I’m still working on the first edit of the initial draft I finished, at 84,141 words, on 14^th May. On 7^th September I let you know I was well into the first edit of the WIP, when the word count had reached 57,341. On 15^th September I let you know I was up to chapter 32 at 80,840 words. At that rate of adjustment, the eventual book length would be around 106,000 words, which is reasonably close to average for my long fiction.

To keep you updated on the progress of the WIP, which still resides without a name on my system, I thought I’d better let you know I had one of those strange epiphanies pantsters are a little prone to experience. Shortly after the last post, I was forced to accept an aspect of the book wasn’t working in the way intended. I can’t explain what it was without giving away too much of the book, so I’ll just let you know the new idea that came to me around 03:00 that day was the need to introduce a new character. And that new bod had to be there more or less from the beginning!

It means a lot of extra work, of course. But it will be worth the effort. In fact, I’m already at the end of chapter eight in that process. The word count has necessarily increased, but I can’t give you a total figure at this point.

I’m really enjoying including this new character, and it’s solving what was becoming a troubling issue. In the process, it’s also improving the story and drawing more valid attention to the major theme. More to follow.

On a separate issue, this short post lets you know I’ve decided to change the way I use this website. I’m now a regular user of the blogging platform, Medium, and it seems sensible to post my non-writing pieces there and allow this personal site to concentrate on my writing and books from now.

I will, of course, place a notice here each time I post to Medium.
Since that’s a paid-up member’s site, I’ll include a link with each notice to give non-members access posts at no cost, so you’ll still be able to read and comment on them with ease.