Started

At some point today I started. It wasn't the easiest place to start but I wanted to get it done. I was given a piece of work to edit by one of my fellow MA students, and it just so happened that it was the opening chapter of his own novel. All told it was a good piece of writing and an interesting approach. This, of course, got me thinking about me own opening chapter. I've always had very definite ideas about what I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it, but it just seemed like I wasn't obeying the 'standard' format. In other words I'd got myself a case of the doubts.

Reading my peer's opening chapter made me realise I could, and should, write what I damn well wanted to; it's not like the rest of the book is going to be exactly standard anyhow.

So at around 10.00 am I looked at my notes and began re-drafting what I had already written whilst bringing in new strands of thought. By 1.00 pm I had mapped out most of the first two sections of that chapter. After lunch, I did some house things and began to think about the third, and largest, section where the character Melanie is introduced, as she will appear in much of the rest of the book. at 3.00 I went for a long, long walk, returning at 5.30 with a lot of that section in place, at least in my head.

Tonight I'm off out, and later I'll sleep on the ideas. I know I need a way to zip it all together, but I'm not particularly concerned about that at the moment, I've done well today; even if I don't come up with a clever ending for the chapter, I can move onto other sections and come back to it whenever I need.

I'm just very pleased to feel like I'm adding to the body of work I have already.