Writing less than ever (a current life theme) seems to mean blogging less too. But at least I have come to a decision on where to go next with the writing – or rather where not to.
Basically it’s too soon to write novel 3 (which was in danger of foundering on the rocks of biography – no, that’s not what I mean to do). Nor do I have the mental space right now (blame the day job – I do) to embark on editing Ailsa.
But I have decided during this apparent lull in creativity to post The Water’s Edge on Authonomy, Harper Collins’ so called ‘alternative to the slush pile.’ Authonomy and other peer review sites are the subject of some controversy (here and here), and their unique selling point (a publisher may come by and snap you up) seems to be the least likely outcome. Bearing that in mind, I think it will do no harm to get some new feedback on the opening chapters .
But these sites are notoriously time-consuming. It’s already taken me several hours just to format the test and rewrite my pitch to the required 200 words. A couple more hours have been spent responding to a flurry of messages and working out which books I am prepared to read. (Only by reading other writers’ work am I likely to get reviewed and rated). It’s all a bit of a game, and having played it before on You Write On, I know what to expect, but what’s really bugging me right now are the technicalities of the site, particularly the difficulty of printing (what’s wrong with a print version of pages with text, or a pdf equivalent?) and the stupidly slow search function.
If I can get over these teething troubles, I’m looking forward to giving my first review of a book called ‘Something You Should Know’. Stand by for further updates, and in the fullness of time, a decision on whether this game is worth the candle.
Ali Bacon / Books and Other Things 