I’m aware that it’s already February and I haven’t actually posted anything on here so far this year. To say it’s been a rough time would be a bit of an understatement, with the most recent twists and turns of the Covid situation affecting the deadlines I’d set and plans I’d made with regards to my writing. I find myself often comparing these circumstances to shifting sands; after eleven months I am pretty disorientated by it all and without a doubt this has an impact upon my creativity and my output. However, perhaps the less said about that, the better.

I am still writing whenever time and other commitments allow, and making some slow but steady progress on this novel. I’m now writing the final third, which is probably my favourite part as all the seeds scattered and left to grow in the first two thirds bloom beautifully as everything comes together. Or at least, that’s the general idea! I am very much looking forward to introducing you to my characters, of whom I’ve become very fond, as they sleuth their way around Auld Reekie in spring 1803, during that brief reprieve between the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic wars. Hopefully you won’t have too long to wait.

As all my available writing time is focused on my novel, I haven’t been able to write the short pieces for submission to magazines and other publications that I would normally produce. However, I do have quite a back catalogue of work now, and one of my intentions after finishing this novel is to review it all, potentially with a view to producing a short story collection. This will depend on how this year progresses, but it is something I am giving some thought to.

So, just a short update from me to say that I am still here and I’m still writing! Hopefully I will have more news in the coming weeks, but if I am quiet it’s because I’m still in the thick of early nineteenth century Edinburgh, trying to solve a mystery.