CHAPTER ONE

Another 1400 words of Nouvelle Hollande completed. I've reached the end of Chapter One: a brief one, at 2245 words, but it's only first draft and there are a lot of holes I'll backfill later, so it'll end up being much longer. I'm just glad to have started, after suffering a real case of the confidence yips. Now all I have to do is work out what comes next, and keep going...

But I've earnt the right to do some more work on Father Muerte tonight. I'm likely to be less prolific on the short story front for a while: the novel has to be my focus, and I'm using shorts like a carrot, dangling them in front of myself to motivate me to keep working on the longer, more difficult, project.

THE RETURN OF THE TRIFFBATTS

Erin returns from her holiday with her grandparents tonight, and we're getting Lyn's kids for the afternoon as well. It feels like eons since we've had all four together (it's been about a fortnight in reality, but it feels like forever). Nothing is quite the same without the kids around: I can't wait to see them again. We've not seen Erin since we dropped her off the day before Swancon, and when we returned early from our trip it was agreed with her grandparents that it was best for Lyn's recovery if we left her there for the full length of the holiday. She's been camping this last weekend, so I can't wait to see the photos :)