In the ongoing mini-saga that is my novel I am hoping to present my book to prospective publishers and agents before my 40th birthday, which is over a year away. (I made this joke to myself when I was 27. I didn’t laugh then.)

Over the course of this blog I have felt that the book is not only linked to my health but to the work undertaken on the house, to more home improvements, to the consideration of looking for another place and starting the process again. (Read back the older posts to see what I mean.)

The long and short of it is this: The novel is completed. It’s being proof- read and edited. It’s a good novel. I want it better. Tighter. With all the above to consider, it will take a little longer. I will be posting some extracts at some stage, probably when it’s being whored about. In any case it’s hardly being waited on.

In the meantime, while the novel is being edited I have been working on other projects and developing things. These include;

BLOGS. I probably manage too many. Compartmentalisation perhaps. They’re all frivolous.

MEDIA UNFRIENDLY. This is not only a blog but also the name of a collection of fiction I’ve been developing for as long as my novel. I’m going to edit this and get this out on some platform soon.

STIMULI. This is the title of even shorter, pocket book, app-like fiction I’ve been jotting down. Some of the pieces are on the Media Unfriendly tumblr. I’d like to put this collection out for nowt very soon. It’s only small.

I CAN COMPLETE YOU. Ironic title. This is another NEW novel I’m currently writing. The way it’s going it might even be ready before the one featured in this blog. I was going to give a hint about what it’s like but I can’t be arsed. I deleted it.

There’s probably other things too. I don’t have the hours and most of the time, the motivation. Life keeps cropping up. The reality of writing a novel and having NO CONTACTS is that you have to work, pay the bills, deal with things and cope. So it’ll all happen when it happens. If it doesn’t, it won’t.

Music I’ve been listening to: The Field, Erasure (yes, new material) and there’s one by M83 I’ll have to get on with.

Film and TV: Re-watching Forbrydelsen. Generally enjoying the Blue-Ray player. Fascinated that it was able to play an avi. file copied onto DVD, without losing the aspect ratio (or whatever it’s called) The film in question was ‘Seconds’, an influence on the book. Can’t seem to get the DVD over here. Also watched the Icelandic Night Shift/Day Shift/Prison Shift and Bjarnfredersson film. Best series I’ve seen in a long time. So yeah. Scandanavian TV. Much better than UK. Really.