Reading and Writing…

Well, this week’s post is all writing related… Firstly, thanks to everyone at Heriot’s school for a fantastic visit last week. You were a great audience and asked some new questions, notably what would my job be if I ran away to join the circus (probably mucking out the animals) and what name would I choose if I had a pen name (not telling you here, or what would be the point if I ever did?!)

I am now happily obsessed with the New Novel, but I’ve temporarily stopped adding to it (at the end, at any rate) as I need to do some research, having realised I don’t know nearly enough about Victorian London (Why did I make it so hard for myself? Why didn’t I set it in Edinburgh in 2015?). I am devouring The Victorian House, by Judith Flanders, which is answering all sorts of questions that I didn’t even know I needed to ask. Of course, the real trick will be leaving out most of the research, once I’ve done it… I’m encouraged by the fact that having read through what I’ve written so far, it’s more coherent than I expected, so now I’m going back to put in all the extra scenes it needs. Wish me luck!

Advertisement