Well, I finally printed off an entire copy of Safe and took it on holiday to look at. It was the first time I'd had it on real paper, and that made it a whole lot easier to edit. I crossed out useless or redundant adverbs, as the writing course lady insisted we should - I found things like 'he nodded wordlessly' and 'he squirmed restlessly'. I had quite a few of those!!! I still left some adverbs in, I think sometimes they change the way something is done and do have their place in writing. Anyway, I went through the whole thing and took out every sentence or scene I'd felt uncomfortable about. I ended up taking out about 11,000 words - like the whole Hong Kong bit and surprisingly, the entire beginning - and I don't think the story is affected by that.

Funny thing is, I really loved doing the editing. I adored it. And now I've changed all those edits on the laptop and I'll print a final copy and then... I guess not much more! I could post it on the net, or just share it with my friends. I could sent it to a publisher but I really don't think it's that kind of book, not one that people would - you know, buy!! But it's still a pretty good story. And the Primary Immunodeficiency Support Club could use it as an inspirational tool - well, for their gay members LOL!

So what's next? I emailed the Catholic Seminary in Auckland to ask about their Post Grad Diploma in Theology. The Dean said I'm exactly the kind of person they want to do this study. Nice way to appeal to my ego, huh. I'm thinking about it. I could do a much easier Diploma through the Centre for Religious Studies but the challenge of the Graduate Diploma is awfully tempting...

I don't mind doing some study, but I have other important things to do this year. I see there is a new John Grisham out but I'm nervous - I didn't like Playing for Pizza much at all - I still haven't finished it - and I found The Innocent Man hard to get into for a while - it was such a frustrating story, and even John Grisham accepted that, saying the book may make you throw it across the room two or three times. I don't find Grisham's more recent characters as likeable as his earlier ones - does he think that it is grittier? *shrug* I still like to fall in love with characters. Anyway, other things are looming ahead of me, like introducing a whole whack of new units and assessment procedures to teachers and students alike in my department, starting work on Breathing Space again in my spare time, helping with our Parish Bazaar yet again - I am in charge of entertainment again (I'd really like to get out of that job but I don't know how), getting through ERO - Ministry Inspection at school, and of course spending a lot of time waiting for Nick's new novel in July - that alone could expend quite a bit of energy *g* Let's go, 2009!