Eco-friendly discoveries, secrets and... an admission - Linda Strachan

I have to admit that I am not always the best recycler. 
I do try... most of the time... honestly.    But to my shame, I have to admit that the odd poly-bag or tin, which I could recycle and normally do, will sometimes end up chucked in the bin.  When my children come to visit I have found myself waiting until they are out of the room before I dispose of ..whatever it is - so that they don't see and reproach me for it!  They are so good at recycling - I must have brought them up well, I suppose.


The one thing I am great at recycling is paper. 
 
I like to write on my computer but I find I also have to print out chapters, and sometimes entire books, to read away from the computer screen.  I'm not quite sure why, but I can see the entire book clearer in my head when I read it on paper and I often spot mistakes in the text more easily when it is printed out, rather than reading it on screen.  
  
I also like to make notes on the text - not just when working on a picture book, as in the picture opposite - and I often draw lines to indicate where text should move to or what I want to cross out (and sometimes write back in again). I couldn't easily do all that on a computer and it feels right working like that.
I wonder if it is part of the creative process, similar to the way that I prefer to write on the computer than by hand. It's just the way it works for me.

So I use a lot of paper.  

 I have just realised that it is 16 years since 1996 when my first series of books were published.  In that time I have written more than the 60 books that have been published, because there are all those finished and half written short stories and novels, which linger in the cupboard never likely to see the light of day.  In most cases they never should!  I have mentioned these before in a post I wrote a while back http://awfullybigblogadventure.blogspot.com/2009/04/living-in-cupboard-linda-strachan.html

Now I have to admit to being a bit of a hoarder, and even discounting the final versions of the published books, which I keep for sentimental reasons, there are many boxes of discarded versions and unfinished work that remain.  I know it is ridiculous and I should throw them away, especially as most of them are also saved in electronic form but...

So every now and then I do a cull and weed out some of the manuscripts and various versions of unpublished stories putting them all to one side, but I don't throw them away because paper that is printed on only one side is perfectly reusable,

as long as it is not crumpled, like this, and likely to stick in my printer!

I put all this used paper in the empty box my printer paper originally came in, and it is ready to use again.   Also, when I am sent papers in the post, or any sheets of paper that are not confidential, I place in this box so that I can use it to print out what I am writing, or recipes I want to use, or any other of a hundred things that don't need to be printed on a fresh piece of paper.

Now I know this is not unusual, I am sure many of you may do this -  but recently I was about to throw away one of these sheets which I had reused when I turned it over and started reading the story printed on the other side.  This has now happened several times and I have enjoyed dipping in, a bit of a lucky dip, not quite knowing what I would read next.  The paper had been mixed up when I cleared it out, so it is in no particular order.


One word of warning to all happy paper recyclers.  Do make sure that you check before you pass on to other people anything printed on recycled papers.  Make sure there is nothing confidential or worse, embarrassing, written on the other side!  

I recall sending a manuscript to an agent once, many years ago, and when I got it back I came across a piece of paper with a scribbled note on it.  I discovered it was a message his assistant had left for him, about a dental appointment, which I imagine may have been put down on his desk and picked up with the manuscript.  

Now this seemed innocuous enough at first except that the scribbled note was on the back of a letter which had quite a lot of fascinating and financial information about a deal he was negotiating on behalf of one of his clients. 

Don't ask me more, my lips are sealed - but recyclers BEWARE!


...........................

Linda Strachan is the award winning author of the Hamish McHaggis series, YA novels Spider and Dead Boy Talking and writing handbook Writing for Children
Website www.lindastrachan.co.uk
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The Seven Stages Of A Book - Lari Don

A book goes through many different stages as it travels from the writer’s mind to the reader’s mind, and the writer’s relationship with the book changes at each stage.

This week, I’ve experienced one of the major shifts in my relationship with a book: when it goes from being something I have the power to change, and becomes something I can no longer change, but must now start to promote. And I think I find this shift the most terrifying of all.

But looking up at my shelves, some with only a few sheets of scribbled paper, and some creaking with heaps of notebooks and piles of manuscripts, I realise that I have a book at almost every stage here in my study.

When I’m writing, I go through seven stages of a book, which may be conveniently Shakespearean, but does seem to accurately represent my writing process. I wonder if other writers recognise these stages?

# 1 The thrilling moment when the idea for a book emerges, which may be the only moment the book is ever entirely perfect!

# 2 Thinking and scribbling and considering: ‘what is this story about?’, ‘what am I trying to find out?’, ‘who are my characters?’, ‘what are the big questions?’, ‘what happens next?’ ‘how will I ever defeat the baddie?’ This bit is incredibly exciting, filled with possibilities.

the scribbling stage

# 3 Actually sitting down and writing it. Finding the story and putting it into words. For me this usually involves lots of self-imposed deadlines, late nights and ignoring my family. I find this bit exciting too. (I realise, writing the stages down like this, that I find every stage of writing a book exciting. I suppose that’s why I’m a writer…)

# 4 Turning the story into a manuscript. My first and most personal edit - lots of reading out loud, and cutting the word count by massive slashing and burning. This stage is perhaps less heart-thumpingly exciting but it is very satisfying.

 # 5 The real editing, with an actual editor. This stage can be emotionally draining, but by this time I can also see the original idea turning into a book that other people can read. Which is, of course, quite exciting!

the proofreading stage

 
# 6 Proofreading of the layouts. I did this last week, for my next novel Mind Blind. This stage is both exciting and chillingly terrifying. Any silly little mistakes I miss here will be printed in real books to be read by real readers. Which is a great incentive to keep your eyes wide open and focussed as you proofread!

# 7 Finally, the shift I’ve experienced this week: the shift from the writer creating a story to the writer promoting a book. I’ve stopped meeting new characters, and started having meetings with marketing people. I’ve stopped writing the story and started looking for extracts of the story I can read at book festivals, I’ve stopped thinking about chapter length and started thinking about ‘content’ for websites.

Can you tell I find this final stage a little less exciting? But really, this should be the most exciting shift of all. This is the bit where I look ahead to the story being read by readers, and that is, after all, what really excited me right at the start when I had the original idea, which got me scribbling, which got me writing, then editing…

Anyway, even if I will spend the next few months promoting this teen thriller, I’ve also just had another idea. So I’m starting a new relationship, with a new story and some new questions and new characters, and perhaps that relationship will go all the way too…

Lari Don is the award-winning author of 20 books for all ages, including a teen thriller, fantasy novels for 8 – 12s, picture books, retellings of traditional tales and novellas for reluctant readers. 

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Manuscripts - Old and New... Savita Kalhan

Unlike the Christmases of previous years, I found myself writing most of the days of the holiday this year. That hadn’t been the plan. I was going to take a week off, kick back and enjoy the festivities to the full.

In mid-December I finished a manuscript, which I had long struggled with. Finally satisfied with the ending, I bit the bullet and sent it out to a few a readers, and then promptly forgot about it for a while, or at least tried to! To distract myself, I decided to take a trip down memory lane, and at the same time restore order to my study, by pulling out some older manuscripts, some of which had not seen the light of day for a very, very long time.

Inevitably, the process of restoring order to the chaos of my working environment was hi-jacked as I dusted off the manuscripts and gave them an airing. I decided to reread them. Then I rewrote one of the manuscripts for a slightly younger audience, and, happily, the story, which hadn’t been working for the 14 + readers, began to work much better.

Another manuscript, written for adults a few years ago and then stuck in a drawer and forgotten about, was refined and polished and sent out to some readers. The third manuscript, dragged out of the longest hibernation was the first in an epic fantasy trilogy, (and by epic I mean humungously epic – the first book should be divided in two at the very least) – was so much fun I almost forgot it was Christmas!

In some ways it ways it was a very indulgent way to spend Christmas; it was a holiday within a holiday. I don’t usually have any time to make forays into the past in that way. The stories in the drawer usually remain in the drawer. They cover several genres and age groups. They don’t promote my current writing in any way. My brandis: teen/young adult contemporary fiction, and, unless you are an established writer, I’ve discovered that it is important to remain within that brand – particularly where publishers are concerned. So I’m not sure I will do anything with those manuscripts in the end. Time will tell.

Christmas has come and gone, the tree has lost its lustre, and New Year’s Eve has come and gone too. I’ve realised I haven’t made any New Year’s resolutions. I usually make several, most of which get broken within days. I’ve now decided that making resolutions is not such a great thing for me. It’s way too much pressure, unless, of course, the resolutions are things like: to go out more, socialise more, read more, listen to music more, walk more, and maybe write more...

Happy New Year!


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