It has been a pretty hectic couple of months on the domestic front for little ‘ole me. And that means I’ve had little time (again) to be Nobbsy the Writer. What can I say, shit happens. And it happens a lot.
That, though, means it’s difficult to find time to write—although I have been trying. (Some would say I’m very trying). Whilst my last blog entry on the main section of my website was over a month ago now, and Grumpy Blog and From Across the Pond entries even longer ago than that, I have been making an effort to work on some new fiction.
I’ve got two full chapters of The Truths We Live completed and I’m part way through the third. I also have a good plan set out in my head for the first few big surprises in the book. All in all, I have written about eight thousand words of this book, so that’s probably somewhere in the region of 10% done.
I’ve also been tinkering with what I’ve written so far on the third Paul Robertson book, A Wounded Heart. I have to be honest here though, it’s a book I’m struggling with. I’ve promised myself this series will be a trilogy, but I’m not looking forward to cramming the rest of Paul’s story into one book. There’s a lot of story I want to tell, and I’m still not certain about the ‘timescale’ over which the plot will unfold. A Good Man and A Tortured Soul both told a story over roughly an academic year (September through until June/July). A Wounded Heart however picks up the story immediately after A Tortured Soul ends, and I need to cram in the summer, and possibly two more academic years and maybe a first year out in the real world too before I can bring Paul’s journey to a close—or rather, until Paul’s journey into full adulthood is over, at which point a completely new journey begins, but thankfully, that’s a journey I won’t have to write about.
I’ve written about five thousand words on A Wounded Heart, and given the first two averaged out at about one hundred thousand each, it looks like I have a long, long way to go. If the completed first draft comes in at under one hundred and fifty thousand words, I’ll be a happy bunny. But I’m starting to think it might be even longer than that.
Maybe it really is two more books, not just one.
Is this how GRRM feels when he sits down to write ASOIAF?
I’m also tapping away when I can at what is supposed to be the first C.N.Lingus story. Remember him? He’s one of my new Pseudonyms and his area of special interest is slutty wives and girlfriends. This first story is supposed to be a hot and dirty short about a wife who gets into a gangbang with her husbands teammates from the football club, but every time I open that document there’s this nagging voice in the back of my head (I think it’s Nobbsy) asking the kind of annoyingly pertinent questions that turned The Lies We Lead from a hot and dirty short into a hot and dirty novel of eighty thousand words. So don’t be surprised if Banging My Teammates morphs into something a bit more like a Marc Nobbs novel. I know I won’t be.
When I do get the chance to actually sit and write without interruptions or excessive tiredness, I do find I’m able to get into the swing of things quite well. I added four thousand words to The Truths We Live in just a couple of sessions (it may have been three), so that’s a pretty good average. If I can keep that up and increase the frequency I’m able to do that, we might start making some progress towards getting a new book ready for release.
I’d like to get something out in the spring if I can.
This coming summer will have been two years since A Tortured Soul was released—roughly the same interval as between it and A Good Man. I’d love to get A Wounded Heart out on the same sort of time scale. But I doubt very much that will happen, though.
Either way. I’ll keep plugging away, and I’ll keep you all up to date as much as I can. In the meantime, in case I don’t get a chance again before, I’d like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year.
Menu
