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Filed under fiction, in a celandine world
Willow Jane has a secret. She’s in love with the Boogeyman. He comes to her in her dreams. Lately he’s been speaking to her while she’s awake. She doesn’t know why he comes to her, or how it is that she loves him. She’s never even seen him.
Until now.
She’s accepted crazy. She’s accepted isolation—heck, she’s even welcomed it. She’ll do anything to be with him.
But now Betts Willoughby is on to her. The mysterious wife of the village butcher watches her. She knows things. She believes things—things that are even crazier than Willow.
The truth is going to come out. A truth that has long been forgotten. A truth that was concealed in a manuscript in the 12th century. An impossible truth. A dangerous truth that will blow Willow’s secret wide open—leaving her scrambling to save the only man she could ever love.
Filed under fiction, in a celandine world, Uncategorized
*Update 11/10 - The title, ORIGIN, has been replaced with the new title, IN A CELANDINE WORLD.
The feedback from the beta readers for, ORIGIN: Book of Truth, has been incredible. I knew the story, itself, might stir up some strong feelings and create some argumentative controversy—perhaps even belligerence—and I was prepared for it. I have always understood that faith is a very personal thing and even though this book is a work of fiction, ORIGIN kicks at boundaries and challenges core and universal beliefs in religion, science and life.
The feedback has been as varied as the folks reading it. Some wouldn’t change a single word and read it all in one sitting, while others selflessly (and painstakingly) combed through every sentence with the diligence and dedication of a 6 figure New York editor, providing detailed chapter reports for my perusal. Fantastic!
With the culmination of this feedback tucked into a binder, I set off to have a meeting with my esteemed ‘Continuity Director‘. We evaluated every word of suggestion and comment and quickly made notes for changes to the painfully obvious faux pas (the ones you can’t believe you didn’t see yourself) and also made notes for changes to the manuscript on what seemed to make sense for the flow. I would like to be able to tell you that this was a precise and calculated exercise built off some elaborate literary genius, but the dirty truth is that I tend to go where my ‘gut’ leads me.
Chapter 1 has been completely re-worked (not re-written) and the subsequent 2 chapters have absorbed the overflow with a small amount of re-working as well. The spelling, continuity, and grammar edits have been reflected throughout and I’m currently still working on verifying some research checks (I was sure I had already triple-checked these) and then I should be ready—once again. (For real this time!)
Next order of business is the query letter re-write. I know I’ve blogged about this before but it bears repeating. This is not an easy task. One might think that if you can write an entire book, what could be so difficult about one letter? Well, it’s not just any old letter. Literary Agents have a specific structure and flow in mind when they receive queries from authors. However, these “wants” are as varied as the publishing industry itself. Researching the ins and outs of writing one can leave you frustrated and fed up. The information is, at times, completely contradictory and it’s almost impossible to know which advice is the sound advice to follow. The truth is that you are not going to please everyone with the same standard letter. I am beginning to believe that it is less important to study the guidelines ‘to the letter’ as it is to be professional, succinct, courteous and right to the point of your plot. Hopefully the writing will speak for itself. So, here we go.
Special thanks to my beta readers; Liane, Steve F, Karyn, Josephine, Toni, Steve G, Jo & Mark.
~uberscribbler
Filed under fiction, in a celandine world
I have finally finished the re-edit for, ORIGIN: Book of Truth, and it’s now off for beta printing and binding. For those of you who volunteered to be a beta reader of the manuscript, your copy should be ready in a day or two.
If you would like to become a beta reader, send me an email and I’ll tell you how awesome you are …over and over again.
Filed under fiction, in a celandine world
For 23-year-old Willow Alice Jane, sanity has a very slippery meaning. She has learned to protect her secrets well, especially the growing intimacy with her “imaginary” friend, Boon. But Willow has more than one secret buried deep in her subconscious.
After travelling across an ocean and isolating herself on an expansive and rundown estate in England, Willow sets out to enjoy her new life as a reclusive artist. She has granted herself the freedom to pursue and explore her unconventional romance — in private. An opportunity of chance allows a Professor at the University to share one of her prized paintings – a painting of Boon – with a dangerous Israel antiquarian, who sets out to find Willow and force her to reveal her secrets – in order to steal them. Bizarre riddles and mysterious allies have Willow chasing down the rabbit hole, bringing the past to life with alternate tales of historical reference, leading her to an undecipherable 13th century manuscript. This manuscript holds documented evidence to the truth of the origin of mankind; a truth that has been hidden and kept secret for thousands of years, a truth that will lead her back to Boon. The truth is worth fighting for. Willow must fight to save humanity – from itself! The truth must be uncovered.
Keep checking back for chapter excerpts!
~uberscribbler
Filed under fiction, in a celandine world
I’ve forsaken my blog. I haven’t meant to mind you, it all began with the best of intentions – but then of course we all know what the road to hell is paved with.
I have been writing though. Diligently pounding out a story; day after day, chapter after chapter, leaving me a little on the edge of crazy. I never anticipated that writing fiction would be like this. It’s a contradictory sort of thing; it comes so easy in a difficult sort of way. I find myself consumed with my characters and completely immersed in the landscape of my imagination. I am in love with the story but fear my ability to tell it… to write it. One sentence at a time, one paragraph, one page at a time providing the thought provoking ebb and flow of plot. Some days reality exists only in my subconscious eking it’s way into the daylight through the keys on my keyboard, slowly at first and then fervently as my fingers try to keep up with my thoughts. Other days I walk by my notes and laptop sitting quietly unopened, waiting for me. I circle it like a vulture and pace back and forth in front of it but never actually turn it on.
I am close to the end now, only a few chapters left before the first draft of the manuscript is ready for editing. My protagonist has been a steady and loyal friend these past few months, almost to the exclusion of all others. It has been a strange experience to research and write this novel, but I have loved every minute of it and all nagging questions of whether my life is to write have been answered ten-fold.
I do ask myself sometimes… “what if no-one ever reads it?” and I usually respond to myself in the same way; with a shrug of my shoulders, a nod of my head and the immediate declaration that… ”I’ve done this for me.”
This is for me.
~uberscribbler
Filed under fiction, in a celandine world
