setting the scene in Pitkirtly
I see it's some time since I wrote a new post here. In the months following the previous post I've retired from my part-time day job as a database manager, published the 21st of the Pitkirtly Mysteries and taken part in a mad project to write 14 screenplays in 14 days. Fortunately all these things …
Thanks to NaNoWriMo, in which the target is set to 50,000 for everyone, getting to 50,000 words in a novel always feels like almost the end. Actually 50,000 words or even 60,000, which most of my mystery novels conclude at, is fairly short for a novel these days. My writing session this morning has just …
I include this classic picture of Venice, taken by me on a visit there with my mother in about 1972, just as a random example of the kind of place I won't be going to this year, or for the foreseeable future. I still have a plan in my head for a trip down the …
I had a really pleasant surprise when I looked at my Twitter feed yesterday and noticed the word 'Pitkirtly' lurking in among all the politics and name-calling. I don't mind getting into an argument about politics on occasion, in fact as I worked on the family history book I've been writing this month while I …
First of all, this is only a 'perfect' novel from my own point of view, and I don't expect anyone else to find it perfect - as long as it turns out to be more or less readable that's enough. I just wish all my novels were as easy and enjoyable to write as this …
Although not ideal in almost every other way, I'm finding this a surprisingly good year so far for writing productivity. As mentioned in a previous post, after finishing Pitkirtly 20 in mid April, I went on to finish my draft of The Heir to Nothing and found myself racing on ahead with another novel in …
Even by my standards what has happened this month has been a bit strange, to say the least. I would like to blame Camp NaNoWriMo, another of these writing months that I like to sign up to, but actually this time it is mostly my own fault. Unfortunately I went into April with two unfinished …
After leaving 'The Heir to Nothing' unfinished for a month while I got on with other stuff ranging from short stories and Christmas letters to trying to get the sills on the Panda welded, an unexpectedly lengthy process, the Christmas break has at last meant I've had time to read through the story so far …
I'm still not entirely convinced it was a good idea to try and write the third novel in this particular series for National Novel Writing Month this year. For a start, the series was only supposed to have two books in it, but I left so many loose ends after the second one, which is …
As I come out of the post-publication slump which often happens, I've decided to set aside September for planning, thinking and possibly researching - that depends on how the planning and thinking goes. Although I am always happy to plunge into a bit of research, especially if it ends up taking me somewhere nice. When …
