Rewriting

I started THE DEVIL'S KISS back in October 2004. By November 2005 it was (IMHO) finished and went off to various agents to be rejected. So far so normal.
Since then I've worked and reworked it. Plots changed, characters changed, aged, died, were born, combined, split, personalities metamorphosised and so on. In November 2006 a new draft was written (then called GOD'S KILLER) and I had one of those first 3 chapter reviews up in Norfolk.
It was ripped to shreds.
So...rewrite AGAIN.
New version was much stronger in many ways, but still not there. The Cornerstones WOWFactor came and I was short listed, then the Undiscovered Voices competition arrived and my agent appeared.
New rewrite! From scratch!
Now we're into the nitty-gritty. Editors are involved. Lindsey and Ari have cast their eagle-eyes and I'm back on the rewrite.
What I'm trying to say is really, it's a LONG LONG slog, and I'm still working on my first book. And my book's pretty short. I would also reckon I'm pretty fortunate in that the agent and book deal came pretty quickly-ish (looking back it seems like things were always moving forward, so that was encouraging).
Where are you in the process? Have you given yourself any deadlines, goals, timetables? What do you do to keep going and have there been any moments when you thought 'Sod this, I'll become a fighter pilot instead'.
I read somewhere (so take it with a pinch of salt) that less than 1% of submissions get taken on by agents and (this is also a big assumption) assuming they all got sold, only 5% of authors actually make a living just through writing.

General ramblings...

Finished the latest rewrite of the Devil's Kiss. Unlike most, instead of cutting I've enlarged the book by 10,000 well-chosen and highly important words. Many spelt correctly!
For those with £4.40 to spare, this week's The Bookseller (4th July edition) has a brief article on Sarah Davies and Greenhouse. Buy it immediately, you know you want to. (I am too modest to mention who else is briefly refered to in said article).
Moving on...
To Christian Bale.
For those who know me even slightly, this actor features prominently in my viewing pleasure. Sufffice it to say I have a small man-crush (I think that's the correct term) on him, ever since American Psycho. Stick him on the cover of a magazine and I'll buy it. So most of my pocket money this month has gone on GQ, Total Film, Film Review (where he's been chosen as the BEST ACTOR ALIVE), Empire. Add to the fact Batman is my FAVORITE hero, well it just proves there is a God.
I even loved Equilibrium. Gun kata, how cool is that?
I even forced all my mates to see New World with me. Granted he's only in it for about five minutes, but hey, that was enough!
Roll on the Dark Knight...

Monday's Puffin Party

I had my first event as an 'author' on Monday. Met up with my agent Sarah and off we went to the Tate Modern, for Puffin's annual shin-dig. Here's a piccie with me lurking in the background with a lot of people who's names I should know. I'm just over the shoulder of Francesca Dow, the Puffin MD and all round excellent human being.
Very noisy, very crowded and very glamourous (well, to me anyway who's only ever attended events dominated by hairy-arsed builders, I doubt there was a hairy arse anywhere that night, apart from mine. Not that I hung out in the loos checking. Or anything. Lets move on, shall we?). Awesome view over the city, especially as night fell. Saw a few of the great and the good (Charlie Higson, Lauren Child and Meg Rosoff to name but a few) and excellent chatting to some of the other debut writers.
The key thing was how everyone LOVES what they do. Long talk with Anne, the Puffin art director and Lins (my super editor, now muscle bound from a week of house moving and such) and it's great being in an industry that ultimately is about passion and the love of the product.
No doubt I'd say this about any publisher who was on my book, but there's something very cool about being with Puffin. You remember being in the Puffin club and getting the newsletter (when you're a kid letters in the post are an EVENT) and counting the pennies to work out what you'd get and all that.
So a big thanks to Francesca, Lins, Tania, Anne and everyone else I stared at (bewildered and amazed that I was even there) for the invite and a fantastic evening.
Also, Kirsten, I have seen you before. Your photo was in Bookseller recently, wasn't it?

My desk

This is where I work. I'm sitting at the kitchen tabel writing this. I'll talk you through what's on the desk.

2 books on punctuation and writing style (Strunk and White's Elements of Style and the Penguin Guide to Punctuation).

The concise Oxford Dictionary and the Collins Thesaurus. Two books on the Knights Templar, one book on the history of the Middle East, one book on Islam. One book on Witchcraft and one on Alchemy. Guide to the Temple Church. My Sony mp3. My mobile. Another guide to Temple Church. The annotated ms from Puffin (the work in progress). The Puffin notes. My biographies on the Templars, Billi, and Michael (key protagonists). My small leather bound 'writer's' notebook (I never leave home without it). Various pens, including a red one. A map of Middle and Inner Temple which, err, fell off the wall when I visited it. On the floor just off the bottom left of the photo is an encyclopedia, a book of quotations, and the Morte d'Arthur, the one with the Beardsley artwork. I hope to eventually allow my family to eat at this table, but not quite yet.