The writing process - painful part two

I have been a teacher for over twenty years. I love being a teacher. But, I am used to strict deadlines ("junior reports to form teachers by 9am on the 5th", "NCEA results loaded into ClassRoom Manager no later than the 17th" - kinda stuff).

So, I have a deadline: manuscript to publishers on or before the 1st of March. Oh, and 120,000 words.

The problem is, I'm writing to a word count and deadline even though I know that a lot of what I'm writing is cringingly over-written because I dread deleting a word because it will reduce my word count.

Today, I read the first 45,000 words of Bloodlines. It's trucking along with some really good bits but my-oh-my- my some of what I've written is puke.

I needed to find his voice. Fleance that is so I picked up Banquo's Son and flicked it open. I just began to read.

Sigh.

Thank goodness for that boy. The message to me? Shut up Tania and just tell the story. In other words, I have felt the burden of trying to write a sequel so that I've anxiously written a stuff which actually is overwritten. There’s great intelligence in there but, please, author, go away.

Note to self: day after Boxing day - cut the crap. Get the boy into battle; deal with the rebels; deal with the abductors; deal with the love problem. Don't worry about whether they sat in a carriage or a wagon at this stage - just that they were moving!

I am a novice when it comes to writing historical fiction (despite the many hours I have spent researching this period) So, I will (as my hubby exhorts) tells the bloddy story and then come back and fill in the historical details. I agree with him that the story is timeless so let’s get the boy dealing with his issues…