One note I got back from a test reader on the novel, that made me think, was that they couldn’t understand why my amateur detective had decided to investigate this murder. Simple enough to explain (just make it clearer that he was good friends with the deceased), but easy to miss if you’ve got the characters in your head and it makes sense to you why they do things.

I intended today to work on an article that might actually get published, but I spent two hours on research and wound up with even more questions to figure out. So, an hour of novel work to fill the scribbling quota. Nearly done with chapter 8/30.

Yeah, I’ve been trying to do original writing at the weekends, but it just wasn’t happening today so I just burned my way through a chapter’s worth of rewriting. Currently about a quarter of the way through by volume, but it’s the later stuff that need the most rewriting for plot. Also more fixing of garda and academic titles, naturally.

Managed to finish a chapter’s rewrites _without_ doubling it in size. And caught a few dumb mistakes in there. Good stuff.

Seriously, I was not sure I would get out of that last chapter alive. And one of my characters didn’t, of course, but that’s what he gets for hanging around in a murder mystery.

Yes, today was yet more novel work. Finally knocked this chapter into shape though, and can move on. I also figured out a pretty basic mistake I had made with ranks in the Irish police force, which necessitates some widescale editing, which is nice.

Seriously, this chapter used to be 2000 words, and it is now over 3000 words and I am only just finishing the third section of it. Still, should get it kicked into touch tomorrow.
In unrelated news, I just started doing a class on the history of the Byzantine Empire. It is good! I plan to write an essay for it as scribbling at some point, and then rewrite the essay into an article for here.

Yes, back to digging through conversations, revising actions so people don’t open doors twice, and other such activities. Tomorrow I am resuming history night classes, so you may get some screeds out of that.

Today;s scribbling is some fairly extensive updates to my article about my great-uncle John Doherty, Death of a Sheriff – Murder and Conspiracy in the Old West. I’ve added some stories about his days as one of the most famous poker players in the West, and I’ve also added some more details on the gang that killed him (as well as a story about his involvement with the law before he became sheriff). So go read it, even if you’ve read it before – you might learn something.

Not even halfway though January, and already reusing ideas? Well, I have quite a few books to get through, so here’s more books that I’m giving away to the charity bookshop, memorialised.