If the state of your desk reflects the state of your brain…

Posted on June 12, 2013May 18, 2014 by C.L. Taylor Posted in author photos, edits, Last Girl Standing, Novel 3, Novel 4, psychological suspense, The Accident, UncategorizedTagged an author's desk, an author's study, edits, Last Girl Standing, planning a novel, THE ACCIDENT by CL Taylor, the reality of writing and editing a novel

…then I’m in trouble!*

Last week I had a minor heart attack when I thought I’d lost all the work I’d done on my edits for ‘THE ACCIDENT’ when a Windows 8 update on my new Dell laptop decided to prevent me from logging in (*insert Windows 8 rant here*).

Fortunately a very nice tech guy managed to retrieve all my files (*back-up lesson learnt*) but he wasn’t able to fix the laptop so now I’ve got to wait for Dell to send me a copy of Windows 8 and then talk me through re-instillation.

Which means I’m working on the world’s tiniest Samsung netbook. Still it could be worse…

3 days until I promised I’d get my edits in.

* You can also see, from the post-it note ‘wallpaper’ on the wall in front of me, what happens when I start writing a novel I haven’t fully planned (novel 2:LAST GIRL STANDING). To be continued when my edits are done.

7 thoughts on “If the state of your desk reflects the state of your brain…”

June 19, 2013 at 8:09 pm Reply
Carmella Dillman says:

I’m so jealous about where you are in your writing career! Computer issues are never fun but just know, so many people WISH they could have a book deal!! I’m just starting the process of querying for an agent so I’m worlds away from even the hope of a book deal, and if you’re still worried about the deadline remember that stressful hangups like this are minor in the grand scheme. Congratulations on your success!
July 17, 2013 at 8:54 pm Reply
cltaylorauthor says:

Thanks Carmella, wishing you lots of luck with your agent submissions. Now THAT’S nerve wracking!
August 2, 2013 at 3:16 pm Reply
Neil J Hart says:

Hey Cally. Have you tried using the writing software Scrivener? I don’t need to have notes and scraps of paper everywhere anymore, as it takes care of all that for you (plus tons more). I thnk it’s brilliant. Give the 30 day free trial a go, if you like. Just a thought.
N x
http://www.literatureandlatte.com/trial.php
1. August 2, 2013 at 3:18 pm Reply
  cltaylorauthor says:
  
  I’ve got it but haven’t got round to trying it yet (there’s that stamina issue I was talking about… ;))
August 8, 2013 at 8:21 pm Reply
Alice says:

Wow, I could never do all that planning! I usually get writing and see where it takes me. I get to the ending and I can’t carry on… and there’s the reason you’re much more successful than me!

http://www.alicekouzmenkowriting.blogspot.com – My creative writing blog, I’d love some feedback! Thank you.
August 8, 2013 at 9:53 pm Reply
cltaylorauthor says:

Hi Alice, thanks for visiting my blog. When you say you get to the ending and can’t carry on do you mean you stop before you write the end? Or that you don’t rewrite and edit afterwards? Will check out your blog!
1. August 9, 2013 at 11:18 am Reply
  Alice Kouzmenko says:
  
  Hi! Well what happens is, I get to the end and am all excited to carry on and I just get stuck. I know everything I’ve written and I have no way to tie all the loose ends together to make a satisfying ending. Thank you!