Editorial high-fives and a complexity of plot

Spent this morning editing The Gifting, which went something like this:

11am (ok ok, it was really 11.30am but hell I deserve a lie-in sometimes ...): the archetypal Z-list author weeps over her keyboard, sobbing that she'll never be good enough, she doesn't understand her own plotting, she's a hopelessly bad writer and she doesn't remember anything she's written before in the ruddy book so how can she make it all come right now? Ah, same old, same old then ... Lord H stands behind her, massaging her shoulders and moaning in sympathy.

12noon: Z-list author cheers herself up by reading other people's bad reviews on Amazon (and don't tell me you've never done that if you're a writer because I simply won't believe you!).

12.30pm: Miraculously, a piece of the plot suddenly makes sense and I have an editorial high-five moment where I can end a scene on a moment of high-octane drama and action which I haven't seen how to do before. Re-sult! There was a heck of a lot of screaming and cheering going on, and that was just me. Double bloody hurrahs! Naturally I decided to stop it there for a while. I like to quit while I'm ahead.

Anyway, this afternoon, Lord H and I have gone to the Yvonne Arnaud to see Ayckbourn's "A Trip to Scarborough". Completely surreal and utterly complex but actually we thoroughly enjoyed it. Some wonderful comic moments and one or two sad ones too. Honestly, what that playwright can't do with triple and even quadruple plots, all happening at almost the same time, hasn't yet been invented. The man's a genius.

Tonight, I have been glued to "Primeval", which had the toshiest slow-motion ending in history, m'dears. Had the camera speed broken or was the director on drugs?? If not, maybe he should have been ... It's a mystery. Still, it's always a joy to watch Connor and Abby, no matter how much hammy emoting is going on.

I'm also going to squeeze a bit more editing in, but I'm hoping for a relatively early night. Ho ho.

Today's nice things:

1. The editorial high-five moment
2. The theatre
3. TV.

Anne Brooke
Anne's website
Goldenford Publishers