Looking forward, thinking back

Once again, a Happy New Year to you all (scary – it seems just the other day I was writing that for 2017!)

The New Year’s resolution for 2018 is – no more resolutions… at least not those concerned with blogs.  Can’t believe I haven’t posted here since July, although, again, I am pleased that the main reason is because I’ve been working hard on my fiction.

This is a ‘snapshot’ of where I have placed my work this year, and there was also an online piece in Tales from the Forest (talesfromtheforest.net), together with some online Flash fiction in Spelk (spelkfiction.com) – something I was very pleased about as it was my first attempt at the shorter form. It’s a site that gives good author coverage, which is always welcome.

Saving the best for last – I’m so thrilled that my novella ‘Esther Bligh’ is being published by Holland House Books later this year. It’s a literary press, based in Newbury, and the editor, Robert Peett, has been very patient with this newcomer to the world of editing, proof-reading, etc.  I have, in fact, just finished reading through the proofs, which has finally made it seem real. It’s surprising how having an ISBN number can make some people so excited! Publication date is the 7^th June, and blogging more about the process is something I certainly intend to do.

 I’ve also become rather interested in the novella form – whatever that might be. I attended a workshop recently taken by Cynan Jones, who said it wasn’t simply to do with word-count. Still thinking about that, whilst having started on my second (maybe).