Tuseday's Child, Author's Notes, First Paragraphs

Characters from Sunday's Child and Monday's Child, my Traditional Regency Romances in which the hero and heroine's bedroom door remained closed, will appear in Tuesday's Child. The novel is not a sequel. It is a follow on novel in which Harriet, Lady Castleton and her son Arthur were introduced at the end of Monday's Child, so there is no need for the previous novels to be read in order to follow the story.

My first attempt to begin the novel was an extract from Monday's Child that partially introduced Harriet's recent past. I wrote a page and a half, then realised it didn't work. Next I wrote a brief author's note, in which I refer to Monday's Child to introduce the circumstances which led to the fraught situation in the opening paragraphs. I might change my mind later but, at the moment it seems an excellent solution.

The remainder of Harriet's immediate past can be revealed through conversation, body language and her thoughts.

I'm really looking forward to 'getting to grips' with the story which is taking shape in my mind.

Monday's Child Edited & Organic Garden

I finished editing Monday's Child this morning. I couldn't believe how many gerunds I had used. I hope the novel reads well and that I have not missed any typing errors. I reach a point at which I sometimes see what I think should be on the page instead of what is on the page. Thanks to the spelling and grammar facility I hope there are no typos, grammar or spelling mistakes.


After I finished Monday's Child a traditional Regency novel, the sequel to Sunday's Child, I had breakfast and then worked in the garden. I finished the bed I have  been working on for most of the week. It is planted with a well established redcurrant bush, a rhubarb plant, a blackcurrant bush, another rhubarb plant, a desert gooseberry and a small cherry tree, which I transplanted to make room for a greengage tree.


I might prettify the bed with some pots of stargazer lilies in between the plants and, maybe edge the bed with lettuces and alpine strawberries.

More about Line Editing

Now that I have written Monday's Child the follow on novel from Sunday's Child, traditional regency romances, it is time to work on the line edit. I have a list of words which I check including 'and'. It is boring going through the novel deciding when to delete the word, when to rephrase a sentence and when to substitute another word. So far I've been through 150 pages and have nearly another 150 pages to check.




To mitigate my boredom I checked how many times I had used round instead of around. It's amazing how often I write - for example - she looked round instead of around. I suppose it is a minor point but in my opinion round applies to something which is round, an apple, a ball, an orange etc.




Now I have to continue checking 'and'.


Why am I being so pernickety? Because I want to write to the best of my ability.

Intense Revision of Monday's Child

I am revising Monday's Child, a Regency Romance and  follow on novel from Sunday's Child.


I have highlighted 'and'. Substituting other words as well as dividing sentences into two tightens the prose. It also helps me to avoid repeatedly writing 'and then'. The process is boring but the novel will read better when I finish.

I Wrote 4,000 words.

After time off during the Christmas preparations and festivities from writing Monday's Child a traditional Regency novel, the sequel to Sunday's Child, I wrote 4,000 words this morning. The main difficulty was slipping in some historical facts without allowing them to take over and make the reader feel as though he or she is reading a history book. Through dialogue, action and characterisation I think this part of Chapter Thirty-Three reads well. I planned to finish the first draft of Monday's Child by the 31st of December and am now confident that, God willing, I will do so.

Why I Deleted 1000 Words of My Novel

I had written over 2000 words of Chapter 33 of Monday's Child, the sequel to my traditional Regency novel, Sunday's Child.. This morning I wrote another 1000 words. Throughout the day I thought about them. With a deep sigh, I decided to scrap them. It's a painful decision but the right one because I allowed the principal characters to go off stage. I took a deep breath and took action, Today's 1000 words has been deleted.