Please forgive the pun-tastic title, but I can’t help it. You see, it’s November, NaNoWriMo month, and other people are posting on social media and blogging about their super word counts and how far they’ve got with their stories and how they feel it’s all coming together.
Normally at this stage of the year, I’d be with them, busily populating my word-count spreadsheet (yes I do have one), comparing where I am with where I should be at that point, and happily delving into the middle of the story. Or else I’d be approaching the middle of the story and despairing, because it’s often at that point between a third of the way through and halfway where I get a little bit stuck.
But this year is different. This year NaNoWriMo is about editing and getting as many books as I can ready in time for Christmas. As I posted last time, I have a huge backlog of stories I would like to get out into the world, and adding another draft into the process is not a rational thing to do. Not that that usually stops me from doing it.
Anyway, here is the progress so far in November:
- Pippa Parker book 4, Murder in the Meadow, is edited, beta read, and currently with my wonderful proofreader. I have even managed to do the cover, which I’m rather pleased with, and I will reveal that here very soon, hopefully with the launch date. Boom!
- Caster & Fleet book 4, The Case of the Masquerade Mob, is through the main editing process and currently with beta readers. It’s been an interesting book to write, and edit, probably because my co-author Paula Harmon and I have been juggling all sorts at the same time. However, I’m really pleased with the way the book has turned out. I’ve also been working on a cover, which needs a bit of tweaking, but we both like the overall concept. Roll on book five! (but not till next year)
I’m actually dictating this blog on a walk, in an attempt to get away from the computer for a bit. Have to say that it makes a nice change from the screen!
So what next?
Well, one of the things I would like to do is re-cover my Sherlock and Jack novella series, which begins with A Jar of Thursday, continues with Something Blue, and will probably conclude with the third book in the series, A Phoenix Rises. I’ve been thinking about re-doing the covers on the first two for a little while, and since I have the third book in draft and hopefully that won’t take too long to edit and proof, it seems sensible to do the series now. So if you have any idea how the series could look, please get in touch. I have ideas – but then I always have ideas!
So I seem to have talked myself into the edit of A Phoenix Rises being my next project, as well as the covers. For those of you who are wondering about the sequel to A House of Mirrors, In Sherlock’s Shadow, never fear, it will be coming soon. I’m not quite sure when(!), but it will be coming soon.
So that’s where I am at the halfway point of November and NaNoWriMo. If you’re doing it, how is yours coming along?
Liz Hedgecock 