Those of you who have been paying particular attention may know that for the past two and a half months, I have  been scribbling…well, typing…away at Warrior Princess Four. Well, last Friday I wrote “The End” at the end and sent it off to my UK editors with a sigh of relief.

Those of you who pay even closer attention will also know that this is far from “The End” in real life! This is what’s called the “first draft” of the book. It is now going to be read by two colleagues of mine - a really smart guy called James, with whom I occasionally go out for an evening of wine and conversation, and a rather charming woman named Clare, who actually lives in New York and who I have only spoken to via the phone - on conference calls, which are a bit odd, if you have never done such a thing.

They are now going to read the book and come back to me in a few weeks time with their thoughts, suggestions and comments about how it could be improved. (For anyone reading this, who doesn’t already know, this is all fine and perfectly normal. Every book ever published in the whole world always goes through this editing process).

I will then take a look at their suggestions, change the things where I agree with them, and write back with things I don’t think want changing, explaining why. One of the good things about this process is that it makes me think about why I have written certain things - are they really as good as they could be? Have I really explained things properly? Do I need that scene at all? Could I make this piece of action a bit more swift and involving? Etc etc.

Then, I will send the “new improved” typescript (now called the “2nd draft”) off to them, and they will forward it to the American Publishers in New York - who will also read it and make sugestions etc, before sending it back to me again. I will do the same lot of things again to try and fit in with what the American Publishers think the American readers would want - then it gets sent back. Providing everyone is happy, the book will then go off to be copy edited - meaning the grammar and punctuation etc will be checked. Once that has been read and approved by everyone - the book goes to typesetting and printing. Phew! Oh, and somewhere along the route, it will get a title!

Anyway - despite the problems with the Icelandic Volcano and the clouds of volcanic ash floating over Europe, my friend and collaborator Gary Chalk is coming over from France to visit tomorrow for a few days. We’re going to be working on the Sundered Lands website, so that should be fun.

Oh - and if you haven’t already done so - check out the new Fan Forum on http://faerieroom.proboards.com - it looks really good and lots of fans are already getting involved with it.

Well, that’s about it for now. The garden is beginning to look good, what with the spring and everything. We got out all the solar lights over the weekend and now every evening the garden is full of twinkling lights! Ahh! Cute! Claudia is off to Germany in a week or so to visit her folks over there, and I’ve promised to decorate the living room while she’s gone. Then I have to clean the decking and the patio - and by then, Warrior Princess should be back for me to get busy with. A writer’s work is never done! Bye for now.