News

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22 November 2009

I am sat here typing this with an ice cold glass of champagne at my side.

Chapters ten to fourteen are the most recent chapters I’ve written, and in many ways, beyond the fact they spell the end of the novel, the final five chapters are also a summation of all the work that preceded it, they are the full flowering of the work, the completion of the piece in terms of storytelling, characterisation, pace and style. In other words, if the final five chapters did not sing, if they required months of rewriting, then basically, as I saw it, I was buggered.

It is then with great delight that I found I was able to final polish all five of the closing chapters in one day.

After two long years, at 18.39 on 22 November 2009, Meridian was completed.

Happy days.

Please excuse me as I go and recharge my glass.

Meridian Meter

Chapters 1 to 14 Complete

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22 November 2009

Although I do not intend to split Meridian into two parts, there is a natural dividing line in the story: chapters one to nine are, if you like, the build up to the pay off which are chapters ten to fourteen.

And with the idea that I have crossed this dividing line in mind, I am again finding myself having to stifle elation, for I can feel the end of this two year journey is very close now, but I am not yet there, so I must not allow myself to believe it. I must simply keep working as if I was first drafting chapter one. Patience and persistence are my best friends and not the giddy high I can feel wanting to burst in me.

Chapter nine is done. Onward ho.

Meridian Meter

Chapters 1 to 9 Complete

Chapters 10 to 14 Awaiting final polish

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15 November 2009

I’ve been battling the seasonal lurgy, yuck, but despite the flu I forced myself to write every day, albeit it at a much slower pace. I can’t afford to stop now, not even for a day, and I find if I don’t write for say three or four days in a row then getting back into the groove is so difficult it’s almost painful. It’s just best to write every day, even if it’s only for half an hour and all I produce is rubbish, for it at least keeps the rhythm going.

I have completed the final polish of chapter eight, yeh, and so it’s time to move onto chapter nine.

Meridian Meter

Chapters 1 to 8 Complete

Chapters 9 to 14 Awaiting final polish

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8 November 2009

I have to be careful now I think, for the final polish is indeed speeding up, and I can feel a kernel of elation growing within me as I approach the end. I have to keep ignoring this feeling and reminding myself that the novel is not finished until it is finished.

Still, chapter seven’s final polish was a reasonably smooth affair and I find I am now half way through the work. Which is nice.

Meridian Meter

Chapters 1 to 7 Complete

Chapters 8 to 14 Awaiting final polish

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3 November 2009

Other than another knot in chapter six, which required quite a bit of work to undo, the flow of the writing in six is much more in line with the writing in later chapters. I am reasonably confident the knots in the piece, which have all been around plot points, have all now been undone, and I can feel the process of polishing is becoming easier as I progress through the novel. The polish of chapter six, then, is complete and chapter seven’s polish is underway.

Meridian Meter

Chapters 1 to 6 Complete

Chapters 7 to 14 Awaiting final polish

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28 October 2009

Now that’s much better, for other than a knot around the three-quarters mark, which took some work to undo, the final polish of chapter five was a reasonably smooth affair, which is in direct contrast to the three long months it took me to first draft the chapter back in late 2008. I’m daring to wonder if perhaps chapter five is a turning point, I wonder if perhaps the polish might be a little easier from now on.

Chapter five is complete and chapter six awaits me.

Meridian Meter

Chapters 1 to 5 Complete

Chapters 6 to 14 Awaiting final polish

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23 October 2009

One of the predominant feelings I’ve been experiencing during this final polish is lethargy, I think it springs from the fact the novel is finished and I desperately want to switch gears from writing to trying to sell the piece.

But then, one of the things I’ve picked up along the way is that it doesn’t matter if I feel high from a burst of inspiration or low from battling with the same paragraph for over an hour, I simply have to keep going whether I feel energetic or not, inspired or not, happy or not, and as a certain Vulcan might say, emotion is irrelevant.

I also have a slogan on my writing file that says, ‘All that matters is the piece’, and I find the words really help my mindset, as I cannot allow myself to be distracted by the likes of lethargy.

I am so close to the end now, lethargy is just an obstacle, emotion is irrelevant, for the piece is all that matters, and with that in mind chapter four is finished – bring on chapter five’s final polish.

Meridian Meter

Chapters 1 to 4 Complete

Chapters 5 to 14 Awaiting final polish

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14 October 2009

Chapter three is complete and while polishing it I felt equal measures of encouragement and discouragement.

The discouragement came as I worked on paragraphs that I had to wrestle with, paragraphs that seemed to take hours to remould in order to bring them up to the right standard, they were the moments when I felt as though I was chopping my way through the thickest, darkest jungle.

The moments of encouragement came when I felt as though I had broken out onto open ground again, when I would speed through paragraphs in only a matter of minutes, paragraphs that were already in great shape and needed perhaps just a word or two altered here and there.

On balance, I am feeling encouragement, because the polish of chapter one was a long slog, chapter two was also hard going but there were moments in chapter two when the work was a little less tough, and, happily, considerably more of those easier moments appeared during the polish of chapter three.

And so, as I step into chapter four, I do hope the work will continue to become easier and I will get through the remaining chapters quicker. I don’t dare try and fix a target, but I do tentatively hope to finally have the novel finished by the end of the year. We shall see.

Meridian Meter

Chapters 1 to 3 Complete

Chapters 4 to 14 Awaiting final polish

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4 October 2009

I have realised a number of things I had not fully appreciated until now:

I had not understood how much completing the novel would impact on the early chapters, that is to say, when I first drafted the piece the characters said and did certain things which in light of the conclusion have not only needed clarification but in some cases wholesale revision.

Additionally, because the work evolved over the many months I needed to write it the earlier chapters are requiring a considerable amount of work to bring them up to the same standard as the later ones.

Also, constructions such as a desire for an even 5,500 word count per chapter have had to be dropped in the face of these revisions. I feel certain that by the end of the final polish all fourteen chapters will be 6,000 words and upwards.

Lastly, I’ve been reading the ‘Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook’ in preparation for putting together my proposal pack for publishers and agents, and the yearbook advises that first time writers need to have a complete manuscript, one that is ready to read, before they approach publishers and agents, so there goes the idea of beginning the approach with just the first two chapters complete and ready to be read.

Meridian’s journey then is going to take a little longer than I had originally anticipated and thus the day I can begin trying to secure a publisher and agent has had to be put back to an indefinite date.

Still, it’s not all doom and gloom, chapter two is at last complete. Onward ho.

Meridian Meter

Chapters 1 & 2 Complete

Chapters 3 to 14 Awaiting final polish

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23 September 2009

Chapter one’s final polish has been completed, however, the work felt more like a draft than a polish. I knew the earlier chapters would require more work than the later ones but I wasn’t expecting to have to reshape so much of the text, I hadn’t realised my writing had evolved to the point where chapters one and fourteen sounded like different people had written them. Still, the chapter has at last been completed.

Meridian Meter

Chapter 1 Complete

Chapters 2 to 14 Awaiting final polish

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10 September 2009

Another significant milestone has been reached: I have completed the second draft of chapter fourteen. I am edging ever closer to completing the novel.

All that remains is for me to crack on with the final polish, which should only entail minor additions and subtractions, as well as a harmonisation of style. I think the chapters that will create the most amount of work will be the first four or five as there are a number of small alterations needed in all of these early chapters. Additionally, my writing style has evolved somewhat over the months and as the drafts of these early chapters were written some time ago I think I will need to spend some time moulding them so as to bring them into line style-wise with the rest of the novel.

Meridian Meter

Chapters 1 to 14 Awaiting final polish

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