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 …
What next?
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 …
Top 3?!
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 …
36,000 words and counting
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 …
Mission Accomplished
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 …
My Life, as managed by Dali
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 …
40,000 words and…
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' …
Writers’ secrets: creative multi-tasking
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 …
Where I am
The title of this blog post may be slightly misleading. I am physically in my usual writing spot, the conservatory, looking out somewhat apprehensively to see if snow has started to fall yet, which I'm very much hoping it doesn't, although there was suspicious-looking low white cloud over the Pentland Hills, which I can more …
Light-Hearted Greetings!
Once we get past the Winter Solstice, I find things begin to look up again with the gradually extending hours of daylight. Although I often indulge my tendency to hibernate during the festive season - and indeed this year I've stocked up up with an unfeasibly huge quantity of food that might last until Doomsday …
