Back to the Grindstone

Well, it’s back to work for me this week – in both senses of the word.

The day job has, perhaps unsurprisingly, not miraculously dealt with itself over my two week break, so I’ve got a ton of catching up to do as well as the job itself going forwards. Oh well, can’t have everything. But I’ve also taken a bit of a break from writing, and now it’s time I got back to that too.

I’ve put the first draft of Eternally & Evermore to the side and I don’t intend to touch it again until the end of September. Or maybe mid-September. Either way, this is something I need to force myself to do because if i don’t then I’ll never stop fiddling with it and that can’t be good.

In the meantime, I want to get to grips with the next book after that, which in my head I’m referring to as Westmouthshire book 5.

Westmouth is the name of fictional town & Westmouthshire the fictional county that is the setting for Kissed by a Rose and Eternally & Evermore. So why book five? Well, in truth, I’ve retrospectively set Charlotte’s Secret in the county (but not the town – it’s set in the other large town in Westmouthshire - Walminster) and I’ve convinced myself that the couple from Lost & Found move to Westmouth after the story. It’s as if all my stories have now set themselves in this Westmouthshire Universe that I’ve created.

In Kissed by a Rose there are references to Ladz magazine – a series of stories I wrote for Ruthie’s Club that are available to download from my website. As an aside, I was sad to hear of the temporary closure of Ruthie’s Club. It is said it should be back in January. I’ll be happy to see that happen.

Also, in Eternally & Evermore, I’ve referenced places from Charlotte’s Secret and in the next piece there may well be a character who is related to Chris or Beth from Lost & Found. Both Eternally & Evermore and the next book also reference Chloe and her film Reunion from Kissed by a Rose. (It’s worth noting that while not strictly part of the universe, the film Reunion in Kissed by a Rose is roughly based on the events and takes its title from a novella I wrote some years ago which is also available to download on my website.)

I’m hoping, eventually, to put together a ‘Westmouth Encyclopedia’ so to speak, with possibly maps and entries concerning the people, place and events from this universe I’ve created. Perhaps. One day.

But I need to get to work on that ‘fifth’ book in the series first. So let’s see how it goes.

So, how does “Eternally & Evermore – a Westmouthshire novel” sound?