Good Housekeeping submission

My submission for the Good Housekeeping competition is all sealed up in an envelope, sat on top of my handbag, waiting to go to the post office.  Having given it the same sort of obsessive checking and re-checking that I used to reserve for my uni assignments, I can now finally breathe a sigh of relief that it's done!

Providing, of course, that no major catastrophes befall the post office over the next twenty hours.  Part of me thinks that maybe I should try and get it posted before I go to Mottisfont tomorrow.  However, the more rational part of my brain points out that this isn't really practical given how much faffing it normally takes to get me out of the door in the morning.  Putting in an extra mission on the way is just asking for trouble.

And I think this competition has given me enough stress as it is.  I re-wrote the actual submission several times - or rather the first couple of pages of it.  It was, after all, my dreaded Hide and See Chapter 1, which I have whinged about in previous blog posts.  I think I'm happy with it now, although this is probably dependent on my not looking at the thing for several weeks (or months).

The synopsis, too, gave me trouble.  I'd written it to the two pages specified in the competition criteria, only to read in the small print that the entry should be double-spaced.  This led to much angsting over whether this included the synopsis or not.  Thankfully, Reb came to the rescue of my frazzled nerves and assured me that single-spaced was fine.  Hurrah!

So now it's time to get back to actually finishing this draft of the whole novel.  I have not yet completed the re-write of the first third.  I'm up to Chapter 9, and started it on my lunch break at work today.  The chance to write some fresh words - in glorious sunshine no less - was a pretty blissful experience, even though it lasted ten minutes at most.

The Easter Hols start next week (the joy of working for a college!) so hopefully I'll be able to get a good chunk of writing done.  I really want to finish this re-write soon.  Other things (book two included) have been whispering at me and needed to be written.