Birmingham

Catching up on a little note taking whilst spending the weekend in Birmingham.

Sunlight on wall as I say a teary farewell

Pixie-Led: Starting Chapter Nine

Started writing Chapter Nine of Pixie-Led this morning. The chapter is the centre-piece of the novel and is devoted to the point of view of a cat!

Misty Cobweb

I find it fascinating how photographs can mislead. For example, the above shot of a cobweb appears to have been taken in some mystical, faraway forest. In fact, I spotted the cobweb in the hedge of a huge council estate in Norwich. It was, I admit, a bit a feat to exclude the wall, the house and the lamp post that actually framed this scene just a fraction out of shot.

fish out of water, llantwit major

Pixie-Led: Work on Chapter 8 begins

"Stop Writing and Give Me Attention."

Pixie-Led: Chapter 7

After a few days of writer's block, I forced myself back into the world of Pixie-Led this morning. I am happy to report the return of my muse and that I managed to get a further 2,000 words into the weird faery tale. The plot has also opened itself up to me to some degree as well. Hopefully there will be some plain sailing ahead now. Finger's crossed :) 

Putting Chapter Five of Pixie-Led to Bed

I completed Chapter Five of Pixie-Led this morning, under this gaze of this furry girl:

I am now 10,000 words into the story but have, unfortunately, hit a bit of a brick wall with the storyline. Only vague ideas and the odd scene or two exist in my head about where I want this tale to head. So, whilst I let Pixie-Led ferment in my mind, I will take a short break from writing this particular novel and get to work on a shorter project that I would like to get published by Halloween 2018. More details on this very, very soon...

Last of the Summer Flowers

Given that we had such a fantastic start to the Summer, it seems Autumn is now kicking in extra early :( Here are the last of our Summer flowers:

Reading

Somehow, the red shoes seemed appropriate attire lol :)

Cracking on...

5,000 Words Into Pixie-Led

Michelle and Tom

I have been writing stories for as long as I can remember. My earliest stories were about a dog called Charlie who, in one adventure, saved the moon when it accidentally split in two by throwing a javelin up into the sky. The javelin shot right through the moons two halves, which had the effect of pinning them together, thus saving the day. Later, when I was around the age of nine or ten, I started writing what was planned to be a series of books detailing the adventures of two children - Michelle and Tom Norkett. The original tale in this series, and one which I never really got past writing the first couple of chapters of, was Michelle, Tom and the Skull of Terror. Dramatic, eh? Lol.

Anyway, about ten years ago or so, when my daughter was small, I thought about bringing Michelle and Tom back to life in a story called Michelle, Tom and the Witch's Cat. Again, I never got past writing the first few chapters of this story, although its premise now lives on in my writing project Pixie-Led. My daughter loved drawing back in those days and was keen to help me in my writing endeavours. Getting out my old notes from that project to rework them into my current story, I found this illustration she produced for me. I don't really want to go into too much detail about how this new tale opens, but you will get a fair idea from her drawing:

The tale of Pixie-Led is a lot darker than Michelle, Tom and the Witch's Cat and not aimed at the young audience the original was to be targeted at. I am therefor unable to use my daughter's drawing for the new book. I have however, been able to produce my own 2018 version of the illustration for the Pixie-Led ~ a tale of smoke and mirrors. It was based on a photograph of one of my cats but I have darkened the image and transformed her tabby appearance into a rough and wild cat that really does not like to me messed around with:

Whilst I am already working on the third chapter of this new novel, I am still working on the details of the story and am still unsure of exactly what direction the story will take. So, realistically, I am looking at some time post Spring 2019 as a publication date for the book, which will be my fourth published novel...

Crawley - Promo Pics

18/08/2018

A couple of promo picks for Crawley - an adult faery tale. 'Tis time to start marketing...