Kids safe

My family are all safely out of Christchurch and they are starting to look at 'what next'. Two are at uni there - they are coming home for a spell, then back into it when uni restarts. Their side of town is quickly getting back to normal - they have showers and toilets. The greatest inventions ever. The third is going to come home and re-examine what he should do next. But is now sounding positive rather than shell shocked. Ain't people amazing. To all the heroes down there - thank you. There are no other words to say what all the country is feeling.

Christchurch Earthquake

Writing isn't happening at the moment. I have 3 sons in Christchurch. All are fit and well, but one has lost his home.  One is a first year student, and we've got him on a flight home tomorrow. Another flies out on Saturday, and the 3rd is staying on. He is in a good old weatherboard house, with minor damage only. But the important thing is they are all safe. Unlike so many others. My thoughts and prayers are with all the other families and people whose lives have changed so suddenly and are going through such awful pain at the moment.

Hathe Part 1 Finished

I've finally finished the re-edit of Hathe part 1. Working title at the moment is "To Resist the Heart".  I chose it mainly because I am going to enter it into the RWNZ Clendon award, which is for a romance novel by an unpublished author. One short story is OK by their rules. So it needed a romantic title. Mind you, the Clendon entry form does say a romance needs a happy ending. "Hathe" does have one, it's just not at the end of Part 1. Actually, Part 1 has got a pretty miserable ending. But Part 2 ends up happyish - and if there is no such word, there ought to be.
     Now I just have to rewrite Part 2.  That may be more problematical, as I have to change it to add in the basic info from Part 1,  without clogging up the story with big pieces of exposition. Also, Part 1 ended up at 91,000 words. Part 2 is currently only 73,000. And at the end, will the "revise and resubmit" invitation from Carina Press still stand? They sent it to me in July 2010. At the rate I'm going, I won't be finished both books till July 2011. Maybe I better stop blogging  - or any other form of procrastination - and get back to writing.