how long does this take? #amediting

Oh dear me…I am still editing Hotel Deja Vu. I put this thing out there on Amazon and it’s still not, 15 months later, where it should be. What was I thinking? Please read the first 5 chapters here… I’ve just now…after sending it off, found a glaringly obvious boo-boo…oh well, you live and learn.

I’ve sent 100 pages to a publisher as part of a special submission drive they have for unsolicited manuscripts so I am working on crucial storyline aspects in case (fingers crossed…) they ask for the rest. My villain, Paula, wasn’t enough of a bitch to warrant the ending I had for her. I was really scared to write her as a villain…I’ve been over that before…pathological need to be liked and all… blah blah blah…

Now, Paula is a massive bitch who experiences no growth as a character whatsoever. She’s a nightmare…so the end works now! Perhaps she will be the Cersei Lannister of my story, rotten to the core and rotten to the end!

I finally have a nasty girl!
image by Sam Moghadam on Unsplash

Why is it so hard to write a nasty girl? It should be easy; I’ve experienced my fair share of them and I’ve been one on numerous ocassions if I’m being honest. I think I’ve been freed up to write a mean character who experiences little to no growth and makes everyone else’s life a misery because I recently had an apology from someone who introduced a person like this into my life! I think her finally acknowledging her part in the process made me think ‘yeah, sometimes people are not nice and there’s little you can do about it…’ short of getting in a time machine and going back and doing it all again! I think this is why Annaka Harris’ quote touched me so deeply – ‘I’m sorry is related to compassion, regret is related to shame.’ I’ll be thinking about that one for a while.

My next project is about a real nasty girl – Mimi gets away with murder and much more. I am very keen to leave Paris behind for a while (gaaassppp! I know!!) and take my mind back to LA and bring Mimi and her sister Nicole to life. Mimi is cold and calculating, beautiful and famous. What could go wrong?


Feature Photo by Jeremy Wong on Unsplash – an actual photo of future me finally finishing this book… Imagine if I was being paid by the hour…