Private Property

Monday, May 22, 2023

2023 Publish Dates

The Vampire in Chains Cover Design

3/10. The second draft of Vampire in Chains has been completed, and a publication date set. The next five weeks will be devoted to my third book on the Gower Peninsula, which will be titled Remnants of War and has a publication date set in stone. I will be visiting a few locations along the old 'Gower Stop' line today on the Burry Estuary, with another scheduled Gower shoot pencilled in for May 31, when I will be spending the day sourcing the World War II relics located around Fairwood Common. With this morning's update completed, it's time for me to crack on...

Oops. But a project is a project:

These are the North Gower anti-tank defences on the Loughor side of the estuary:

Our parking spot for today's photoshoot

May Holiday, Day 2

Sunday, May 21, 2023

2/10. Well, day 1 of my holiday was lovely. It was my gorgeous wife's birthday and also our wedding anniversary. And the weather was glorious. I managed to get a lot of work done and should now be able to complete the second draft of ViC this evening. Meaning I can now do some planning and map out the north Gower WW2 anti-invasion sites I want to photograph tomorrow. Oh, how I love a holiday. The only sadness is that my meds warn that I have to keep out of the sun so I have to sit in the shade all day lol.

10 Days of Freedom!

May 20, 2023

1/10. I have been unable to put as much work into my project over the past few weeks as I would have liked. But, at the end of the day, I have to help keep a roof over our heads and food on our table, and training on my new day job has been quite demanding. But I now have ten clear days of holiday ahead of me and I am going to plough through my real work now with a vengeance. By the end of May I WILL have completed the second draft of ONB, which has now been retitled Vampires in Chains. I will have finished reading GNS' Water Rites and moved on to the next, as yet undecided, book. On the GNS front, my book detailing the joys and frustrations of collecting his and the addictive aspects of collecting is a GO and will form the main output of my project work next year. But, back to the here and now, and the next ten days in particular, I also need to photograph two separate Gower Peninsula sites for my third Gower book - Remnants of War, which I will be focussing on writing in June. With the weather looking generous for my holiday, I will also be spending some time working in the garden, so expect the Magickal Gardening website to kick back to life very soon. Well, that's me done with this update. Time to crack on...

Crabs: The Human Sacrifice

 I received an offer out of the blue on the GNS FB group for this ultra-rare book. Looks like the cats were more than interested lol:

Limited Edition Intro

May 14, 2023

The postman finally delivered my GNS manuscript of the intro to a short story that never saw the light of day - Limited Edition.

 

First Fire of the Year

May 06, 2023

First garden fire of the year

 

The Ghoul/I Am Legend

April 30, 2023

Whilst I may have lost a bit of time with my writing this week, I have added these two beauties from the 1970s to my bookshelf:

 

A Snuggle and a Nose

Sunday, April 30, 2023

Fudjcat has taken a keen interest in my reading this year. It is a rare day indeed when she doesn't come for a snuggle and nose at the book I am reading lol.

Water Rites in the Garden by Guy N Smith

Saturday, April 29, 2023

I spent my second day out in the garden this year digging further into this slow burner of a novel:

a novel (pardon the pun) bookmark - a single blade of grass

Water Rites

Friday, April 28, 2023

Thanks to an office strike, I'm at the start of a 4 day Bank Holiday Weekend. A good time to get back on the GNS books :)

 

Busy, busy, busy...

Saturday, April 22, 2023

Busy weekend as I am starting a new job on Monday so it may be a bit of a squeeze to fit in writing next week. It's difficult to crack on though with this furry baggage sat on my lap lol. And the usual 'methotrexate fog' felt the day after taking my once-weekly dose is a little crippling at the moment.

 

Night of the Werewolf finale!

April 20, 2023

Hoping to finish my 11th GNS book of 2023 today!

 

2/3 Way Through ONB d2

Monday, April 17, 2023

I am currently running ten days ahead of schedule. I guess I can stop writing this evening and give this one the attention she is craving.

"Wake up. Feed Me."

Sunday. April 16, 2023

"Wake up. Feed me."  She meows after jumping onto my belly and chest. Her paw reaches out. Taps my chin. I open my  eyes. She meows. I close my eyes. She taps my chin to wake me. Over and over and over again. Finally, I sit up in bed. It's time to feed her.

Today I woke up to this

Sunday, April 16, 2023

"Wake up. I'm hungry." She meowed as she tapped continuously at my chin.