This won’t be a very long post as I have to get back to Pitkirtly XIX (was Untitled, now with a title! – see image below). I’ve almost got to the stage of going through a printed copy with sticky notes in one hand and a pen in the other and the book precariously balanced on something nearby. If only I had three hands, I wouldn’t make the cat jump every few minutes by dropping something on the floor. Fortunately I don’t think there is a lot of structural work to be done on this one, unlike some of my other recent writing – cue stern glance at ‘Unrelated Incidents’. I think it’s possibly because I’ve had the plot in my head for some time so have had plenty of opportunities to smooth out the glitches before even starting to write.
And while I’m on the subject of ‘Unrelated Incidents’, I was somewhat surprised/completely amazed the other day when I noticed that as far as Goodreads review averages are concerned, it is currently one of my top 3 novels. What are the others? I mused as I browsed through the ever-lengthening list of my books on the site. Oddly enough, or maybe not, the other two in my top 3 are actually the ones I would have chosen for this ‘honour’ myself, i.e. ‘Death in a Cold Spring’ and ‘Quest for a Father’.
In the case of ‘Death in a Cold Spring’ I really enjoyed writing it, with its sub-plot about elections and the opportunity it gave me to rant about living artists. Perhaps my enjoyment came through to readers. With ‘Quest for a Father’ it was sort of different – I enjoyed the research a lot, and in my not at all humble opinion the plot came together quite well. The Quest series has never been all that popular generally, and I think it would benefit from better covers, so I will be mulling that over soon.
Special little box for sticky notes
Cecilia Peartree - woman of mystery 