Unpacking the Muse

While I haven't been doing any writing since my failed NaNoWriMo attempt at the beginning of November I have been reading. In fact I've done a lot of reading ... and quite an eclectic and varied diet of books it has been too.

I've feasted on adult fantasy, reading the first three of Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series (I know. I was terribly slow to discover these) and Juliet Marillier's Sevenwater's trilogy.

I'd put off reading Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code for years because of all the hype and finally pulled it off the shelf last week. I couldn't put it down. I have to admit I really enjoyed it, in a disturbing sort of a way.

I devoured Gail Carson Levine's Fairest and Sherryl Jordan's The Hunt for the Last Dragon. I love fairy tales and modern re-tellings. I've read a few others too but I can't remember what they are off the top of my head.

Now I'm wading my way through Michael Grant's Gone, which reminds me forceably of the TV series Heroes with which I have a complicated love-hate-love relationship.

With all this reading under my belt I'm feeling recharged and ready to get writing and editing again. I've dug out my editor's hat from the back of the cupboard. It's a bit dusty and bent and some of it's feathers are coming unstuck but despite that it still seems to be in working order.

The Muse has finally crawled out of the box he has been hiding in, looking pasty and in need of some serious vitamin D therapy.

On the plus side he seems keen to get back to work and help Mistress Editor to clean up, trim down and generally beautify Tremorgan's Gift. He flexed his creative muscles a wee bit the other night when I began converting chapters 1 and 2 into first person POV. He's a bit rusty but with a bit of exercise I think he'll be quickly back in top form.