Welcome to the May newsletter. The past month has been busy, what with the release of The Scriptorium Chronicle, the new (well, old) WIP, and what has been going on in the garden. More on that later.
Let’s talk sales figures first. After all the pre-release hype and post-release marketing, I can reveal that The Scriptorium Chronicle has sold a grand total of… drum roll please… one copy.
Yep, one. Am I despondent? No. Am I surprised? Again, no. It would have been nice to have had a few more copies out in the big wide world for people to enjoy, but it was not to be. I’ll keep promoting it and will report back next month on how it’s gone. I’m not holding my breath as I know the odds are stacked against any indie publication, but if I don’t, then I’m pretty sure that the sales figure will be zero. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m lousy at marketing and promotion, so I’m keeping my expectations low. The first target is to reach double figures. We’ll see how that goes…
Works In Progress
Now that The Scriptorium Chronicle is out, I’ve turned my attention back to All Steamed Up. Feedback on an early draft suggested that while it had a strong opening that hooked your interest and set the tone nicely, the next couple of chapters introduced too many new characters too quickly, and in boring ways. Ouch. The thing was, it was true. With hindsight, it was boring, which in writing is an unforgivable sin. I needed to do better.
The first thing to do was to keep the continuity with the main character going, rather than cut away from him, so with a quick rewrite, it was possible to introduce three characters who would become important in a better way than before. It also meant relegating other characters to the background. They’ll show up later when they’re needed, but to keep things moving (and uncomplicated for the reader), they had to go.
There’s a saying in writing, which is “kill your darlings”. This doesn’t mean get rid of favourite characters, but don’t be precious about getting rid of what you think is great. In this case, it meant deleting about 4,000 words. I won’t lie, it hurt. I liked those words and the scenes they covered, but they needed to go as they were getting in the way. The characters in them still appear later in the book as they’re another important element for the plot. I’ll have to write in a bridging piece, or else a later scene won’t make sense, but that will be easy enough to do once I find the right place for it.
Once I’ve completed the developmental edit and fixed the structure, I can get back to the narrative and language and begin to work on those.
The Wildflower Meadow & The Kitchen Garden
The wildflower meadow (formerly the front lawn) has entered #NoMowMay for the third year. The good news is that the spotted orchids are back and have started to come into leaf. The one that divided itself into two last year has divided again, so I’m hoping that there will be a little clump of it this time. The other one remains by itself, or so it would appear so far.
I think it’s safe to say that the yellow rattle I sowed has not made it. The seeds in trays appear to have rotted with the wet winter we had, and I can’t see any sign of the seeds I scattered having germinated. I’ll have a look online to see if I can get some plant plugs, as I’d really like to see some yellow rattle, but we’ll see. When I last checked, the plugs were expensive, so I might give it one more go with seed later in the year. My lack of success and the price being asked for plugs might give some indication of why it’s hard to get it established.
The kitchen garden is starting to look more like a productive plot again, and not a patch of bare earth. I’ve begun to start a potager plot in the back garden beside where the greenhouse is going to move to, now that the sycamore tree in the other corner has been felled. It has really opened up the space, and the light levels are so much better. Not having enough compost to do it as a No Dig plot, I’ll have to turn the soil over and enrich it with what I’ve got before I can plant anything.
The tomatoes are getting to be a size and are hardened off. I just need the night temperatures to stay consistently above 10ºC before they can stay out. The chillis in the greenhouse are doing well. Germination of some of the perennials I’ve sown has been patchy. I’m finding that I’m having to closely watch the Rocket Gro peat-free compost as it dries out quickly. It’s far better quality compost than the Levingtons I used last year, but even so, I’m hoping that there’s something better out there, as I don’t want to be walking round with a watering can every 5 minutes.
What I’ve Been Reading And Watching
While I’m still reading The Light Ages, I picked up my copy of Glunda the Veg Witch by Keith Dickinson from my To Be Read pile. It’s not a long read, but it is a good one. The premise of where the witches and mages get their magical energy from is an interesting one, and drives the warm, humorous plot along nicely. If you enjoy the writing of Terry Pratchett, you should like this.
As for the telly, I’m continuing to watch For All Mankind on Apple TV. In an alternative world where the Russians were the first to land on the Moon, we’ve now made it to Mars and are trying to capture an asteroid to mine. I’m about to watch the season 4 finale, which, if the build-up is anything to go by, should be dramatic.
Season 5 is underway, with about half of it released for streaming so far. There’s a good chance that I’ll be caught up with what’s available and have to wait each week to watch the remaining episodes. I believe that season 6 has been given the go-ahead, and that will wrap up the show. There’s also a spin-off called Star City, which tells the story from the Russian side. From the trailers, it seems darker and grittier than For All Mankind, but the only way to know is to watch it. That’s my evenings sorted out for a while then.
And Finally…
If anyone knows of any good rain dances or invocations to the rain gods, could they please let me know? After the wet winter, it has been a dry spring and the water butts are getting low. The challenge I’ve set myself is not to use the hose pipe if I can help it. Thanks in advance.
Mark Weaver 