After a long period raising funds for Arcane Publishing and its next projects and a couple of weeks abroad visiting family, here I am back in Blighty about to start work on my third novel The Right Place. I am also planning on working on several related projects over the next few weeks and months: in addition to completing the manuscript, I have to sort out various promotional material for Arcane and its publications, and start planning an online website for the pre-loved/vintage and rare books side of the business. I am also thinking about booking some events to promote the imprint and my books, and sell some pre-loved books! I've gone back to reading at last (I didn't open a book between early September and late December and only had two weeks to do a bit of reading over the Xmas holidays) and my reading list is long and bilingual! I have just finished Leila Slimani's brilliant and devastating Chanson Douce (Lullaby is the English language title). And I have just started Raynor Winn's The Salt Path and find it difficult to put down. This book is an absolute gem. Now on future reads which will form the background to my own writing over the next few weeks:
I only discovered Tom Cox's and his fabulous books recently. I have already read the un-putdownable 21st-century Yokel and Ring The Hill and once I have finished The Salt Path, I'll get back to Tom's books and will read my way through Help The Witch, his first fiction book (short stories). Whilst in France, I picked up a book of local myths and legends: Corinne Duchene's Contes et Legendes du Berry - I am going full-on folk horror as my fourth novel will be inspired by the genre. More news soon! Don't forget to check out my Instagram account - pictures of books, walks, nature, Dorset and inspiration. 21/2/2022 Update February 2022: almost there!I will very soon be going back to work on my third novel, The Right Place!
I have been working behind the scenes to prepare for a spring and summer blitz of promotion for Arcane Publishing! In 2022/2023, I will be dedicating my time to finishing off The Right Place and developing Arcane Publishing's bookselling business... The pub date for The Right Place is now late autumn 2023... I will be updating this website regularly as I spend the next few months completing the first draft of book and start working on the editing side of things... I am also really looking forward to starting work properly on my fourth novel, Hell Lane... I've got the feeling that I am going to enjoy writing it immensely! I might have a few exciting announcements to make very soon, so watch this space! 16/1/2022 Intermission... again!I am announcing yet another intermission to the online activity across my multiple sites!
I am resuming my fundraising effort for Arcane Publishing, very much needed to develop the business and secure the printing costs of my third novel The Right Place, due to be published in late 2023. This final intermission is scheduled to end in early April 2022, but do keep an eye on the Arcane Publishing Instagram as I will be posting some items from time to time on there until I am in the position to resume work properly on The Right Place and all Arcane business! 6/1/2022 Dorset in winter... Lulworth CoveA few days ago (one of the rare dry ones), we made the most of the low tourist season to go back to one of our favourite places, Lulworth Cove. You just cannot go there during the Spring and Summer seasons as this gorgeous rural area turns into an overcrowded theme park... But during the winter, you are able to appreciate the lovely quietness and wilderness of this very special place... As the constant rain had made it impossible to venture on most paths, we stuck to asphalt and walked along Britwell Drive again, admiring the houses there and the stories they could tell us if only they could talk.
I wrote about Britwell Drive three years ago on this very website and you can read the blog HERE. Stair House looks empty still... If someone knows how I could acquire it for under £200,000, please let me know and I move in tomorrow! Over the past four months, I've barely found the time to breathe. And now I am struggling to actually catch my breath, physically and mentally, so tired I am. I actually think I haven't been that tired for a couple of decades! You know, that kind of tiredness that takes hold of your brain and buries deep into your bones... Yes, that kind of tiredness. I actually have no idea how on earth I have managed to last the four months... But after a week and a half of time off, I'm still not where I'd like to be. Fortunately, I had taken some time off to go away for a while, which now is not going to happen because of the Covid pandemic. BUT I have kept those extra weeks of time for myself and I intend on using them wisely. I'm trying to reconnect with my own projects, with my writing, with my true purpose. Reading books is helping. I am enjoying Tom Cox's 21st-century Yokel immensely at the moment (I purchased it in the fabulous Little Toller bookshop in Beaminster - such a gorgeous little bookshop!). I'm now planning on getting more of Mr Cox's books over the next few months... I also dip in and out of Richard Wells's fabulous Damnable Tales - A Folk-Horror Anthology. What a beautifully illustrated and designed book, just exquisite! That's the type of quality I'm after at Arcane Publishing... But I'll need the right budget for that! Unfortunately, I'm not quite done with the fundraising effort. It was supposed to finish on 17th December but I stupidly accepted to carry on until Easter - a daft, spur of the moment decision which I now regret... But I intend on taking some time off to concentrate on The Right Place and the development of Arcane Publishing and the bookshop in 2022... The next three weeks will be dedicated to making some progress with The Right Place before picking it up again in April. We're still on schedule for an autumn 2023 publication... Watch this space! I hope that the weather will improve and that I will be able to get out and about in Dorset - it's always great for inspiration and general well-being!
23/12/2021 I'm back (for a few weeks)Today, I literally ran outside as soon as a weak sun poured into my office. I wanted to check whether the sea, which is on my doorstep, was still here. The past four months have been incredibly challenging. I have been working on an assignment in order to raise funds for Arcane Publishing as I really want to get going with the publication of my third novel and the development of my online bookshop. Since early September, bar a few days in October, I have been getting up at 5am to do a truly exhausting job (mentally and physically). I have barely seen the sea or the countryside, and have worked every day even at the weekend. My working environment has been unsafe and extremely challenging, but I have made it to the end of term without catching the virus. I am now taking a break before going back out there to earn a bit more money for the Arcane coffers, and therefore, I will be reporting back on any progress I'll be making on The Right Place. Then I'll be offline again from late January until the first week of April, when I'm planning on taking a long break to work exclusively on my own projects... Watch this space! One of the best things has been going back to buying and reading books, which I haven't been able to do at all since 1st September.
Last week, I finally made it to the Little Toller Bookshop in Beaminster - a true gem full of gorgeous books! I came out with Tom Cox's superb 21st-century Yokel (unputdownable) and some lovely cards illustrated by Eric Ravilious. Tomorrow, I'll be picking up the manuscript of The Right Place and try and get back into the story. I desperately need to complete the first draft so I can keep to my publishing schedule (and publication date of Autumn 2023!). 29/10/2021 A dinosaur in Rocket Quarry, DorsetI am still working hard to raise the funds for Arcane Publishing's future projects, and I am mid-way into an assignment which will take me up to December 18th.
After that, I will be free to go back to my third novel (The Right Place) and to start planning the Arcane Publishing online bookshop. I will be offline again for most of the next few weeks... Can't wait for 18th December! See you then! 21/8/2021 Intermission: see you in December!I'm winding down Arcane Publishing for a while as I prepare for four months of work to raise funds for all our 2022/2023 projects, including the launch of the Arcane online bookshop and the publication of my third novel The Right Place. I'm on 43,000 words on draft 1 so this is far from being done, but next year, I hope to be able to juggle things a bit better - virus dependent.
I hope to be able to post a picture or two once a week (or more realistically fortnightly) on my social media pages (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) if I manage to find time to get out in nature... I'll be back from 20th December 2021. Matt ArtPix will be very active though throughout the autumn and has some exciting events in the calendar, so keep an eye on his Facebook page! I have just started The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. And I truly love it; the prose is unique, sparse yet full of meaning; it can also be quite poetic but rather cutting, almost violent. It will certainly be a firm inspiration when I start editing the manuscript of my third novel, The Right Place. I do have a tendency to write too much and always have to cut a lot as I go through the drafts. The book featured on this blog is from my own personal collection, published around 1940 by Grosset and Dunlap. The book is in excellent condition but missing its all-important dust jacket. What a shame I don't have in my possession the first edition published by Charles Scrivener's sons in 1925: it's worth £63,000 according the Abebooks (and this fascinating blog HERE comparing three different versions). This would probably fund my writing and publishing for the next forty years or so! I am not reading this one, but a cheap paperback version I've found in a charity shop... I don't want to risk spoiling my vintage copy! I am entering my last week and a half of freedom as I will have to stop any creative enterprise, including writing, in order to concentrate on earning the funds that will allow me to complete and publish The Right Place.
I will try to post at least one picture a week on social media and on my websites, but nothing much will happen until late December 2021... |
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March 2024
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