BEST LAID PLANS

The email came on Monday, via Agent Felicity, with the impeccable timing only achieved by a communication containing deadlines which arrives at the beginning of a holiday. And not a plenty-of-time, relaxing-on-the-beach sort of holiday – a full on archaeological tour of Orkney, with just about every waking hour accounted for.

It was a holiday we’d been looking forward to for over a year: a small group led by a real live archaeologist (a dead, or even half dead one would have been of limited use) around the amazing array of Orkney’s historical sites (see www.orkneyarchaeologytours.co.uk). In just six days we travelled from the Neolithic to World War 2 and back again. Via the ephemeral Picts and the rather more visceral Vikings. We crawled into Stone Age tombs and gazed in wonder at homes lived in 4,500 years ago at Skara Brae. The novelist in me was bitterly disappointed to find the story of the Italian PoWs who built a beautiful chapel from scrap had already been fictionalised, while at the same time storing away nuggets about life as an archaeologist for my current work in progress.

But I digress. The email forwarded to me was from my publisher, Endeavour Press, with an outline timetable for the production phase of The Seahorse Summer: finish the manuscript over the next few weeks, then four to six weeks later they would send me proofs and edit notes. Together? I consulted a writer friend who is published by a rival digital house and yes, that’s the way things are done. Proofs are not final proofs; she received five sets in all and great emphasis was placed on getting things right.

So what I need to get right now is my manuscript. I am delighted to be left to my own devices to do this but at the same time I just know that the “two days’ work” suggested by Endeavour at the pre-contract stage will take me so much longer. Readers are going to part with hard earned cash to buy my book (I hope!) so I owe it to them to make it as perfect as possible.
I guess every writer has their own method of editing. The Seahorse Summer, as a story, is complete. The characters are fully formed but the words aren’t as polished as I’d like them to be. So that’s the first thing I’ll do. Trusty filofax in hand I pencil in Monday and Tuesday next week for this vital task.

Please understand that I am not a full time writer – I also have a business to run. Thankfully my husband (when he gets over his post holiday grump) will be on hand to help, but even so on Wednesday I need to be at a client to deal with their month end – and on Thursday I need to deal with our own. And catch up on all the little tasks that didn’t get done while we were away.

Once these jobs are complete I can return to my editing. Next I’ll work through the manuscript from the point of view of each character, making sure their stories progress logically and their external and internal journeys are sound. For this I’ve booked in five to six days over the next fortnight – each one diarised in between client commitments, training courses, a hair cut and what will doubtless be a much needed massage.

The final read through I’m leaving until I have a clear week later in the month. I can deal with all the loose ends I’ve unearthed (why did the strange rumbling and roaring Marie hears disappear?) and make sure every word is where it should be. All 80,000 of them. And that’s where my meticulous planning should all pay off.

Jane Cable is the author of two independently published romantic suspense novels, The Cheesemaker’s House and The Faerie Tree, and a sporadic contributor to Frost. The Seahorse Summer tells the tale of how two American soldiers born sixty years apart help forty-something Marie Johnson to rebuild her shattered confidence and find new love.

Discover more at www.janecable.com