The first set of edits went back last week and when you are waiting for the second round it’s a bit of a case of being in limbo. Head in one book while wanting to get on with the next. But that messes with your concentration, trying to create something new while still involved with the previous book.
Not yet ready for new adventures.
I’ve been working out time lines, which has been complicated as I’m working with four generations of two families. I spent Sunday morning working out how everyone’s lives would overlap and whether A would still be alive when B was born, and if so, how old they would be. It got very tortuous, but I think I have cracked it.
I also compromised on the creative side by working on a part of the story that will go back forty years and will be a self contained episode, told through old letters and journals and a rather unexpected and tragic discovery, that I’m not going to divulge just now. The whole book, although it’s set in Portofino and will have plenty of glamour and sunshine, and a very beautiful garden, has quite a Gothic feel to it, as the story has deep roots. I’m enjoying the play between light and dark, which I think will develop as the thing grows. In the meantime the second edits have just arrived, so the new one goes on the back burner. Gone, but not forgotten.