Second extract from chapter 36 of Mine to Avenge

Only four chapters to go and I will have finished reading through the proofs. What has surprised me is that I am still finding mistakes, even at this stage of the production process. I have found over 50 things that need fixing, but the encouraging thing is that only 12 of these are things I overlooked, while the others are problems that occurred at the publisher’s end during the internal layout process.

Being a first time author I am surprised at how long things can take from the completion of writing to final publication. I finished writing Mine to Avenge at the beginning of the year, then researched publishing options, went through a first and second edit process and am now at the proof stage. From completion of writing to this point has taken approximately 8 months, and I am guessing I will still need to read the second proofs through when the publishers have tidied up the mistakes found this first time around.

Things would be different of course if writers had the luxury of writing full time. I am sure that is the lot of only a fortunate few, who by sheer hard work and perseverance are able to do that. It’s something the rest of us can only dream about as we seek to fit in doing what we love around the responsibilities of such things as regular day jobs. So I will plod away at getting Mine to Avenge ready after hours and on the weekends, and hope it will be ready for launch before the end of the year!

Please enjoy another excerpt from chapter 36:

‘Linus arrived at his grandfather’s house at 10.30 a.m. the same morning. He got off the bus, slung his backpack onto his shoulders, and walked towards his grandfather’s house with rising trepidation.

As he approached the gates, Linus felt the usual, familiar sickness in the pit of his stomach, but something was different and not quite right. As he came up to the window of the gatehouse booth, he realised what it was. The booth was unattended. Puzzled, he called out to Parker, the gatekeeper, but there was no response. He walked over to the centre of the large wrought iron gates and stared into the gardens, looking and listening for the gardener, but there was no sign of him either. Then he remembered it was Wednesday and that the staff, except for Parker, usually had Wednesdays off. Parker should have been there, or a relief gatekeeper at the very least. Linus had never known a time when the gate was left unattended. He had his own keys to unlock the smaller side gate, so he rummaged in the bottom of his bag to find them.

It was bad enough to be returning to his grandfather’s house to live, without something out of the ordinary compounding his unease. He found his keys and fumbled with the lock, let himself in and locked the gate securely behind him.

He wondered if Parker was ill and went around to the cottage entrance on the garden side, wishing his feet didn’t make so much noise on the gravel. He rang the doorbell and waited patiently, but there was no answer.

He had one last thought, and peered through a gap into the gatekeeper’s garage, but Parker’s car wasn’t there. Where could Parker be? Linus was confused, not knowing whether it was Parker who was absent from his post or whether it was a relief gatekeeper who was absent.

Either way, Linus was ill at ease with no one on the gate at all. Something was going on, and he began to have second thoughts about his plans. He wondered if he still had time to change his mind. Once his grandfather knew he was there, there would be no backing out.

He hesitated, unsure if he wanted to go into the house, knowing that he would be alone there with his grandfather all day. He made up his mind, took a deep breath and walked back to the main driveway, continuing on towards the house.’