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A pause…

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I haven’t posted my weekly blog for quite a while now and so I thought I’d let you know why. As things stand my third book in The Chronicles of Niru series is not too far from being half done; suffice to say there’s still an awful long way to go. My promise to myself to write at least a thousand words per week (notwithstanding editing) has held strong throughout my time writing Olgrun, and it’s seen me progress 33,000 words through Belus. However, several weeks ago things came to a grinding halt… I’d been steadily writing for maybe 18 months, slowly making progress and seeing my second novel finally come to fruition. This process, as I’ve stated many times, was something I was doing for myself. Just lately I’ve come to the revelation that these stories aren’t going anywhere, the rest of Belus, the key ingredients at least, are in my head, as are the ideas for the last novel, Luna. There’s no pressure and no real incentive for me to carry on just yet. Furthermore, I’ve been contemplatin
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Curve ball…

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From my photo archive... London and the Thames. Life is a journey, and at this point I could use a multitude of other clichés, but I'll refrain. For at least the last 18 months I have been fulfilling a promise to myself, which was to write a minimum of 1000 words every week. The only exception to this is when I've been committed to editing work I'd already completed. I recently broke that promise, hence last week there was no blog post either... Yes, life is a journey and it also comes without a guarantee, anything can happen, at any time. Whilst I don't wish to explain myself further, it's suffice to say that sometimes you just have to let go, stop holding on so tight and just let things flow around you. It's pretty hard to be an obstacle in the water, whereas it's far easier to flow with the current when you need to. Since Dragon King and Olgrun were put on Amazon I've sold nothing, bar a few copies to friends. I'm a little disheartened that my wor
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Fantasy novel, fantasy life?

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This week my wife and I managed a few days away in Dorset. One day was particularly overcast but nonetheless we decided to make the most of a poor weather situation and visit Abbotsbury Gardens on the south coast of the UK (close to a stretch of land called the Jurassic Coast). This was to be our second visit to Abbotsbury, I can highly recommend these sub-tropical gardens as a place for wellbeing, a good walk and somewhere to reflect on life and nature's beauty. The wonderful flowers, trees and ferns all got me thinking, about life and my novels... You see, as I've probably mentioned before, Dragon King was based on the premise of a universal consciousness, that out there somewhere is something we can't comprehend and yet it is a part of each and every one of us. Physicists today are toying with the idea that we live in a holographic universe and this, combined with Einstein's 'spooky action at a distance' and the famous double slit and Schrodinger's cat ex
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A close call and a target reached.

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This week it very nearly all went wrong. I hadn't done any writing and it was already Friday, life was getting in the way and my bucket of inspiration appeared to be empty. There was definitely a hole in my bucket... (I'll let you fill in the rest of that line, I know you want to, and by now it's probably developed into an ear worm, sorry). On Saturday I had lots to do, a wall to sand and paint, an important trip to a shop and of course it was all accompanied by the constant nagging at the back of my head, reminding me of how I was going to let myself down. It went on and on and had to be silenced, so... I gave in, I sat down and with next to nothing to go on, I began to type. It was just a thought, just a grain of an idea and before I knew it I'd achieved my minimum weekly target of 1000 words. Not only that but the story line fitted so neatly into last week's efforts it was seamless, as if it was always meant to be. So here I am on Sunday morning feeling huge reli
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The plot thickens...

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Last week I was talking about how a new chapter brings with it new ideas, and in similar context my update this week sees another chapter come to an end and an intriguing twist to the story of Belus. The plot thickens... I have often said that I'm never sure where my writing will lead me. I start with an idea, a premise, that I think takes me from point A, to point B. The trouble is when your imagination gets to work by the time you finish writing you end up at an unknown destination, a mystery point C. So it was when I wrote Dragon King and similarly, Olgrun. The fact that each time I write I potentially end up somewhere I didn't expect has always been a good thing. Even I don't know how my stories will end. I have a very broad brush thread and allow my imagination to take over the driving seat, the results often lead to a more thrilling story, a thickening plot and plenty of mystery to keep the reader wanting more. This week I've introduced something new, something th
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New chapter brings new ideas

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This week has been one of those weeks where I knew I needed something fresh to write. I've covered a considerable backstory with this third novel and have concentrated a significant amount on a few characters that were essential to the rest of the book. It was time to get back to our main protagonist, Belus. The trouble was I was starting a new chapter and really needed some inspiration... When I did sit to write I promised myself I'd try to get 500 words down, to get the ball rolling, so to speak. After that I'd do another sitting later in the week in order to achieve my minimum weekly 1000 word target. So I sat and I began to write the first few sentences. These words set the scene and somehow got me into an unusual meditative state. It was as if I was a third party witnessing the events as they happened. I watched as Belus and his wife made their way to a special place, meeting with a new character who I paid particular attention to. The conversation between the three of
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Taking the pressure off writing...

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Hello everyone, another weekend, another update. This week has been slow but steady, my minimum target of 1000 words per week was achieved, but only just. Sometimes I need to remind myself that there is no pressure to get this done, other than to do my little slice of writing each week. I suspect my blog entries double my workload, but somehow this is far easier, it's not much different to speaking out loud, I'm merely transcribing my internal podcast and making it available to the world.  I had always said that I would sit to write at least twice per week and ensure that each sitting surpassed 500 words. I've decided to modify that slightly, if I only sit down and write once, or if I choose to write three times in a week it doesn't really matter, so long as I hit the 1000 word target. I've done this to take the pressure off a little more. To allow more flexibility and hopefully to stop worrying about things too much. It's not as if I'm an author of any sign
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