Natural History Museum and Updates

So a quick word about the Natural History Museum in London - well worth a visit if ever you have a few hours to spare. I think I spent about 5 hours wandering around and still didn’t manage to see all of it. Though I made sure I visited the Earth’s Treasury in the red zone, having studied geology it was probably the section I most wanted to see. Plus LOL I think it’s by far and away the most gemstones I have ever seen in one place, a simply stunning and beautiful collection.

Of course no trip to the museum would be complete without seeing the dinosaur skeletons - favourite dinosaur is the tricerotops - and the life size model of the blue whale. I think of all the skeletons the one that blew me away was of the giant sloth. Maybe because you expect dinosaurs and whales to be big, but trying to comprehend a furry land mammal that was that big…and thinking more of modern sloths as being dog sized. LOL - maybe I should stop there, I just found it hard to get my brain wrapped round that one.

And as Dr. Who would point out where there are museums and people there have to be gift shops. :). I picked up a lovely marble egg - very white and calming - sitting next to me now as I type.

Speaking of typing. Raven is going very well. I’m managing to write every day, so on current speeds I should have a first draft finished in the next four weeks. 50,000 words may have been an underestimate but I’m not going to change my target. Later on there will probably be cutting and adding so it could all even out.

Now I’ve settled into a blogging routine there will be Thursday 13, Sonnet on a Sunday and I’m going to try and squeeze in a post on a Tuesday as well, which will either be updates, news or the character profiles which I’m hoping to start posting next week.

That’s all for now, back to work for me. :)

Heading Back into the Writing Cave

So the sharp-eyed amongst you will have noticed I’ve edited my progress meters to more accurately reflect what I’m working on at the moment.

I’ve started work on Raven, and am continuing to work on The Bargain. As I’m not sure when I’ll get round to revising The Tithing I’ve taken it off my WIP list for the moment.

I may not be posting quite as regularly as I have been. Though I’ll keep you up to date with my writing progress and any exciting news as it happens. Once a week I’m going to try and post about a character or something along those lines. The first one will be about Valerian. And if ever I can squeeze it in I want to write a short story about when Lily first met Alaric. Appropriately enough it will be called When Lily met Alaric. :)

Back From Holiday

So I made it back from holiday - refreshed and recuperated and ready to get stuck back in.

I completed the outline for Raven, currently it’s looking to come in at a minimum of 50,000 words. So a little bit longer than If Wishes Were Horses.

I also completed a second outline for a completely unrelated story following a remark I overheard about adjoining bedrooms. LOL - inspiration comes from everywhere.

So my task over the next couple of weeks is to get the first draft of The Bargain (now looking like a working title) completed and then I’ll start working on Raven. Hope to have a teaser from The Bargain up some time this week.

Away for a Week

I’m going to be away from the internet for a week.

Hopefully during that time I’m going to get the outline for Raven finished which will give me a rough idea of how long the finished book will be.

I’m also hoping to have the first draft of The Bargain finished by the second week of August - so expect a teaser from that when I return.

Land of the Fey 2

So after a great deal of procrastination, I’ve come to the conclusion that was probably obvious to everyone else. The next Land of the Fey story will be Lily’s.

:slaps forehead:

One of the biggest hurdles I have as a writer is how easily sidetracked I get. For instance in IWWH I know the backstory and motivations of every character*. Whenever a character does something I want to know why - and often the why is very interesting. Which is why I’ve been pulled towards wanting to do Genys and Reynard’s story. Genys is quite a powerful character, she never appears on page in IWWH, but it is her actions that are the pivot for Alaric and Valerian’s relationship. She makes an incredibly hard decision, sticks to it and because of that everything changes. So I will definitely be writing her story at some point.

Back to Lily. I’m giving her story the WIP title of Raven. So you’ll see that changed in the sidebar. Currently working on getting the outline down, the whole story is in my head, I know exactly what happens. But I just need to get the major points down so I stay roughly on track.

* - With two exceptions. Jerin and Marek. Jerin is strong and silent, and probably has a very interesting story to tell, but he’s keeping it close to his chest. And Marek is very young compared to the others, very earnest and hasn’t really done much yet.