Here on the west coast of Canada, we don’t do winter well. Especially in Victoria, which is a safehouse for Canadians fleeing winter across the land. But this year, we’ve had a full on winter with real snow and black ice and snow shoveling and all the rest. I even sprained my wrist after a spill on said black ice. But I’ve had the luxury of a fireplace to sit by, and a view to peer at from my new place in Victoria. I can even glimpse Craigdarroch Castle, a Scottish baronial mansion, which is perfectly fitting for the Scots theme running through much of my writing.
The benefit of real winter, though, is that things slow down, and it’s much better for getting writerly things done. So aside from keeping the supply of hot toddies at the ready, I’ve been at work revising A Modern Education, and I’m quite pleased about that. At last sighting, the novelette weighed in at about 13,000 words. And now that I’m thinking of a couple more scenes at least, it’s going tip into baby novella territory at this rate.
I’m also hatching a plan about revising the novel draft and picking up on writing the first draft of the second novel in the Professor Justin Fintry series. It’s hard to imagine that it’s only been a year since I’ve started writing this series. It’s been a lot of fun and I’m keen to get things out soon for folks to read and enjoy. I’m still weighing publication routes to pursue for this series.
Part of the fun of this series for me is the combination of archaeology and magic, and the chance to root it all in history. For the series, I’ve been researching early 1960s East Africa, and for the novelette, I’ve been taken to the early 1990s in Cambridge and London, as well as the Highlands. I’m excited to dip back into historical research for revisions on the novel draft. My goal would be to get to the UK later this year for some research, but we’ll see what’s in the cards for me this year.
Right now, it’s a long weekend in the winter, and I better get back to some editing. 🙂
Hugh Blackthorne 