The last time I wrote here on this topic was, remarkably, on 1^st May this year. So, what have I been doing since? That’s a long story, but mostly, as you will be aware if you follow this blog, I was engaged in slimming down my website to make it more concentrated on my books, as advised by certain people in the know. I have, also, been doing a bit of essential family travel, catching up with good friends I haven’t seen for too long, and I’ve written a few posts on Medium, which are introduced earlier on this blog.

So, what about progress on the current novel?

I’m intending to add to these reports a little more frequently as the work progresses. And I thought I’d head each new post with an untitled picture of my own that carries some reference to the novel’s content. Hence the picture of the beach scene above, the relevance of which will become clear when you read the novel.

When I left the last progress report, the MS stood at 130,480 words and I’d completed the task of adding relevant real-life events to the tale.

Today, I’ve been revisiting the story and started work on making the language as fitting as I can. It seemed somehow appropriate to write this piece after I’d finished this part of the work as far as Chapter 10, a section of 36,594 words.

Generally, editing reduces the word count, but I note I’ve actually added exactly 500 words during this particular session. Of course, there will be a couple of further edits that may well cause some reduction or even further additions. I’ll only know as I progress through the process.

For many writers this part of the craft is tedious, boring, irritating, or even seen as futile. But I thoroughly enjoy the opportunity to convert an adequate sentence into something that manages to state exactly what I mean. It’s sometimes a challenge, but one I enjoy.

So, that’s the current situation. Stay tuned for further revelations!