Waving...

...not drowning.

Again, just passing through. I'm making the most of the urge to write and, consequently, not spending much time keeping this blog up to date.

Having just put a quarterly magazine to bed, I'm back to the latest novel. There was a moment I faltered because the word count looked exceedingly thin. But then I realised that all I was doing was transcribing a screenplay I had dashed off the year before. A quick re-read has confirmed that much of the scenery is still in my head. By the time I do a re-write and make it a proper novel, it will have reached a decent length.

I'm also beginning the the complex task of planning The Mirror That Is Made (Charlie's second novel). This is difficult because it involves keeping dozens of plates spinning and painting a coherent single pattern on the lot of them. In other words, a series of interlinked short stories, each of which is coherent in itself and which read as a whole tell a further story with the whole lot based on a core theme. Plus all the research to get that late 1950s funfair feel authentic.

At the same time I am plotting the second Jeniche book in which she travels north and becomes involved in the intrigues behind installing a young man as the High King of... Sections of this are already outlined and by the time I finish the first draft of AG5, I will be able to sit down, pump up the volume on the Ozrics (thanks guys for the soundtrack to these), and hack out another 70k.

As if that wasn't enough, I am reviving ideas I had some years ago for a series of historical mystery novels. Not exactly a sparsely populated genre these days, I do have an interesting angle and setting (and that's all I'm saying for now). Lots of background research to refresh my memory of a period I know well. It all depends now on coming up with four or five good plots to get the series started. If I can come up with those (and they'll need to grow out of the research), I'll have yet more to work on.

And after breakfast...