OH YEAH, I'M MEANT TO BE WRITING A NOVEL THIS YEAR, AREN'T I?

To borrow a phrase from pal KA Bedford, I banged my flippers at the keyboard this morning while Luscious had a lie in (having spent half the night dealing with a sick and snot-laden toddler and the other half wrestling with pregnancy-induced insomnia) and managed to crank out just over 1300 words on my almost-forgotten novel. I've had a horrible dry patch in recent times as real life issues have gotten in the way of writing, but this last week has seen some ideas filter back into my consciousness, and a long bath in the dark two days ago cracked the block and enabled me to find the all-important what the hell happens next? part of the story.

I'd planned to have 10 000 words in place by the time I started my Katharine Susannah Prichard Writer's Centre residency in mid-August, and as of this morning I now have just over 8500, so I'm well on the way to having more than I'd hoped for. Mind you, as young Master Bedford managed 1200 words last week, I still ain't the fastest chicken in the pen :)

ON THE SUBJECT OF WHICH

My residency at the KSP runs from mid-August to mid-September. I'll be working on Nouvelle Hollande, and have set myself a target of 40 000 words to be completed in the 4 weeks I'm there. As part of the residency I'll be available to speak to people about their writing, and will be running two workshops on SF writing (21st August and 4th September) as well as attending each of the KSPs writing groups at least once, so if you'd like to catch up with me and ply me with questions, gifts and bribes, contact the fab and groovy Ramona at the centre!