Hard work

So far, I've been lucky. Not a lot to correct, revise or edit. This time it was different and it wiped the smug look from my face. I had finished the latest novel in record time, being pushed along by a very tight deadline (my first!). The Glory Girls was researched and written in three months. Had it been an ordinary story about contemporary folk set any time after the war, it would have been different. But this story was special, involving those "glorious girls", the FANYs. And there was a timescale that was so easy to get wrong - and I did. I'm not making excuses, but the Ts winged its way back to me for correction at the very worst possible moment in my life just now. Lessons have been learned, I can tell you. Never put forward an idea to agent or publisher unless you're ready to zoom away, prepared to fit everything into whatever time they give you. I didn't even have a storyline - just an idea for a type of novel because a centenary was coming up soon.

Well, I've had the publishing date put back to March instead of February 2007, and today I was relieved to be able to print off the corrected version. Now, all that remains is to read it through carefully, every word, checking with the editor's comments as I go and, fingers crossed, it should soon be on its way back to London, all flags flying.

Right now I'm off for a well-earned feet up in front of the tele - well, after dinner, that is, and after the husband has had his fill of football for a Saturday evening. Tomorrow I'll start tackling the re-read and hope the editor doesn't start shouting before I finish.