Writing and Finishing by Margot Justes

 There is a sense of relief, once the end is typed, and the manuscript is finished, well at least written. I'm at that stage now. 

English is not my first language, and when I came to this country (a few years-as in many- years ago), students were put in a class based on age-and the grammar part has long past.

I have been assured by my editor that my grammar is not that bad, and I think that is due to the fact that I love to read, but I digress...Finishing a manuscript is a wondrous sense of relief, because while writing, it seems as if it won’t ever happen.

I edit every time I sit down to write, and once the manuscript is finished it goes to my editor and she goes through it, then of course I read it and invariably make corrections based on her recommendations-especially in grammar. Then it goes back to the editor, well you get the drift. I have my final two, three, four reads and off it goes to the formatter.

I’m an indie author and my formatter does all the magical stuff to make sure everything is done correctly. Once he’s done I read it again, and invariably I find little errors, and back it goes. By the time I get the last peek, it really doesn’t matter because I expect to see all the words aligned perfectly, and in place.  

The writing process is humbling, I start off excited, I have an idea and off I go. Then reality sets in, I have to figure out what will happen and how will I ever tie all the pieces together. Since I write by the proverbial seat of my pants, the endings tend to surprise me. That was especially true in A Hotel in Venice.

One day the story is terrific, the next it is rubbish that no one will want to read, the next day, it’s not so bad, back to rubbish...you get the drift. It is a never ending process of self doubt, until finally everything falls into place, and then I wonder exactly how did that all work out? That being said, the doubts persist, at least for me.

A Hotel in Venice has been released, and now I’m working on A Hotel in Barcelona. I love the characters, Barcelona is beautiful, with an astounding zest for life, the architecture sublime, food delicious, what better place for a honeymoon.

Cheers,

Margot  Justes

Blood Art

A Fire Within

A Hotel in Paris

A Hotel in Bath

A Hotel in Venice

www.mjustes.com