I wrote the other day about writing to deadline and the few precious days I have to finish the current revision of my manuscript – Sarah’s Gift. Well, I’ve not written a single word… zilch, nadda, el-zippo, zero… you get the picture.

Hoping to be able to spend the weekend (when I’m not running errands) getting some serious writing done. But time will tell.

An appointment to pitch to an agent. How exciting! Especially when it could mean securing someone to represent my work. But… my manuscript isn’t completely finished and proper etiquette dictates you don’t pitch an incomplete project. I’ve got until September 11th to complete the current revision since I’ll be pitching it the next day. Twenty six days remain as I write this on August 17th between me and that ever so important date. In addition to completing the manuscript, I also have to perfect my pitch. Yikes! Nothing like putting the pressure on myself. My original goal was to be finished by August 31st. That still could happen. I’ve not ruled it out totally.

Because I’m not a linear writer, it’s very difficult for me to gauge exactly how much I have left to write. I’ve come up with some ideas to get me through the remainder of the segment that takes place in the past. Even though I have an outline, thanks to storybook, I’ve veered off course from it, too. Not a lot but some.

Compounding matters, my motivation has gone walkabout and has yet to return. This is the fifth revision of Sarah’s Gift so to say I’m getting bored is an understatement. I want to move on to other projects.

Can I do this? Can I be ready to give a word count and genre to the agent in addition to my “TV guide” version of the plot? I’m definitely going to give it a shot.

I didn’t get as many words written yesterday as I was hoping for. Less than 1000. The good thing is, the ideas are percolating away up in the gray matter so now it’s just a matter of time to get them from there out my finger tips and onto “paper”.

I had a rather productive day on the writing front, even though my wi-fi wouldn’t/couldn’t connect to the Internet. I settled in after lunch and throughout the course of the afternoon managed to write between 1100 and 1200 words. A complete new scene. And I inserted a previously written scene into where I wanted it to reside in the grand scheme of things with a few revisions.

I need to do some research before I can continue with the scene I wrote today. So… off to check a few things out.

Well today wasn’t a productive day on the writing front at all. However, I did do quite well on the Solitaire front. My wireless internet connection was playing silly buggers so I felt lost – not to mention pissed off – because I felt isolated with no contact to the outside world.

In the end, I think I wrote half a dozen paragraphs which I’m hoping will bring me closer to the entire scene I wrote last weekend.

Still, I plan on having this, my 5th revision of Sarah’s Gift, completed by the end of August. Guess I best find some inspiration, muse, motivation, and anything else I’m going to require to achieve this outlandish goal.

Wish me luck!

After going along smoothly, the words flowing out of my fingers, I’ve found myself grinding to a halt again. I had to stop and check a few details and formulate how I would work them in to my writing. Simple things, really… what train would my hero take from the nearby train station into Aberdeen? And once I got him to the city, what time would he leave? Minor details perhaps, but details that need to be accounted for.

They don’t happen often but when they do they’re usually pretty darn good. I happen to think this one is a cracker! I’ve figured out how to get Robert out of his arranged marriage to Letitia Christie so that he’s free to marry Sarah.

Not saying any more than that right now. If you want to know, you’ll have to wait until my novel is published and buy a copy so you can read it for yourself.

I had a brainwave this morning that I would change the name of the estate in the Victorian era from Gordonsfield to Gleanstane (basically glen of stones) and since I envision the Christie mansion being in a bit of a valley, a standing stone or two by themselves and a stone circle atop a hill, the name sounded absolutely perfect.

However in my heroine’s time, she knows it as Gordonsfield. A bit of a dilemma but not for long. I mention the burnt out shell of a house on the property which still exists in the twenty-first century. So, the burnt out shell of a house was rented by one Gordon Eadie a tenant farmer (crofter) on the Christie estate and the land that his house was on was his “field”… hence Gordon’s Field… and over the years shortened to Gordonsfield.

So a few find and replaces later and an explanation or two and all will be well. However, I’m going to continue on from where I left off at the weekend and worry about the earlier changes later. I’m finding myself on a roll as far as the current revisions are going so want to keep on that track. I’m not in any rush to go back to the first three chapters and start again –  spent way TOO much time back there.

I started back in my chapters 7-9 file of Sarah’s Gift after lunch and by the time I shut the computer down to come home from my mum’s, I was into the chapters 13-15 file. I even found the perfect place to put the file I started working on when I was distracted last weekend! When said file called to me to be written.

Woo Hoo!!! Hooray for me!