This is my seventh post on the progress of my WIP. I suspect it won’t be the last. But I feel I’ve made real progress.

The last post was on 19^th July, when I was about to start work on Chapter 24 of 40, and the MS stood at 121,716 words over 280 pages. Today, it stands at 122,237 words over 282 pages. Many of those words have changed.

However, I finished that particular edit and have now completed a further, more technical, job on the book. The story takes place over the period from 1947 to 1986, during part of the time I’ve been in existence. I was conceived in 1947, and have actually lived through those following years.

Much research was needed when I discovered my journals, written in my teens and twenties, were less than accurate, and in any case covered only part of the period. It was clear I needed to thoroughly research the period if I’m to complete the story with any sense of authenticity. After all, this period was one of significant social upheaval in the UK, and much of the rest of the world, and I want to at least convey that aspect in the story, if not employ it as a governing theme.

This latest, technical, edit involved going through the entire MS to identify both of the narrating protagonist’s ages for each chapter, recording that detail in the text and also on the associated research sheets. I finished that identification stage yesterday. Now I need to select and add small contemporaneous details exactly when certain events actually took place, where appropriate and in a way that fits unobtrusively into the story, to establish the factual situation surrounding the fictional narrative. I have to select those events, moods, attitudes, and fashionable words from 44 closely-typed pages of research, including many references and links to various websites and printed books.

Also, an artist is a significant protagonist. I therefore need to expand my knowledge of such work beyond my limited experience. My mother, who died 2 days after my 16^th birthday, was a gifted painter, and I recall watching with joy as she laid oil paint on hardboard sheets to depict expansive skies and restless seas. My step-father was a technically adept photographer with no idea how to make a picture but who accurately recorded events.

I took up photography at the age of 12 and, after school, worked as a professional for some years. I also had a job in a local art college as a graphics technician for a few years, where I learned a good deal about process and technique as well as a fair amount relating to the lives of students and of tutors, one or two of whose creative abilities were such that they had to teach as well as earning their living from their art.

One way I’ll be improving my understanding of the creative processes is to follow examples from a large book I was recently given on ‘The Techniques of Great Masters of Art’ (A book I’ll be reviewing here shortly). In other words, I’ll do more drawing and painting so I might absorb through experience a better feel for the art of draughtsmanship.

Last time I wrote here, I mentioned I was due a small op for a hernia that would put me out of physical action for a while. I had that operation on 28^th July. Last Monday, I removed the dressing, as suggested, and revealed the scar, 7.5cm (3 inches) long across my lower abdomen. Medical advice is not to drive for at least 7 days, and preferably not until a firm stamp, using the foot on the same side as the wound, on the floor causes no pain. This is to simulate the potential effect of an emergency stop, something one must be able to perform if the car insurance is to remain valid! I intend to attempt that this weekend. As for other physical activity, heavy lifting is prohibited for six/seven weeks. Strenuous exercise should wait for the same period.

I therefore have a few weeks when I can concentrate fully on the book, without distractions. I can, fortunately, indulge in gentle walks, gradually building on the hill-climbing the local forest generally imposes on such adventures.

So, that’s the current situation. I’ll endeavour to keep you informed. By all means, use the comment space below to ask questions or make observations, rude or otherwise!