Finally getting there?

One from the archives this week. In the midst of lock-down, I decided to have a prowl around the past for this week's post - and I found this one. It's from November 2016 would you believe and it's a post about finishing the draft of A Wedding on the Riviera. It was finished before Summer in San Remo  and What Happens at Christmas were published and has been waiting patiently ever since! I was well aware then that it was a draft, and that it would be a while before it would see the light of day as a (possibly) publishable project. I must admit it was a bit of a shock to discover that it has been that long, but in my defence, I have acquired some letters in front of my name in the interim, which was just a bit labour intensive.

Well, as regular readers know, I 'm currently doing the work on it that I mention in the post, which includes rewriting the last third of it. I'm enjoying that, and fingers crossed it will be moving out of the building fairly soon, even if I can't at the moment!  And it is very definitely full novel length, currently 85,000 words and counting.

So - here we are, from 2016 ....................

Well, people, this is a new book. Actually it might be a new novella - as you can see I write longhand, so word counts can get a bit slippery until there is a typed version. At the moment I think it is about 66,000 words, so it is a biggish novella.

But whatever it turns out to be, IT IS NEW WORK. The first since caring, bereavement, surgery and all the other joys that life can throw at you erupted and took my mind to other places.

It's not a thriller - I haven't been able to contemplate something dark for a while, although I have some partial manuscripts in the tin chest. Thanks to some lovely encouragement from the Romantic Novelists' Marcher Chapter at a recent workshop, I think one of them is going to be the next in the frame - thank you ladies. I also have to get back to the day job.

Right now, this minute, there is this romantic comedy, or whatever it is, currently titled  A Wedding on the Riviera, which kind of gives you an idea of what it might be about. It's a follow on from the light novella that has got gummed in the works (See above) but which I hope will be out some time in 2017.

As you can see from the picture, there is going to be some work going on before it is allowed out on it's own. If it ever is. I've loved keeping company with Nadine and Ryan, and had a lot of fun, and some angst, with them on the Riviera and in Paris, but I have to tell you that this is the one with the very outlandish plot. It may be that the powers that be decide that it is a bit too outlandish. We shall see.

In the meantime it has got me back to writing again, and given me the boost of finishing a manuscript, which I haven't had in a long time, so I will always be grateful to it.

Otherwise?

Who knows?