Blog: The Hardest Job In The World

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I've spent a huge amount of my time this past week or so doing THE WRITING and I tell you what, it is surely The Hardest Job In The World.

This batch of The Writing has been brought about by My Agent (ZANG!) who rang up last week for a lengthy conversation about what needs fixing with THE NOVEL. One of the GRATE things about My Agent is that he applies the full force of his mighty BRANE to these things, and had a metric TONNE of EXTREMELY good points to make. Long-term chums may recall a couple of years ago when I briefly had another agent, who suggested that THE NOVEL needed a few TWEAKS before it was ready to go off to publishers. She left that Agency before contracts got signed and I was dropped, which at the time was pretty upsetting, but now, like a California Wellness Guru, I realise that it was actually a Good Thing, as there was loads of stuff that needed sorting out that hadn't been picked up on, but which IS being picked up on now.

The only trouble is that I now have to go through and DO the changes! This is the second time My Agent has rung up to highlight a bunch of issues that need addressing - the first lot got done just before Christmas, and involved some vast chunks of New Stuff which was a LOT of fun to write, but this batch is a) not as extensive but b) a lot more hard work, as I'm going through picking out things like "tone" and dialogue changes and Narrative Consistency that is important but not quite as much of a LARF to do. It feels like WORK!

The most difficult bit is thinking up new JOKES. About once a day I get to a section that needs a new joke, and I usually end up having to go for a walk around the flat, mumbling to myself, to try and think it up. On the bright side, it does mean at least once a day I get to LARF at one of my own (brand new) jokes!

Concurrent with all of this literary activity I am also gently gearing up for the No Headliner Tour with Mr M Tiller which begins next week. I'm trying to do around 20 minutes of SINGING a night to a) get my THROAT used to it and b) try and work out which songs I know. So far, to my surprise, both throat and BRANE have been functioning well, but my FINGERS are a mess of blisters. Oh how I suffer for ART!

posted 24/1/2019 by MJ Hibbett

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