Weekend, Work and Writing
We are definitely in that changeable time of year weather-wise. The other day, the thermometer in the courtyard read 24 degrees. On Saturday morning, it read eight. Mind you, it was blowing a gale from the north, and this was at 3.15 in the morning. One of the bedroom shutters had come loose, and the noise managed to penetrate my earplugs and wake me up. Not wanting it to wake Neil, I slipped out of the room, got dressed in the kitchen as I usually do in the winter so as not to disturb, and went outside to fix the problem. I nearly ended up in the harbour but managed to put the rocks back into place (to hold the shutter open) and made it back to the house without being swept from the hillside. That was something of a wake-up call, I can tell you.
The winds battered us for most of Friday and Saturday, but no damage was done, and Sunday began in a calmer fashion. Most of my weekend was taken up in writing, as usual, but more than normal because I am four of five chapters away from finishing a first draft. It’s all mapped out in my head. I just need to put down the words and tell myself the story. Then, after a break, I can start again at the beginning and make reasonable words even better. I hope.
I also had to compose a post for my other blog, my pen name writing one, and this week’s theme was character creation. This is a subject that people write books about, but I went for my usual stream of consciousness style and loaded up 2,000 words on the subject as it popped into my head. I did try and keep things to a basic structure, and I included drawings an artist has made of some of the characters I was talking about. If you’re interested, you can find it over at Jackson Marsh. There, I post about all manner of writing thoughts: Putting together a series, individual books, character interviews… I have guest posts too, and from time to time, when I am feeling studious, I have posts about the research I undertake to make the novels more realistic.
So, as the new weeks starts… Only two weeks before I am due in Rhodes to start the process for my biometric permit. Before then, I need to organise my photos (SpacePhone in Yialos), find additional paperwork that shouldn’t be needed but, if it is, will prove I have lived here permanently without a break since 2002 (a blog won’t do it, sadly, but that’s now been on the go for 16 years). I will need to get permission to travel, plus boat tickets nearer the time. I think everything else is covered. And now, onto the firth-to-last chapter of a rather lengthy first draft that’s the last in the first series of historical mysteries…
