work in progress

I started this year by returning to Selena: Sea Nymph, which I still find a challenge, which is just as it should be. I am, however, already ten chapters (30k words) in with McLennan, my next thriller.

To date, I’ve never considered myself to be affected by ‘Writer’s Block’ because, for many years, I’ve maintained multiple projects. I always have a primary Work in Progress and at least one (but usually two) other writing projects.

Some authors say they can’t move from one story to another, but I rest my work often and for long enough to make this possible and desirable. When I ‘rest’ my work it can be for two weeks or more. Apart from reading and reviewing, I might draw, paint, bake, complete a domestic project (like building a new garden gate or bird table), or head off with our caravan. Whatever else I do, there is always the need to write.

Within weeks of this new year beginning, I was making a list of possible content for A Life of Choice: The Retail Years,* which is a follow-up to my popular A Life of Choice series.

As recently as this week, while revising poems in my Natural History volume, I considered it might be worthwhile to produce a paperback edition. Poetry: Volume 3 – Natural History contains 45 poems, so I believe it would need to be increased to at least 60 or 70 poems to work as a paperback.

The new verses are underway, and when they’re ready, I’ll add them to the digital edition and also create the paperback. Apart from my Light at The End books, my natural history writing is possibly the only genre I’d recommend for those under 18.

However things work out, I’m confident that this year, I’ll produce at least one new title and possibly a second.

I sincerely thank my regular readers for taking an interest and supporting my brand. If you’re new to my writing, I hope you’ll soon become one of my valued readers. Thank you for checking out my blog.

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*A Life of Choice: The Retail Years. The Foreword and first chapter, 1. One Door Closes are available in my Work in Progress menu.

When we review another author’s work, many of us might suggest that it could have been longer, or in the case of anthologies, a particular story might work as a novel. When fellow author Barbara Speake reviewed Shadow: and other stories, she hoped that a particular story would get such attention.

That time has come, and I’m pleased to announce that, after much procrastination, my new story, McLennan is underway. I reread Resettlement to refresh myself on the main character. I wrote the first chapter of the new book rapidly, not stopping to change anything so that I could maintain my creative flow.

I reread the chapter, moved the third paragraph up to make it the intro, and introduced some dialogue to break up the narrative. After that session, I left the story and did some baking. On my return, I reread the chapter and amended the dialogue. It’s probably not close to where it will be in two months. However, where I ended it had catapulted me into the second chapter, so the story will now be with me during every waking minute until I write passages and snippets of dialogue as they occur to me.

There will be a brief foreword in the book to explain that it’s fictional and that the first chapter is loosely based on recent history. If you’d like to read and comment on the first chapter, please click The Invisible Man.

I sincerely thank my regular readers for choosing and supporting my brand. If you’re new to my writing, I hope you’ll soon become one of my valued readers. Thank you for checking out my blog.