Natalie Allan

Just to wish you all a Happy New Year!

Don’t get too drunk tonight while I’m sitting home working on 3rd draft/re-writes. And if you do, have one for me

Village of Vampires Revisions

Thanks to Christmas, the third draft of Village of Vampires has been mildly pushed back. This is rather annoying as the first half of the third draft currently sits with a beta reader and second half is yet to be written. I’m currently on Chapter thirteen of twenty-two and there’s an epilogue so I’m not that far away from finishing now.

I estimate this draft will be complete on 16th Jan 2010, then one more round of revisions will take me through the final line edits. Overall, the manuscript should be complete on Valentine’s day. The following week will take me through drafting a sparklier version of the synopsis I already have, and then I’ll be drafting a query letter for submission to literary agents.

Here’s some pictures of the manuscript and plotting chart which is 3 feet long (scroll to the bottom of post to see my Christmas presents ):

Village of Vampires, 2nd draft, side view

Village of Vampires, 2nd draft, cover page

Village of Vampires, plot chart, 3ft long

Village of Vampires, 3ft plot chart, all filled out

And, I couldn’t leave you without showing you my new toys!

When my husband asked me what I wanted for Christmas, we came across a big problem. Usually he buys me chocolates and candles. For a start, I’m on a diet so I wouldn’t be eating the chocolates, and I have so many candles I could keep the planet warm through the next ice age. My candles are probably the root cause of global warming.

So, this year, I decided it was time to mix things up a bit. I asked for a tattoo (which will last forever unlike chocolate and candles), a new guitar,  a keyboard, and a cd of my favorite band HIM. Santa delivered me all these things along with Jack Skellington (Nightmare Before Christmas) poster and a really cool book: “Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter”.

Here’s some pics of my Christmas presents. I was dead excited when Santa delivered all of these and especially so because we had sort-of white Christmas:

My new tattoo

Jack Skellington sits proudly above my writing area

My shiny new Encore Strat-type in Sunburst (also came with a new amp too!)

My shiny new Yamaha full-size keyboard

And because I couldn't resist blessing you with a picture, this is "Wes" my old Westfield Strat-type guitar (and also my first love when it comes to musical instruments). Wes is as much part of the family as is my dog, and will always have a special place in my heart. Although we love to hate each other...

Well, that’s it for this post. I will all my readers  a prosperous 2010! Happy New Year guys!