How Goes the WIP, 14th May?

On 14/05/2024 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress6 Comments

To update you, I last posted about the WIP on 29th April. The word count was then 77,854. Subsequently, the Lawn Bowls season began. I don’t play, but my darling wife’s a keen team member of her local club and, as she doesn’t drive, I’m her taxi for the games. It can be a little …

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How Goes the WIP, 29th April?

On 30/04/2024 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress4 Comments

Just to update you, I last posted about the WIP on 7th April. At that time, the word count was at 62,531, it has now reached 77,854, following a short break away from home and the computer. In the meantime, I’ve also produced a few short pieces on Oddities Observed and on places visited on …

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How Goes the WIP, 7th April?

On 07/04/2024 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress4 Comments

Just to update you, I last posted about the WIP on 25th March, here. At that time, the word count was 42,025. I’m now at 62,531, and still enjoying the creative process. The characters are mostly behaving themselves and, so far, I’m not having to allow for too many retrospective changes when I get to …

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How Goes the WIP?

On 25/03/2024 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress, Reading, Review5 Comments

On Sunday, 17th March, I reported that the WIP had reached 20,293 words and I was working on Chapter 8. I’d intended to report back yesterday, but got rather engaged by Natalie Bennet’s excellent and hope-inspiring ‘Change Everything’ and rather lost track of the time. You’ll find my review of this timely book about the …

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Progress on the WIP #2

On 17/03/2024 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress8 Comments

Photo of yours truly taken by my wife. The first post about the new novel’s progress can be found here.I started actually writing, following a year of research, last Sunday. At the end of today, I’ve achieved a total of 20,293 words and am currently working on Chapter 8. It’s going well. Despite the extensive …

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Now the Real Work Begins.

On 11/03/2024 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, opinion, Progress, Reading19 Comments

I’ve spent the best part of the last 12 months engaged in research for the new novel I’m now writing. I’ve ended up with three documents totalling 83 pages and 54,468 words, many including links to some of the research sites used for the information. Add to that the 604 pages from the Chronicle of …

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The WIP is Done.

On 15/08/202317/10/2023 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress11 Comments

At the end of Friday, 11th August, I posted here on the progress of the WIP. At that stage, the book was on chapter 30 and the word count was 71,521. Yesterday I completed the WIP with chapter 33 and a total of 80,799 words. Now I need to do some detailed research for events …

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The WIP is Growing!

On 11/08/2023 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress6 Comments

My Books, and Others Containing My Stories. Three weeks ago, I posted about my progress on the WIP. I’m re-writing to the extent that the current work is essentially a second ‘first draft’, in that I’ve made many changes to the content and the style of presentation. At that point, I’d reached 32,427 words in …

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WIP First Draft Complete!

On 24/04/2023 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress14 Comments

On 28th February I announced the start of a new novel and revealed I’d completed the first chapter at 1,725 words. It was on 26th March I updated progress with words reaching a total of 48,079. And on 4th April I let you know I’d completed 70,169 words but had run into a constructional problem …

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The Words Continue to Flow

On 26/03/2023 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress4 Comments

On 28th February I posted a piece about the start of a new novel. I’ve now reached, and even passed, a sort of landmark on the road to completion of the story. I’m up to page 125, 48,079 words in total, which is probably a halfway mark for the book. Of course, there’ll be changes …

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Revealing the Cover.

On 08/09/202108/09/2021 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress8 Comments

Too revealing? There’s a good solid reason; it’s based on the story. You’ll notice the guy is also revealed. In fact, all six characters who star in this new novel find themselves in a situation where clothing is a low priority, or certainly should be. After all, wearing the clothes they normally sleep in, they’re …

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A Welcome Ending: 2020 Goodbye!

On 31/12/202031/12/2020 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, opinion, Photography, politics, Progress, Review17 Comments

Christmas is for the kids. But I love the idea of a new beginning, however random that may be, so the New Year is always special for me. Trauma, trouble, dispute, and the glorious heroics and kindness of millions. This has been a year that will be remembered by most for many reasons. The personal …

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Creativity Interrupted

On 12/03/202012/03/2020 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Photography, Progress15 Comments

The Hut in the Woods. It happens to us all from time to time: something (often, more than one thing) comes along to distract or prevent us from doing our creative work. For many, judging by comments from blog posts, tweets, and on Facebook, that interruption of the creative flow can be physically as well …

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Conclusions from a Brief Experiment.

On 27/01/2019 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Procrastination, Progress15 Comments

Last Sunday, I started an experiment on Twitter. Basically, I decided not to go onto the site for a week. I would still use ‘share’ buttons on any websites/blogs or topics I visited, but I’d stay away from reading and interacting on the site. This came about when I realised how much of my creative …

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