I'm so glad I've got an agent...

I've been lucky enough to get a better offer for three books - that feels like a fantastic launch pad for a possible career in the future. But is my agent sitting down with a well earned cuppa and a custard cream? Probably not, as she's asked both the bidding parties if they can do more. More money to me means less time worrying about earning more money to pay for little luxuries like, I don't know, food maybe, or heating. We don't quite live within our means - something to do with our plentitude of children, possibly, or our Amazon addictions...

Meanwhile, I've been busy working on my course at the college. This week we looked at very small stories and things like structure. The tutor copied our stories and handed out scissors. Cutting up stories and rearranging them worked for me, even though it's something I've done before, I still get distracted faffing about with words rather than structure, which tightens up the story.

This was my original. 

‘Don’t put it on, it’s supposed to be haunted.’ She crouched on the loft floor, and rolled the ring towards him.

He balanced on the ladder. ‘You’re superstitious.’

‘Our great-grandmother fell down the stairs.’

‘She was probably drunk,’ he said, releasing the ladder to slide the ring onto his finger.

 

 Then it became:

‘Our great-grandmother fell down the stairs.’

‘She was probably drunk,’ he said, releasing the ladder to slide the ring onto his finger.

‘Don’t put it on! It’s supposed to be haunted.’ She crouched on the loft floor.

He balanced on the ladder over the stairs. ‘You’re just superstitious.’

 

Who would have thought you can play around with just 50 words! Not to mention I actually cut two words... Since I have to rewrite and edit the structure of A Baby's Bones, this gives me confidence to do sweeping changes.

I'm also chuffed Hilary Mantel won the Booker prize with Bring up the Bodies. I was a huge fan of Wolf Hall, and glad that this one did as well. Mantel is one of those authors who writes across genres and just goes where her imagination takes her. Looking forward to the final instalment.