What an amazing holiday, eighteen glorious days away from the grind of life. Eighteen nights full of fine dining, great sights and we also made some excellent new friends to boot. I’m sure you’re all wanting to know how much writing I managed to do. I’m happy to report I wrote every second day, effectively doubling the output of the previous six weeks! That’s right, in two and a half weeks I managed to produce the equivalent of a month and a half. One thing that surprised me were the number of passengers genuinely interested in my writing. I spent many a meal talk about my other books and short stories. I discovered I really enjoy doing this too.
A rough guess I would say I’m now around 30% – 40% through the first draft. I’ve had to put the brakes on as I realised a major linkage between an early scene (I always think in scenes) and the middle of the telling had been missed. Some reworking is required however the story is definitely heading in the right direction. It’s ambitious to say the least (no spoilers) and I know I need to work my white board magic in the coming days before pressing onwards to ensure I don’t make this mistake again.
In other news I woke 2 hours early a week ago with a solid idea for a short story. It’s been a while since I’ve had the inkling to write one of those and I like the feel of this one. Weird I know. I can already imagine the reactions to it. There’s something deliciously satisfying in the knowledge a story, even a short 5,000 word creation will genuinely thrill some people while at the same time annoy others no end. There’s nothing offensive in the story if that’s what you’re thinking, alas I am not at liberty to say more, for now. Once again like my current novel this short story is different to anything else I have ever done.
Dreams can be such wonderful things and as I’ve said before I tend to dream quite regularly, probably 4 out of 7 nights. I love the way the remnants, like a shadow, remain for some time. On waking my conscious mind pieces together the various details to formulate a complete rendition. If I could somehow tap into that thought process directly, stream the telling there and then as fast as it all forms into words, what a book that would be!
Anyhoo I digress. I finished a Clive Cussler the day before we left and ended up reading something from left field during the cruise. As I mentioned we made a number of new friends and one in particular, Doug from the US of A, Seattle to be precise, is a Geologist. I was asking him all sorts of questions about volcanoes and by chance he had a fantastic book on Krakatoa titled ‘Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883′ by Simon Winchester. Out of the blue Doug gave the book to me to read and keep. I couldn’t put it down. Disasters fascinate me, the power of nature is simply staggering and this book had me hook line and sinker. Well written and very engaging, well worth a read.
With a long, complex draft to work through and a tantalising short story rolling about in my head, I have plenty to do.
J.
Tantalising Jason! Looking forward to reading your new work. Glad you had a great time on your cruise and happy to see you back.