Thanks Paul for the reading of Me and Magic on 101.7 Capital Radio on Saturday. It felt good to me.

I’ve now finished the author’s revamp of Turn on a Light.  Over the past few months, with some nagging and guidance, I’ve taken it from 441 pp to 302 pp and now the dreaded final editor has carte blanche.

The nagging and guidance can be summarised in what I was told. It was: “Re-read every line carefully, and if you make changes, re-read it again. And as you do, ask yourself two questions. One is whether what you written has been said in other ways earlier and you’re just repeating things. The other is how what you’ve just read enhances the story you’ve written, and if it doesn’t, get rid of it. And focus on the word ENHANCES!!”

That sort of work has taken me from a creative writer to a writer who wants to provide polished work. Tonight at a few drinks saying farewell to friends, I was told by a couple of people who have read both published novels that The WILUNA Solution had moved my writing to the new level. And part of the new level was the succinct nature of the story-telling.

I appreciate the comments because they told me that the hours and hours of work polishing the text weren’t wasted. I’ve come to believe that writing the novels is the easy part. Getting them ready for publication is the hard work. But then, I guess it’s why editors exist. Anyway, if you’re going to write and want to publish, find and editor or friend who will cheerfully tell you that part of what you’ve written are crap, and will just as cheerfully tell you how to fix it. Never reject it. It may not be what you decide to do, but suck it in, think about it deeply and then decide.