March update; back in The Shed

The third draft of my follow up to When She Was Bad was finished mid-February. I was pleased with it and thought it was pretty good, but would others agree? Did the story really make sense? Had I managed to recreate the world of Barclay & MacDonald? Were the twists and turns of the plot convincing? Did TNT’s back story surprise like I wanted it to? It was time to let a few other people read it.
First off, I needed to give it to someone who was a voracious reader, had liked the first book and would be happy to spend hours with a not-quite-finished version and provide constructive feedback. First Readers are critical to a writer and I could think of no-one better than my friend Tina Pugh. Tina is a voracious reader who loves a thrilling page turner and had enjoyed my first book. With great enthusiasm Tina consumed Bad For Good in a couple of days...and she said she loved it! I was well chuffed and somewhat relieved - it’s a nerve-wracking time when you share your new effort with a reader for the first time.
Tina’s verdict was hugely encouraging so I now knew that book two’s more complex plot worked and I’d successfully returned to the world of Barclay and MacDonald, which was great news. It was time to get an editor’s input to help fine tune the telling of the story and make it a more polished, final product, so I asked another friend, Karen Myers (formerly of Time Inc.), if she could spare the time to edit the latest draft. Karen is a busy woman but somehow she found a few days to do an invaluable, skilful edit of draft three, accommodating Tina’s feedback, correcting my grammar and narrative errors and suggesting ways to improve the storytelling. She even noticed one of Claire’s escape routes through Hammersmith wasn’t quite right, so I need to fix that. And she said she loved it, too.
Greatly heartened by my friends’ feedback, I’m back in the Shed starting what will be the final draft before proofreading and formatting for publication. I had originally planned to have my second novel published early in May but after those delays due to my broken leg that will slip a few weeks. I’m not going to rush it out, but it won’t be long now and hopefully will prove well worth the wait.
Thanks again for your support.
Neil