Best Laid Plans

Sometimes, despite your best intentions, things don't turn out as planned.

With two books of THE LONG SECOND series safely finished, polished and safely on submission (well, almost, BROKEN, book 2 is being submitted tomorrow), thoughts were turning to a new book, and a change of setting.

We'd already spent a little time setting up the characters and back story for NUM63R5, but when it came down to writing it, I ground to a halt, just 300 words in. A few sleepless nights later and the story was still refusing to reveal itself. A few emails were exchanged, ideas proposed and dropped, and a small plot-hole refused to stay adequately filled.

Time, then, for a break. With every intention of walking away from the keyboard for a week to wait for inspiration to strike, I went to bed. And couldn't sleep. Again.

Only, this time, it wasn't NUM63RS keeping me awake, but Book 3 of THE LONG SECOND series.

Today, thanks to the mysterious workings of school inset days (2 children at home, one at school - you can imagine how happy school-attending child was about that), I found myself unexpectedly with uninterrupted keyboard time. Both other children were taking advantage of an extra day of holiday and remained tucked up in the warmth of their beds (and especially good idea as the heating failed to come on this morning thanks to a blown fuse... I can feel some expensive electrical work coming on), leaving me with that rarest of things: time to myself.

And the words? Oh, they came. Thick and fast. 4,500 of them until I had to go out and collect school-child.

I'm a little stuck now, not 100% sure where to take the story from here, but considerably more hopeful of something creative occurring than I was 24 hours ago.

So, for now, NUM63R5 returns to the Ideas Tank, like a lobster spared from the pot, to swim amongst the other ideas in there, until it gets another shot at the limelight.