself clear the other morning - the photo for the Chritsmas it will one I took of the kids near there!

Unknown said...

Lane thanks for the great feedback :-)...I have struggles with the hads let me tell you.......I changed beginning to avoid the flash backs but then I realized that I wanted my orginal opening so the hads had to come back!!!

Do you think that in the course of narrative they's etc works? I don't know. I think I think I read somewhere that you can start the paragraph with the perfect tense then slip back into normal but I don't know. Thisi s where my writing falls down :-(

Unknown said...

CS, I wonder when we'll get to that stage. Right now it's like telling the that they are having three teeth filled and at times that's what the photo looks like!

Unknown said...

Aw shucks, Fiona, blushes, I have a voice!!!!! Thanks for the feedback. I'll take a look at the sentence structure :-)

Susie Vereker said...

Loved the Hobie Cat pic - we had one in Thailand.

I agree with the others in the next post who said you only need 1 or 2 hads, then you can slip into the simple past.

Hope all goes well.
love Susie