There is some serious work going on in the countryside around Martinstown in Dorset, apparently to remove the pylons you can see in the picture. This is a monumental job as 22 pylons are to be removed to be replaced by a new underground cable system! 
Yesterday, we encountered a pedestrian crossing in the middle of our walk! 

Last month, I posted a picture of a particular little corner of the West Dorset countryside above Abbotsbury (the location of my third novel and seemingly never-ending-work-in-progress The Right Place (which I hope to complete and publish before I get to the age of 100), thus starting a series of pictures I will be taking of the very same place over the next year. 

The picture above was taken yesterday, 27/11/2020. Granted, it doesn't look that different from the October one, but I can confirm that we noticed a few subtle differences standing there looking over the green valley... It's very difficult to pinpoint, but it felt decidedly more wintery despite the sunshine, and the air bit ever so slightly. 

We stumbled across on bit of driftwood which looked more like the weathered skull of some prehistoric horned animal... 

And also the remains of a beach barbecue... I still struggle to understand how people can just leave their stuff like that... If you blink, it would be an iron-age archaeological find... 

​I'm going to try and get out in nature as much as possible in the next few weeks as I will be doing a full-time assignment over January/February and won't be able to indulge in walks - or anything else bar work for that matter... Hopefully I will emerge on the other side roaring to go, as I do have a lot of work to do on The Right Place and the plotting of the Arcane online bookshop.   
My goal over the next two weeks is to stay virus-free before I stop for the December break...
I still hope that a little bit more progress can be made on The Right Place before January... 
Probably wishful thinking... 

I have finally managed to source a second-hand printer, and therefore have been able to read through all the new writing I have completed over the summer. What a delight! For some reason, I cannot edit properly if I do not have a printed copy of the manuscript with me. 

I did struggle to get going during the first lockdown, and it took me about two months before I was able to sit down and add a few words to the first draft of my third novel, The Right Place. 
I now have about 30,000 words, and we are almost at the end of the month of November, which means that there is absolutely no way I will finish off that first draft for 31 December; as a result, I've had to scrap my whole publishing schedule, and I have no idea when I will be able to publish the book as I need to try and earn a living at the same time, and even that hasn't been that easy over the past few months...
The COVID crisis has really put a spanner in the works and I've had to accept that things would take much, much longer to happen over the next few years. 

Yesterday, I had a read through of those 60-odd pages of manuscript I've managed to squeeze out of myself so far for this book, and I was actually - and surprisingly - rather pleased; there is much, much editing and correcting work to do on it, but I have found quite a lot of aspects of the story to be exactly as I'd want them to be, and the characters have really started to come to life. 
So today, I'll be doing a little bit of editing and I'm hoping to add a few hundred words to the manuscript before I start my full-time work assignment in January.

I have put a lot of lovely books for sale on the Facebook marketplace, and you can find them listed on the Arcane Publishing blog HERE. 

I sincerely hope that the winter weather will allow me to spend some time in the beautiful Dorset countryside over the December holidays, and I will try and post a few pictures on here... 

Finally, we at Arcane/ArtPix towers are preparing for the re-opening of The Customs House in West Bay where our little unit is located. Do pay us a visit if you're around when all non-essential shops reopen next week! 

Today, on Chesil Beach, we were treated to a perfectly formed rainbow... 

We are now in the middle of the second lockdown, and things are very busy here at the Arcane/ArtPix's quarters. 
I have spent quite some time away from The Right Place as I try and raise funds for Arcane, but I will be going back to the first draft this week. 
I try and find inspiration and solace in the beauty of the Dorset landscape. 
Here is Long Bredy in the beautiful Bride Valley.