Writing Intensive

I have been lucky enough to be invited to spend a further week at the Michael King Writers Centre on Mt Victoria, Devonport, Auckland, NZ. I came here as a visiting guest writer, on 7th August. Being here has given me a real chance to get stuck into my rewrite of book intensively. It is now called "The Fairy Godmother Effect," I have finally found the voice the book needs, and I am currently writing Chapter Four. I have also done a lot of study into the marketing process, the art of building a platform for my book. I had hoped (ambitiously) to write a chapter each day. But some days were better for writing than others , and some chunks of the work are easier to write than others. And some days, I collage a whole lot of fragments from previous days, and ended up with 7000 words and a full chapter done (or almost). Others I struggle like crazy all day, and end up with 3000 words and a headache and a feeling of failure.

It is the most perfect place ever to write, comfortable, and quiet, with two very helpful and capable administrators working in the office during the week, and the occasional group working away in the lounge, and a stream of joggers, cyclists and walkers charging past my window intermittently through the day. The town of Devonport lies at the foot of the small volcanic cone that is Mt Victoria, and it is easy to stride on down into town and buy a coffee, go for a brief walk etc. But then coming home is all uphill, steep enough to get me puffing and sometimes even having to take a breather at the top of the primary school. It is then only a hundred meters or so, not really a challenge at all.

I leave the morning after next, and wish I had another week.