What is the significance of the title of this post, ‘Ten Days’ ?  It’s got a lot to do with my absence from this blog but it’s not the length of time I’ve been away.  ‘Ten Days’ is the working title I’ve given to my attempt at writing a romantic novel.  What is the significance then of a Central American coastline? It sets the scene for my romantic tale.  Having gone as far as Chapter 12 with the first draft and had it carefully critiqued by a collaborator I’m now satisfied that I’ve learned a few more lessons and I’m ready to go on with the serious work.

I read and reported here on ‘Shades of Gray’ by E.L. James, and learned that I don’t want my intimate scenes to over-promise and under-deliver.  Next I read ‘Want To Know A Secret’ by Sue Moorcroft and found a lot of things I liked although, once again I wasn’t blown away by the intimate moments.  In that area I wanted to find my own voice.  Now that I’ve had a practise at it and had somebody I trust to read it, I’ll confidently go on with the job.

Like any romance there will be the relationship-building of a variety of characters, which will include conflict because it’s not simply a boy-meets-girl scenario.  Dialogue, body language, the rollercoaster that is life and characters having a history will all feature, as of course will lovemaking.  I’m not capable of writing a riveting tale of two people falling in love so there will be some elements of danger for certain characters which I’m hoping will maintain the interest for readers.  My aim is to complete this project by December and now that I’ve had a serious attempt at introducing the main characters and scenarios I’m more confident of success.

Fighting (or writing) in my corner I have a secret ingredient which I believe will be the making or breaking of the idea.  I have not only a collaborator, but a female collaborator.  She has insisted that she isn’t a co-writer but that will always remain our only difference of opinion, which in itself comes from a mutual respect.  Her identity will remain a secret at her request but she will nevertheless have a serious amount of influence on this work.  Why do I consider her so important?  First of all because she was the inspiration for the story but her key feature in checking the writing is that she knows the female psyche better than any man could.

The aim is to complete writing and any re-writing by December and then go through the process of self-publishing on Kindle as an e-book.  I know it’s fraught with dangers of all kinds, but I’d like to go through the process to see how it works and how much work is involved for me.  I’ve now read examples of some particularly bad writing on there so I’m confident that though I may not be the best, I’m by no means the worst.  This is not being done as an ego trip to get published quickly, it’s because I’d like to go through the motions with this tale because I believe in it.

My other novel, ‘Hawk, A Human Hunter’ has been put on hold for now to let me concentrate fully on the new story.  I felt I needed a break from ‘Hawk’ and the writing of something totally different is the most effective way of doing so.

In regard to other projects, I achieved another minor success this month by having a ‘Reader’s Letter’ published in Writing Magazine.  I didn’t win the Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook’ this time, although I have won it in the past.  Just getting a letter published in the magazine is good for the confidence.  My letter is about Wunderlist, the time and project management programme – which I use extensively now.   I have as always a handful of short stories at various stages that can be revisited.  Poetry is almost non-existent these days for me although I may write a few verses to get the creative juices flowing.

On the subject of creative juices, I have a date with some characters in a tropical location.  If I manage to lose myself in this project I’ll post an update here, possibly with a bookjacket blurb for practise.