UPDATE ON NOVEL TO BE PUBLISHED etc

So, I am told that deadlines and publication dates often shift under one's feet. I have completed the second 'Typeset Proof' edits for the novel that was due out at the end of this year (initially October and then shifted to December) so from this it might be assumed that we are good to go. But the cover has not been finalised yet and there's some debate going on around this to make sure we get one that is right for the book. And this, along with some other small concerns around timing, has shifted the publication date to the end of February 2019. I am told by a writer friend of mine that this is all pretty normal.

So, having had a 'dry spell' for quite a while, this summer a whole other novel spilled out and it was a little new in its shape and not like anything I have written before. Still at the first draft stage but it felt good - to be writing again, to have a good project filling my head, and to get something down on paper. I have someone looking it over and am waiting for feedback on the project. I expect it will need a fair bit of revision, but it is something that was a lot of fun to do.

Then I had another Arvon course booked - one on experimental fiction with Toby Litt and Joanna Walsh. The reading in preparation for this course sparked another project and, having completed the course (which was so exciting and mind-expanding) and returned home, this second project is now completed too and is very very different from anything I have done before; it was exciting and fun for me to write. Again this is at first draft stage, but I have shown it to someone - someone who knows my work a bit, and they have said it is hands down the best thing they have read of mine... so that feels good.

Am also looking at some non-writing university short courses to do in 2019 which may also help me in my writing... I will share more of this if and when they happen.