setting the scene in Pitkirtly
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 …
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 …
My first piece of news and maybe the most important to some readers, is that I'm making very good progress with my latest Pitkirtly novel ('As Yet Untitled' - I doubt if that will be the final title by the way, although I suppose it's an option but maybe a bit too literary!). I've reached …
At times it seemed like a Mission Impossible, although without the chase sequences involving various kinds of transport, and definitely without the disguises, especially the masks, but I've managed to complete and publish both the novels I've been working on in recent months, and still leave a whole week free for plotting the next one …
As well as being even busier than usual, my life has taken on a surreal tinge, and if I believed in a supernatural power then he would take the shape of Salvador Dali rather than the bearded deity people usually picture. While waiting for a family member to get ready for his custard pie, made …
Because I have a day off work and I should spend part of it writing up the minutes for a meeting, naturally I decided it was time to write a new blog post. Once again NaNoWriMo has worked its magic and I've suddenly got about 40,000 words written altogether in Pitkirtly 18, for which 'Screenshot' …
An innocent-looking notebook Now that I'm approaching what I hope are the final stages of writing The French Heir, something odd has happened. I had to update my work password yesterday, and my thoughts were evidently not stuck in the present but had jumped ahead, not for the first time, because I found myself concocting …
