It’s a bit late to do the ‘New Year’ post, I suppose. The only excuse I have is that it’s been quite a busy end to 2015 and hasn’t really slowed down yet. Hopefully that’s about to change 🙂

Anyway, writing wise, I’ve been flat out. I had an idea for a new YA fantasy novel, so for the first time ever, I did Nanowrimo, and then kept on writing. I finished the first draft a couple of weeks ago, and I’ll pick it up shortly and begin the slow process of fixing the plot holes and expanding the characters.

As a writer, I’ve learned a lot about my flaws over the past few years. I’m somewhat verbose, overuse adjectives, and often write stilted dialogue. This time, I’ve attempted to put all the things I’ve learned into practice. Consequently, it’s a much shorter story than I normally write, and hopefully, tighter.

You can find my story’s Nanowrimo page here if you want to have a look. There’s a lot to do still – the first draft is pretty rough and ready, but at least it’s all down on paper (well, in my computer and the external hard drive, and the iCloud…)

I haven’t attempted fantasy before, and now I’ve invented an entire religion, religious order, fantasy world, and fantasy country, not to mention the sacred writings of said religion.

I’ve been using Scrivener, which I’ve found invaluable. Having every thing in one spot has made it much easier to make sure all my characters look consistently the same and even have their names spelt the same way each time. It’s been good to be able to compile it really easily so that I can send it off to my test reader, (aka eldest child), in PDF format so that she can tell me what works and what doesn’t work for her.

I’ve also been writing another story concurrently, which is a science fiction story, set primarily in space. It’s space opera, I suppose, but with conspiracy and a space plague. Finishing that one will be a priority this year. It’s got a pile of rewrites awaiting it, not to mention the fact that I need to finish it, or at least its first draft.

Anyway, I’m off for a couple of weeks, but will be travelling, so this blog may be a bit haphazard for a while – well, more haphazard than it has been over the last few months!