6 June 2015

Writing, Reading and Research Updates

When I updated the site I intended on updating my actual writing on a somewhat regular basis. But the best laid plans of authors... Better late than never.

Pilgrims of the Pool, the final novel in the Torc of Moonlight trilogy (see 'Chillers'), continues to have pages added - not as fast as I'd like, but a decent enough amount to prove that I am now well out of the mire in which I'd written myself, or at least written the luckless Nick and Alice.

On the reading front I've finished The Shield-Maiden: A Foreworld SideQuest by husband and wife team Michael Tinker, and Linda, Pearce. And I can heartily recommend it. I know nothing about the Foreworld series, but was drawn to this novella by (a) the cover, and (b) the fact that Michael is a sword-maker and fight choreographer and the author of The Medieval Sword in the Modern World, which I intend to look up. Would his background show in the fiction? It certainly did. The battle sequence and aftermath were superb.

Over the past few weeks I've also been beta-reading works by several members of support group, Hornsea Writers, to which I belong. It's always good to scrutinize works-near-final-polish as it makes me look at my own with a keener eye. We can always be blind to our own imperfections while immediately seeing similar problems in work by others. It's a way of restabilizing self-critical faculties.

Despite being way behind schedule with my own novel, I've played hookey twice over the past month, to Horncastle and Spilsby, and to Gainsborough, both in Lincolnshire. Days out are never simply 'days out' in our house; I always have half an eye on what might pass for research for possible future projects. 

In Spilsby the local theatre is housed in a building sporting a magnificent portico and columned frontage set back from the road. It turned out to be the region's Quarter Sessions and prison complex dating from 1827. I managed to wangle my way in and an eye-opener it turned out to be. Gainsborough was a dedicated trip to see the Old Hall dating from c1460s. There the medieval kitchen complex was a revelation. 

Over the next few weeks I intend to do posts on both, with pictures. 'Follow by Email' - see bottom of the page - if you would like these to be delivered to your Inbox when they become available.

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