Hi everyone,

So, I’m coming to the end of the summer holidays but I’m so excited to report on the progress I’ve made with Book 2 of The Ardenna Crossing.

With a couple of days in Reading library (my writing retreat of choice) and a couple more days I was lucky enough to get to mooch around cafes closer to home, I’ve added over 15,000 words to the first draft.

A Thousand White Fragments is now well over halfway down at 55,000 words. What feels so much better is that I’ve figured out some of the bugs that were holding me back and the story is flowing freely again. It feels wonderful, like when I was writing the original. Characters are surprising me and there is a very organic feel about how it’s developing.

It’s very different as there are a few different characters at the centre of things this time; not just Paul. It makes it tricky to get in and out of each narrative, but they are all going well at the minute. It means I get to switch locations a bit. One day I’m in deep space; the next I’m in India.

Anyway, I’m back on the wheel and I’ve set a target (an ambitious one) of Christmas for the first draft.

All that, and I’m waiting to hear if Trinity got shortlisted for the Booksie Poetry Prize. Should know in the next ten days. Hoping I can ride in on the coattails of Oppenheimer’s success.

Thanks for following.

More news soon.

Richard