So it's been quite a while - again - since my last blog post, but that is a mark of just how busy I have been over the last few months. I've been overseas for a couple of months and only returned to the UK a few weeks ago. 

What am I working on now?

Well the novel has taken a back seat for the last year as I try to find ways to improve it and add new elements. The ongoing controversy over the underfunded NHS presents another dimension to my main character's work as a GP. Also the wave of natinalism that continues in the wake of Brexit - and even before Brexit - also presents an opportunity to write about my own experiences of racism, something I never thought I'd write about in a work of fiction. 

On the freelance writing side of things I'm working with a young singer-songwriter to promote her new single and album. She is very talented but hails from Eastern Europe, so she doesn't have a lot of press or information out about her in Western, English speaking countries. Of course, she is particularly interested in making a mark in the States. 

For another client I'm writing blog posts charting developments in the I.T. industry - specifically open-source technology. 

I know, these two clients sound worlds apart, but I like the diversity involved and needing to adopt very different approaches to achieve teh same end goal: attention. We have so very little of it to give to others and yet our attention has never been so much in demand. 

Speaking of attention, hopefully I'll get around to continuing work on my novel by the end of the year or early 2018. ​

I've been working on the marketing materials for this novella myself in the evening while busying myself with actual writing during the day. ​As ever I remain busy during the day working on all sorts of writing projects for paying clients. 

The last few months I've been working with a client with a website that specialises in telling the very personal stories of those who have been through difficult experiences. It has often been very emotional and to talk to people who, for example, are survivors of serious child abuse. It has also been fascinating talking to people whose lives are radically different to my own. interviewing a trucker who drives all over U.S.A. with his wife and live out of their truck revealed a way of life that I hadn't ever encountered. 

This is one of the great things about working with other companies and websites on writing and marketing projects. I get to learn abotu different industries and I get to learn about fascinating topics and subjects that I havne't come across. 

Can't wait to see what the next major project I work on will reveal to me. I think that is the mark of a writer, amongst other things: curiosity about people, the way they live their lives and the world around us. 

​Kris