I haven't done much work on the Forest of Ghosts over Xmas. Not because I've been busy with family and festivities, but because I'm still distracted by a Facebook game, and because my tom cat, Mr Kitty, has discovered that laptops are warm and comfortable, just as one of my female cats, Megaera, discovered that so is my chair. I could move them both. Unlike my third cat, Claudia, neither are prone to fits of growling and biting and clawing, should I try and do anything as awful as to shift them away, but it's Xmas, and they're cute, so I've chosen to leave them alone. As a result I've only done about two hundred words in the last week and a bit, but I do have two happy cats. (Claudia moved away on her own, discovering radiators are better for warmth than laptops)

But the Xmas holidays are almost over, and along with the cats having to be shifted, it's time for resolutions. Along with the usual, lose weight, I have two, finish the Forest of Ghosts, and do some proper networking and book promotion for the Shadow Seer. It should be out in print before too long but even if it isn't, I need to get my butt in gear and do conventions, meet some other writers, meet some readers, that sort of thing. BristolCon, in November, organised by my friend and fellow writer, Joey Hall, is a must. Hopefully there will be other sorts of things along the way. For now though there is a cup of coffee waiting for me.

I hope everyone has a good and safe New Year's Eve. See you in 2011.

Been working on the Forest of Ghosts and have realised that I can't proceed with a gap at the end of chapter one (it was a gap concerning my hero reading someone's fortune and I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to say, so I left it.) I have gone back and am now filling that in, so my overall word count has gone down, as I removed chapter two until one is done (to make sure it meshes together properly.)
So now the word count looks like this:

I have written 2,937 of 210,000 words. I am now 1.39% done! no frills wordmeter

Which is not at all impressive! But at least now the ghosts have been introduced properly and things can go on.

And in case anyone is interested, here is a sketch of the cover for the Rose Prophecies, Book Two of Ellenessia's Curse. It was sketched by the talented Charlotte Thomson, who did the Shadow Seer cover and I think it looks damn fab.

I decided to embed a blog into my website as a better way of keeping anyone who is interested in my work informed. After much searching and begging for someone to help me do it for me, I had to figure out how to do it myself, which is why it's not my perfect, but I think it's ok, so it will do.

Currently I'm working on a stand alone fantasy novel, The Forest of Ghosts. It's based on an idea I've had for a while and I've finally managed to put a plot together for it. It's been fairly slow going, mostly because I wasn't happy with the initial start, and then I became distracted by another Facebook game, but I'm underway now. When it's finished I will resume working on my Ellenessia's Curse series, with the final book, Children of the Shadow. Regarding Ellenessia's Curse, the first book, the Shadow Seer, will be split into two, to make the print more affordable, and Charlotte, who designed the cover for it, has already produced a beautiful, and slightly spooky sketch, for the second half. I'm hoping that the Shadow Seer will be out in print in the new year.