Monday, February 16, 2009

Strachan's Attic - New/Old Revision Work

You'll see that I've now included Strachan's Attic on this site. I didn't have to change the layout as I'd thought, but simply included the new title in my Preface to the Blog and in the header, along with a link to a short description of the book, just above this posting.

I'm hoping to have the first chapter up here by the end of the week. Strachan's Attic is a working title and could change, by the way.

This is the first paragraph, as I originally wrote it:

'I first noticed the light in August, last year. It was just a dim light in the attic, but I could see into the room, through the pretty maple tree outside, and make out a cupboard on the far wall and some sort of patterned wallpaper, despite so much grime on the little window. I'd been in this apartment at Jarvis and Wellesley for just over a month, and had finally finished unpacking all my boxes. Of course, I'd noticed the house opposite right from the beginning, when I came to check this place out before I signed the lease, and I was impressed then. It's a fine old building, early Victorian, Queen Anne style, three storeys with the attic. It's empty, did I say? The ground floor windows are boarded up, and there's a 'Keep Out' sign nailed to the front door. It's a shame, because it's a charming house and I feel sorry for it, so neglected and sad, with bits of crud lying around in the overgrown front garden. Anyway, my bedroom looks straight across to it and I am exactly level with that attic window. And I've seen this light more than once now - and it intrigues me.'

This is in the first person because my protagonist has a very direct and occasionally earthy style, and I wanted to reflect this. It just didn't work in third person.

If you read an earlier blog of mine, you'll know I am more than a little obsessed with houses, especially old ones. Both my novels feature derelict houses, but the stories are totally different.

Nothing else today. I just wanted to show you that something else is happening, other than just playing the Literary Agent waiting game with Hafan Deg.

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Quotes to Consider

"If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten, Either write things worth reading, or do things worth writing." ~Benjamin Franklin

"Well behaved women rarely make history."~Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

“A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.”~William G.T. Shedd (1820-1894), theologian, teacher, pastor

"It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something." ~Franklin D Roosevelt (1882-1945), 32nd U.S. president

“Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.”
~Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), essayist, poet, philosopher


"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." ~Mark Twain

"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take."
~ Wayne Gretzky