Day 23

Okay, this past week has provided me with ample opportunity to write my socks off – since I’m as good as snowed in. Well, technically, I could have dug my car out of the garage...but Peugeots are slippery little suckers in this weather, so I’ll leave it where it is - out of harm’s way!

So, all in all, I’ve been developing my novel storyline further (since I discovered some flaws in my original idea) and have created some new and unexpected characters who are threatening to take over the whole story (if I let them get too big for their boots) – including a 17^th century witch; not sure where the hell she came from, but hey, I like her.

To make way for these new characters I’ve had to sack a couple of the originals though – as much as I was fond of the hairy law enforcement officer, he was unfortunately neither use nor ornament in the grand scheme of things. (I’ll bear him in mind for the sequel perhaps).

Anyway, that’s where I’m at with the book writing. I hope to have a detailed synopsis (which is as smooth as a baby's bum) laid out by next week – all going well! Of course, that might be rather naively optimistic of me – we shall see.

As far as my coursework is concerned, I received positive comments and useful feedback regarding my 14^th assignment. Having tweaked the love story slightly, I’ve now sent it off to a popular women’s magazine (fingers crossed), and I have a couple of options for the ghost story too, so I just need to decide where will be most appropriate to submit it.

Onwards and upwards, I’d like to be able to submit my 15^th assignment over the weekend (which is a chapter by chapter overview of my book, along with the first chapter). Yes I know, it sounds crazy, I’ve just about got my first chapter sorted and I haven’t even got my synopsis finalised. The beginning of the story has always been the same though – it’s the middle bits that end up messy and head-busting!

Unfortunately I think the writing group I’ve recently joined will be cancelled this week (as it was last week) because of the weather – which is a shame, since we were all meant to be meeting for some festive shenanigans. Pah! So, for the foreseeable future I imagine I’ll be just typing away in the spare room; restraining those new characters, swotting away with coursework, trying my luck with women’s magazines and hopefully not going mad with cabin fever...