Is brainwashing dead?

Well, it's almost a month since the last post. I have been completing a 'final' edit (is there ever a final edit?) on The Messenger and it, rather like Topsy, grew and grew. Final word count 144,600. It's no wonder it's taken so long, it's almost like writing two books. Anyway, I've submitted to Marsh Agency, Piers Russell-Cobb in particular. When I was researching, his agent profile told me he wanted 'quirky' fiction and that's what I write (amongst political / military / conspiratorial and psychological). So, watch this space.

The eyes are OK and the glasses useful. The white lights have disappeared and the black dots are now shadows of their former selves.

I'm looking forward to weekend of 13th / 14th December as Fourtoldfiction will be meeting up in Cornwall. It'll be excellent to see Silja, Jenny and Ed again. It'll be good, too, to see how much their current novels have progressed. Ed sent around a brilliant piece on writers and how they construct their craft. What was surprising, and somewhat gratifying, was that things I thought were peculiar to the way I operate as a writer actually others suffer from - drinking too much coffee, working odd hours, having down times, having up times etc. Thanks Ed, for restoring my faith in the way I write. Here's the link for those of you interested http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00fvgj5/Charlie_Brookers_Screenwipe_Series_4_Episode_3/

Well, the dancing is having a watershed moment. We are trying to decide if we can learn (and remember) more steps to the Ballroom dances, and more of the Sequence dances (we have eleven under our belt - or should that be shoes?). It would be nice to continue both, but there is a fine line between learning more and becoming more proficient at what we have already learned. I think the new year will be the crunch time. Saturday night dances may help - so, we'll investigate those, too.

For those of you interested there's some intriguing background on Doomsday Vaults and the Tavistock Institute, out there. Maybe that's the next book! ha ha!