Who would you invite to your Christmas Dinner table?

I would invite these, my favourite people to share my Christmas Dinner.

Dame Maggie Smith

I’m full of admiration for Maggie Smith.

I would invite her to my Christmas dinner because of her elegance, her smile and her wit.  I’m sure she would have some great stories to tell whilst we are taking our brandy and coffee.

Fiona Bruce.

I have always admired Fiona Bruce.   She brightens up my day whenever I see her on the television.  Her intelligence and her views would be a welcome addition to the conversation around the table.

Sir Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill is something of a hero of mine.  He was a writer; painter and he loved to travel especially in France, these are also favourite pass times of mine.

He would I am certain prove to be a popular and essential member of my Christmas dinner party.

Manuscripts and notes

My friend asked me if she could see some of my notes so here is the working manuscript, or part of it, and hand written notes for my next novel.

There are ten notebooks in this pile, this is some of the handwritten chapters to the sequel of The Belgae Torc.

356 pages of manuscript, about 90,000 words in the first draft.

A sneak preview of the quote at the start of part one.

First edit of draft manuscript.

Another view of a page complete with red pen.

Hand written examples.

So there you are, a selection of both hand written and typed script from my next novel.  The typed manuscript is just the first edit so don't be too critical if you are able to read it!

Random stuff

Christmas Tree at Chez Moi.

My bookshelf is blocked by the tree so hope I won't need those books for the next few weeks.

The original painting of Josie MacDonald, the main character in my novel The Witness, looking very festive.

A view of my study showing my laptop and squeeky chair!  My notebook laptop is on the chair, I use that for typing up my manuscripts and editing.

Notebooks on top of my printer are handwritten chapters of the sequel to The Belgae Torc, work ongoing you might say.  The next step will be to type them up ready for the first edit.

 

Another view of my study showing some slightly distorted views of my paintings.  The file on the floor resting up against the cabinet contain research notes for my current novel.

The crazy decor is a left over from the days when this room was my sons bedroom.

Our family coat of arms.  Mitchell is Maria's maiden name.

Light at the end of the tunnel.

At last, just past the 100,000 word post for the sequel to The Belgae Torc. Now just have to complete the 'exciting bit', the finale. Once that's done I can focus on editing the manuscript and making it ready for the proof readers. It won't be long now!!!

My new website

www.kevinmarshnovels.co.uk I will of course be updating my website from time to time, so visit often and you may find that things have developed.

The Belgae Torc sequel

90,000 words now complete and entering the final stages of the book.  The deadline for the sequel to my novel The Belgae Torc is April next year.  In order to meet that deadline I have to have the first draft finished within the next couple of weeks.  The editing, proof reading and preparation for publication can take as long as six months, so I guess working on that time scale I'm behind schedule.  I have a couple of weeks off work over the Christmas period, so providing the first draft is pretty much done I can work hard on the editing.
The problem is I can't stop thinking about the ideas I have for the book that follows on from The Witness.  I really shouldn't be thinking about that at this stage as I need to focus on finishing book two of the Torc Trilogy.  I will then have to complete the third book in the series pretty quickly as I anticipate my readers wanting the third book in double quick time.
I really need to give up the day job!

Update

Just returned from a local craft fair where I sold five copies of my book The Witness.  Several people said they wanted it on kindle so I directed them to Amazon and/or my website.

I've had 161 hits on my website this week.  Not bad for my first week I guess.

For more information about me and my books visit my site on:-

www.kevinmarshnovels.co.uk