So close...

Each week for the last month I've thought I was going to finish writing the novel in the next couple of days. It's not that I've been slacking. These have been some of the most productive writing times I've had for ages. It's just that I seem to be a bad judge of how long it is going to take. Or perhaps the job is expanding.

But now I really can taste it. I'm so close to finishing. The shape of the novel is there - all on the page. Admittedly there are still a couple of places where I have a line of asterisks and a remark such as 'HERE I MUST PUT A SCENE WHERE WILLEM CONFRONTS HIS GIRLFRIEND AND THEY HAVE A HUGE ROW'

There is still work to do - but today I can really see it as a novel. And I'm excited.

Wish me luck.

Still Alive

Yes, the title of this entry is true. I'm still alive - though the level of activity on the blog for the last month might suggest otherwise. The reason for my silence has been a period of total immersion in the novel - which isn't really news, because that's what I said in the last couple of posts.

But other things have been happening. There was a really good talk at Leicester Writers' Club last Thursday - Peter F Hamilton speaking about his impressively immense science fiction novels. Also on the LWC front, we had a childrens writing competition, judged by the marvelous Chris d'Lacey - which I am proud to say I came second in. The well-deserved winner came from the pen (keyboard) of novelist David Hood.

I recently applied to take part in another regional writers project - this time organized by the literature development officers of Leicester, Nottingham and Derby. After an interview I was accepted, along with five other writers. The result will be a commissioned piece of writing and a series of creative writing workshops. More on that when there is more to tell.

What else? Not much. My life has been so full of this novel that it's pretty much all I can think about right now. But the end, as they say, is nigh.