The holidays begin!

I've just checked my site monitor and discovered that people are still visiting. I feel bady that I haven't written in over a month. Instead I have been writing in a journal and have started on a novel. Some of you are aware that I started a murder mystery at the same time that I started my chemotherapy last year. One of the side effects of chemo for me was increased brain activity at bed time. Also in the first few days after chemo, I had a spurt of energy...if that's what it can be called. I was physically tired but still buzzing. Hence, Evie, my murder mystery heroine was born. I stopped around the Christmas holidays and haven't done much more with her. She's stuck in Marrakesh on holiday with her parents. A nice place to be stuck but the potential for family discord is great after so long.

However, a week ago, realizing that I was bored, I started to write again. This time, it's more of a romance. What's more, it seems to be doing better than Evie. The first novel was done as a blog and I think that the format restricted its growth. This one is not and I'm writing it in the third person so there is greater scope to develop the story. (At least for me there is.)

Someone asked me if I had planned it all out before I started. No, I didn't. I came up with an opening sentence and it grew from there. It seems to be evolving organically. I wonder if this will work? Morris West said that he could never start a novel till he had the first sentence.

I have written the first chapter (around 5000 words) and intend to write at least 10,000 during the half term break. I want to finish before the summer holidays so that Emma and I can work on our future 'cult novel' with the working title: Slugs.