From out of Psychic Virgin came My Psychic Toolbox. Having unexpectedly arrived at 130,000 words when I thought I would only write 5, I had to shave off some of the content of Psychic Virgin. Hence Book Two. Not so hard to write, most of it was done last winter (2009). Then it was left. Not a bad thing to do because it allows the book to 'cook'. Not as difficult to write either because the book is about how I work, what happens to me psychically, rather than how I arrived at being me.
So, book more or less done. Another read through, checking for typos which is like going fishing: you stand on the bank dangling your rod hoping for a 'catch', so I sit at the PC grazing through the words hoping to catch some typoes. Like fishing, it can be tedious at times if you don't 'catch' anything! Anyway, done this. Almost ready to upload to Lulu.com. The site will automatically convert it to Pdf format and download it back to me within minutes. Then I have to check that all is as it should be on the page: page numbering running seamlessly through, headers left and right where they should be and saying what they are supposed to be saying, same gap between headers and top lines, does the page itself look reasonably balanced, and so on. Loads of things to watch out for. Still, there will be plenty of things which slip through, so I put a note on one of the front pages that this is a 'cottage industry type book which means that I have done all the work on it myself. Therefore please forgive any typos that have escaped the net and any layout errors that have done the same'. That is all I can do for the reader: just explain that this is a homemade book.
Now onto the front section of the book. Easy this time. All I did was copy over Psychic Virgin's entry pages, then change the words relevant to My Psychic Toolbox. And a word here: I really would like to get on to other books, and would love to have a bash at a novel. All this writing about me can be tedious, especially because I don't want the books to be about how clever I am: they are supposed to help and inspire others to develop psychically if they want to. But these books need to be got out of the way before I get on to more interesting things. They need to be done!
BUT: I'm stuck. The b********y synopsis again! PV's synopsis took loads of re-writes and re-writes and re-writes before I let it go. Even now I don't really regard it as finished, but the book is done so no more fiddling about with it. The main question was: how serious do I make the synopsis, or should I make it funny, or spout off about what a clever and talented person I am in which case I would bin the book anyway. So I chose the route of funny. But then that is what you need to do with life: remember the funny bits and forget the rest, not take life too seriously.
AND: up against a wall I am now jammed. Synopsis time again. How to encapsulate a book of 70,000 words into 250 and 500. One for the back cover and Lulu's sale's pages, the second for the Introduction in the first section. Into avoidance mode I have gone. I get onto PC with good intent. An hour or so later time to go do something else away from the PC, having checked and responded to emails, looked at blog to do any responses to people who have left comments my thinking being that if someone can take the time to leave some words then I must make the time to respond back, onto Internet to have a browse at the newspapers, maybe YouTube for a bit of a fish around if I am really into avoidance mode.
THE OUTCOME: No synopsis! I am now getting cross at myself. Nothing coming out of my head. No 'lead in' words. No inspiration. But a thought has popped in: skim read MPT, lifting out certain phrases which leap out of the page at me. Make a note of them. Then use them as the scaffolding of the synopsis. Will let you know how I get on!
Meanwhile, my head is devoid of words and to sleep my creative faculties have gone. Maybe because it is cold here in our patch of the world, and hibernation time is upon us. Hope your head is being more obligingly active for you, and leaving you with the thought that writing has got to be a passion if one is going to put the hours of work in that is required to get those words out of one's head. Of course, one has got to find those words in one's head, often they will play hide-and-seek and refuse to be found, hence my early start today to see if I can find them. Singing 'I CAN write that synopsis, I can WRITE that ******* synsopsis, I can, I can I CAN', I am off to have a go.
So, book more or less done. Another read through, checking for typos which is like going fishing: you stand on the bank dangling your rod hoping for a 'catch', so I sit at the PC grazing through the words hoping to catch some typoes. Like fishing, it can be tedious at times if you don't 'catch' anything! Anyway, done this. Almost ready to upload to Lulu.com. The site will automatically convert it to Pdf format and download it back to me within minutes. Then I have to check that all is as it should be on the page: page numbering running seamlessly through, headers left and right where they should be and saying what they are supposed to be saying, same gap between headers and top lines, does the page itself look reasonably balanced, and so on. Loads of things to watch out for. Still, there will be plenty of things which slip through, so I put a note on one of the front pages that this is a 'cottage industry type book which means that I have done all the work on it myself. Therefore please forgive any typos that have escaped the net and any layout errors that have done the same'. That is all I can do for the reader: just explain that this is a homemade book.
Now onto the front section of the book. Easy this time. All I did was copy over Psychic Virgin's entry pages, then change the words relevant to My Psychic Toolbox. And a word here: I really would like to get on to other books, and would love to have a bash at a novel. All this writing about me can be tedious, especially because I don't want the books to be about how clever I am: they are supposed to help and inspire others to develop psychically if they want to. But these books need to be got out of the way before I get on to more interesting things. They need to be done!
BUT: I'm stuck. The b********y synopsis again! PV's synopsis took loads of re-writes and re-writes and re-writes before I let it go. Even now I don't really regard it as finished, but the book is done so no more fiddling about with it. The main question was: how serious do I make the synopsis, or should I make it funny, or spout off about what a clever and talented person I am in which case I would bin the book anyway. So I chose the route of funny. But then that is what you need to do with life: remember the funny bits and forget the rest, not take life too seriously.
AND: up against a wall I am now jammed. Synopsis time again. How to encapsulate a book of 70,000 words into 250 and 500. One for the back cover and Lulu's sale's pages, the second for the Introduction in the first section. Into avoidance mode I have gone. I get onto PC with good intent. An hour or so later time to go do something else away from the PC, having checked and responded to emails, looked at blog to do any responses to people who have left comments my thinking being that if someone can take the time to leave some words then I must make the time to respond back, onto Internet to have a browse at the newspapers, maybe YouTube for a bit of a fish around if I am really into avoidance mode.
THE OUTCOME: No synopsis! I am now getting cross at myself. Nothing coming out of my head. No 'lead in' words. No inspiration. But a thought has popped in: skim read MPT, lifting out certain phrases which leap out of the page at me. Make a note of them. Then use them as the scaffolding of the synopsis. Will let you know how I get on!
Meanwhile, my head is devoid of words and to sleep my creative faculties have gone. Maybe because it is cold here in our patch of the world, and hibernation time is upon us. Hope your head is being more obligingly active for you, and leaving you with the thought that writing has got to be a passion if one is going to put the hours of work in that is required to get those words out of one's head. Of course, one has got to find those words in one's head, often they will play hide-and-seek and refuse to be found, hence my early start today to see if I can find them. Singing 'I CAN write that synopsis, I can WRITE that ******* synsopsis, I can, I can I CAN', I am off to have a go.
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