Time Off: A Proctor Novel.
I had an idea for an interesting twist for the proposed novella, Proctor: Time Off and I sat down and re-wrote large parts of the plot. This increased the book to around seventeen chapters which will probably bring the it in at 70,000 words, or 250 pages (ish) which makes it a novel, so although time-wise it fits in after the third novella, it's a full novel.
I don't want to ruin the surprise, but Proctor bumps into some old friends. I'm very excited about writing this and will hopefully start writing it in earnest this coming weekend. It's mostly going to be planet/ space-station based and you can definitely expect the usual fast action, high body count style of the novellas, but with some of the more in-depth descriptive prose and character building of the Night Time in Shanghai series.
I'm hoping to finish the novel by June this year and, unlike the Proctor Novellas which are mostly self-published and available in paperback and ebook through Amazon only, I will be taking this novel to the usual round of agents and publishers and get it traditionally published, as I did with the Night Time series.
Just one more thing to say about it - warrior monks!
Building Work in Mercia Marina.
A few weeks ago, building work started in the marina, on the spur of land where the Boardwalk is (for those that know the marina). Diggers moved in and dug up the 'sensory garden' and put in footings which involved the removal of hundreds of tonnes of mud and the delivery of hundreds of tonnes of aggregate. This week, they have started using the pile-driver (right of picture).
Boy, do they start early! Imagine thirty tonne aggregate lorries turning up at 6:45am and dumping their loads. Yesterday, the pile driver was driving reinforced concrete foundation posts in, pretty much all day. Not the peaceful idyll I was hoping for... ...soooo... I'm considering moving on. When I asked at the marina office, I was told that the work could well continue until December, and it's not like there's a shortage of other marinas on the network, so although I love the people and the place, I also love peace and quiet and a good night's sleep, especially when I'm writing, as when I'm on a roll, I can be writing 'til 1am. Anyway, if I do move to another marina, it will need to have the right facilities at the right price, so I'm going to give it some thought, but a pile-driver running for eight hours, forty or fifty feet away from my boat is not acceptable.
At the moment, I'm considering going one of two ways, either towards Sawley - there's a few smaller marinas up there - or possibly down to Northamptonshire, maybe back to Braunston for a while, or perhaps to Blisworth. Anyway, it needs some thought. I have some good friends and a lot of family close by and it would be a shame to see less of them.
Twitter and Promos.
As I mentioned in my last blog, I've joined twitter and I'm slowly building a small following on there. @AndyEllisAuthor if you wish to add to their number. I'm mostly using it to promote my books and retweet scientific, astronomic and scifi tweets.
I've decided to do a short promotion for this weekend only, for Proctor: The Art of Living.
Books don't really get listed in speculative searches on Amazon until you get up to fifty reviews, so I'm hoping this promotion will get a few more copies read and maybe a few more reviews. Right now, the only way to find my books is to either search for them directly, or to search for me.
Everyone I know who has read it, loved it so give it a go! For a novella, it's quite long at 136 pages (and the print is quite small), but it's pacy and keeps you hooked. If you do read it, or if you have read it, please leave me a review.
I have made up a series of quote promos for Twitter...
That's it for now - check back regularly for updates on the writing of Time Off, and a few quotes!
Andy Ellis, still in Mercia Marina, March 2017
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