About a year ago, I finished the first draft of the first novel I've completed since I was 17 (and that one didn't really count: it didn't have a plot, as such, and wasn't very long). The one I did last year was almost 140,000 words and I guess it did have a plot. Kind of. It just wasn't a terribly good plot. One person who critiqued it described it as "a glorious mess". I think she may have been too kind.

Over the last few days, I've been thinking about re-writing the novel. And I do mean re-writing, without anything but passing reference to the previous draft. The problem with that draft, I've come to decide, was that everything that happened happened only because it was convenient for the author to make them happen. When I ask now, "Why did they do that?" I have no answer.

In some ways it would be easier just to write a completely different novel. I'm finding it really difficult to force myself away from the events in the previous draft, even though I know they make no logical sense. But I like the ideas of the novel, and I like the characters, even if they need proper motivation.

So I think I'm going to give it a go. Even if it doesn't work out, this thinking through structuring and plotting a long novel will help me on the next one I try.

#

My non-fiction piece on how to give Author Readings was in the last issue of the Clarion West newsletter, The Seventh Week. I'll probably eventually post it on my website, but not until the next newsletter is out. In the meantime, if you're interested, I've put up transcripts of the interviews I did for the article on my website here.

#

I finally joined Web Rats a day or two ago. Steph has been a member for quite a while, and I realised that the majority of the journals I read are by members of Web Rats. This way, I'll probably end up reading even more journals, which won't help my productivity at work. Or maybe it will. If I can be cheered up by blogs, then I might face my budgets and impending web duties with more serenity.

#

Talking about impending web duties, I became webmaster where I work by default when the previous person left. This has left me with a project to rebuild the site as a dynamic site. After much looking up of things and asking people who know far better than I, I have discovered that I will have to learn the following:

PHP
MySQL
Stylesheets

Possibly some other stuff. As my internet skills involve some rudimentary HTML and a little bit of CSS, this is leaving me a bit befuddled as to where to start. Anyone have any suggestions for good places to start learning the above? Books? Website? Brain imprinting devices?

#

It must be summer. Cricket is being played just up the road. England have beaten New Zealand about two miles from here, while I sat staring at a screen rather than sitting in the sun enjoying it.