don't read this if you're not interested in writing

I just read the poet Anthony Wilson's blog in which he talks about his current writing project: 
'...because it is not like anything I have written before, I am trying to come at it sideways, as though trying to surprise myself...

That's exactly what I'm doing with my new novel - coming at it sideways. But actually, on reflection, the reason I am doing it this way is because I so hate the preparation at the start of a novel - the plotting, the character development, the agony of writing the first three chapters. 

This novel is solely based on an idea that I've been quietly mulling over for a couple of years. It's a different kind of novel from my others. I'm afraid there is very little humour in it, and every time I think of trying to inject some, it doesn't seem right, so I forget the idea. In the past, I couldn't keep humour out of the novels. The humour was endemic. 

The other difference with this one is that I feel completely free to put in it what I like and to make of it what I like as I have no expectation that in the current climate anyone will want to publish it but me. This is liberating. My only guiding principle is that I'm writing the kind of novel that I would like to read. The other thing to tell you is that the story is set in the Derbyshire Peak District, and has characters you have never met before.

I've written half of the first draft and am trying to get as much more done as I can before I fly to Colorado on the 25th to help out.  

This is Cecilia and Lux at Cecilia's school May Faire:

I can't wait to see them and their parents, and to give Wendy the biggest hug that is comfortable for her in her present condition.