The Platinum Ticket by David Beynon

The Platinum Ticket by David Beynon
Shortlisted for The Terry Pratchett Anywhere But Here, Anywhen But Now First Novel Prize

Friday 7 January 2011

Time to crank it up to 11

'cause it's one louder, right?

That's been the theme around here anyway.  2011 - the year to crank it up.

I look back at the last post and realize it has been a while since I threw something new up here.  Well, Christmas has come and gone.  The Old Year ticked away and the New Year crept in the door.  My daughter had her birthday (but not her party, that happens this weekend).  The family braved the 6 1/2 hour journey (each way) in the car to visit with relatives up north.

December is typically a busy time of year for the Beynon family, made especially so this year because I was writing a novel straight through the holiday season.  There was a hard deadline - Dec 31st  - to enter the novel in The Pratchett Prize.  I took the framework of a novella I've had kicking around for a few years and expanded it into what I think is a really good novel.  I was literally writing down to the wire.

Leading up to the holidays I was   plugging away at a respectable pace.  The week leading to Christmas was spent putting in full days at the keyboard while my wife kept a pair of excited children busy.   I did, of course, take some time for tobaggon rides and snowman building, but mostly I was in the basement trying to get the story out.

I wrote on Christmas eve.  I wrote a bit on Christmas Day and a lot on Boxing Day.  I even wrote in the car the whole way up north while my wife drove.   Over the 29th and 30th I disappeared into my father-in-law's office each morning, came out for meals and to say goodnight to the kids and kept writing until the wee small hours.  I finished the actual writing around 4:00 pm on the 29th.  Then editing.  Usually I'll spend weeks on editing.   There was no time.  With the help of my wife, who went through a paper copy of the manuscript as I was writing, I was able to get a very fast edit done by 2:00pm on the 31st - just in time to e-mail the manuscript off before the deadline.

It has been a recovery week here.  The kids have gone back to school and I and my Golden Retriever companion have been edging into something like a routine.  I am currently musing over what major project to tackle next.   Before that, I have some more editing to do.  A short story I submitted for an anthology has come back with suggested edits and a request for a revised manuscript before the 15th.  I am putting the finishing touches on the edit and will probably get the story out over the weekend.

That's it for now.  All the best in 2011 - truly a year to crank it up.