Job Done or is it?

Finishing a novel when you've been working on it for so long, is always a bit of an anti-climax. Nearly every day, I do a bit of editing on what I have written the previous day. This is useful, as it keeps me from straying a bit - I have been known to start a novel in November and to have jumped by some strange miracle to the flowering month of May within a few pages. This is a warning sign to me that I still have to do a bit, well let's say a lot more work on the the setting - including the time of year!
There are writers who are so disciplined that they write out a synopsis of each chapter before they start the actual work of writing the story. I can only salute them. I start off with an idea and a character in my head. After a few weeks, the character will have been joined by other characters and the original idea will have been changed, fleshed out a bit, or completely readjusted. I can never get into the business of writing a plan for the whole novel. I know where and how it is going to end before I start. The journey, however, can twist and turn as characters take on a life of their own and pull me in different ways. That's the fun of writing!
Now that I have finished my final edit of A MAN CALLED GREGOR which I plan to self publish next month, I have just started thinking about a Christmas novel and looked over the beginning of the first chapter which I wrote last month. I'll probably change the plot a bit and possibly one of the characters might have to go as well. I know one thing for sure, it's not going to be the original story I had in my head! I'll have a short break from writing and then it's back to see what my characters are up to. Next week I'll be doing my annual house-sitting in the country, so I'll have loads of peace and quiet and country air to help me concentrate. Wish me luck!

World Book Day

It's World Book Day as all book lovers will know. Today is the day I feel a teeny bit sorry for people who don't read. Even the best film adaptation in the world can't compare with a really good book. And the nice thing is that you can read them over and over again.
Whenever I feel in the need for something entertaining but gentle, I pick out a Jane Austen novel. Following a nasty bout of bronchitis, I needed a pick-me-up and I am currently reading Emma, even though I practically know it by heart. Highbury and its inhabitants still makes me smile. As a writer, I appreciate Jane Austen's grasp of human nature. Her stories are peopled with characters who are so true to life. The polite, kind-hearted Mr.Woodhouse with his "habits of gentle selfishness" is as believable as Miss Bates, who sees only the best in everybody. The character of Emma is often said to be the most rounded of the Jane Austen heroines: you can't help but like her despite all her blunders.
Be all that as it may, I enjoy the story for what it is and the fact that it is going to end happily for everybody.
I am currently editing a novel I wrote several years ago. The cover is now ready which is a spur for me to get a move on and finish it.

I am using my own name for this book. I write crime as P.B. Barry and romance as Peggy O'Mahony. My crime novels and my romance novels are all set in Ireland. A MAN CALLED GREGOR shifts between Dublin, London, Germany and Croatia. When her parents are killed in a traffic accident, Lauren's Uncle Gregor rescues her from a round of foster homes. He provides stability in her life.When he goes missing, she sets out to find him and in the process her life turns upside down.

I'm hoping to publish around Easter this year but I still have a lot of edits to do. I am revising the ending to the story - this is the tricky bit, I find, how to sort and tie up the strands of the story in a satisfactory way.

Incidentally, I have written one novel set in Germany under the name Peggie Biessmann:
SPATE OF VIOLENCE, which is the story of a family who move home and are caught up in the social problems of a town.

Time to get down to doing some of that editing. Happy World Book Day to readers everywhere.