De-blog

Alumni – Reverberations is finished! Now I wonder what all the fuss was about. :D To explain further/recap, here’s the Author’s Note I’ve added to the start of the book: As a way of making light of how long it’s taken me to finish this novel, I’ve spent the past five(!) years saying, “Josh has been stuck in the loft for [x] years now.” That was where I left him at the end of Reunions , published in April 2017—dangling from the loft hatch in his former ‘surgery’, a space he previously rented but now owns. It might, therefore, be somewhat confusing to find that Josh is not stuck in the loft at the beginning of this book. This isn’t because he cunningly escaped while the author was under siege from burnout. Rather, the five-chapter epilogue of Reunions and the first seven chapters of Reverberations overlap. This was always my intention—to add in the ‘how did we get here?’ background to events at the end of Reunions —but it should, I hope, also serve as something of a Previously…in...

Poor Josh has been stuck in the loft for five years. That's how long I’ve been working on Alumni – Reverberations . It’s part of the Hiding Behind The Couch series and started life as Alumni (Season 8). That was in 2017, after I published  Reunions (Season 7 – which ended with Josh bravely climbing that ladder), but for various reasons, I had to set Alumni aside. Even now, I can’t honestly say the end is in sight, but it’s a lot closer than it was, which is good news for Josh. OK, minor spoiler: he does eventually find a way down from the loft. I know because I wrote that part about three years ago. The trouble was, the further I progressed with this instalment, the harder it became…until I realised I wasn’t writing Season 8. I was writing a renaissance of Ruminations . At last, it all made sense. So here we are, five years later, and Alumni – Reverberations is still a work in progress. I haven’t decided on the final cover other than it being Ouija-board inspired. However, I...

It's WIPpet Wednesday... :) Brief Context This is another snippet from Alumni (HBTC #8). At the end of Reunions (HBTC #7), Josh was stuck in the loft, having gone up there to investigate some psychic tools Dan had discovered earlier. In this snippet, he’s  still sitting on the lip of the loft hatch, and he’s called Dan—I skipped forward a bit. WIPpet Maths for Wednesday 24th October, 2018 18 x 10 – 24 = 156 words And the WIPpet Snippet: A series of thuds, loud and likely emanating from a fist, echoed up the stairwell while a torrent of foul language poured out of Josh’s phone. “I can’t pick this, this…stupid…” There was another loud thump followed by a muted roar. “That’s it. I’m calling the locksmith,” Dan said. “No!” The word was out before Josh could check himself, and he scrabbled to take his phone off speaker. “I don’t want a locksmith.” “The guy’s not cheap, but he’s good,” Dan contended, mistaking Josh’s petulance for miserliness, but the cost was irrele...

It's WIPpet Wednesday... :) Brief Context This is another snippet from Alumni (HBTC #8). At the end of Reunions (HBTC #7), Josh was stuck in the loft, having gone up there to investigate some psychic tools Dan had discovered earlier. In this snippet, he’s  still sitting on the lip of the loft hatch, and he’s accepted he’s not getting down on his own. WIPpet Maths for Wednesday 17th October 17 - 10 = 7 This is from p61 of my manuscript. 6 + 1 = 7 (Yes, I know it’s really convoluted…) And the WIPpet Snippet: “Mr. Sandison. Gordon Baines here.” Oh, thank all that is… “Hey, Gordon. Thanks for returning my call. I was…erm…wondering if, perchance, you still have a set of keys to the building?” “Keys to the building…” Baines sucked his teeth, the noise crackly and distorted against Josh’s ear. He moved the phone away and continued listening on loud speaker. “I might be wrong, but I think I only had the two sets I gave to you. Have you lost them?” “Erm… Not lost th...

It's WIPpet Wednesday... :) Brief Context This is another snippet from Alumni (HBTC #8). At the end of Reunions (HBTC #7), Josh was stuck in the loft, having gone up there to investigate some psychic tools Dan had discovered earlier. I’ve been trying to figure out for ages how to get Josh down again, and I've done it. But first, here he is, sitting on the lip of the loft hatch, and he’s accepted he’s not getting down on his own. WIPpet Maths 10 paragraphs for the 10th of the 10th. And the WIPpet Snippet: Josh opened his contacts list and scrolled. Adele…no. If she sets eyes on this lot —he glowered at the attic stash— she’ll think all her Christmases have come at once. Andy…he’ll have me abseiling my way out. Would that be so bad? A quick downwards glance assured him it would. Baines Property Services…potentially. He mentally bookmarked Baines and continued scrolling through friends and business contacts, imagining the scenario for each, all of them horrific...

It's WIPpet Wednesday again. :) I've been staying at my mum's for the past week, looking after/being looked after by this fine chap. Now I'm home, and my dogs don't care one way or the other. The cat seems pleased I'm here, though. I didn't get much writing done this week, more focused on audiobooks and getting everything in place for the release of Goth of Christmas Past next month. I've almost made a video trailer, and preordering is in progress. I also managed to add a little bit more to  Alumni . Brief story info: Alumni is Season Eight of Hiding Behind The Couch , and obviously has some elements of the characters coming face-to-face with old acquaintances from university and the like (readers of the series might recognise a name or two in the snippet). This follows from last week's snippet ; Genie has called on Xander—a long-term friend who purportedly sees ghosts—to get to the bottom of strange goings-on in her home. WIPpet maths...

Two WIPpet Wednesdays in a row, woohoo! I'm on a roll and snippeting from Alumni again. Brief story info: Alumni is Season Eight of Hiding Behind The Couch , and obviously has some elements of the characters coming face-to-face with old acquaintances from university and the like (readers of the series might recognise a name or two in the snippet). This follows from last week's snippet ; Genie has called on Xander—a long-term friend who purportedly sees ghosts—to get to the bottom of strange goings-on in her home. WIPpet maths for 12th September: 12 paragraphs for the 12th. And the WIPpet Snippet: “You will keep it to yourself, won’t you?” Xander marched across the room and stopped a few feet from her location. No eye contact. She remembered now. He’d been just the same when they were children. “His Lordship doesn’t speak to anyone,” Jonathan assured her on Xander’s behalf. “But you do,” she pointed out. “I am contractually obliged to keep His Lordship’s ...

It's Wednesday, and I haven't posted a WIPpet since April - if it sounds like some kind of --- Anonymous admission, well, it sort of is. I love my work, so that's what I do. Work. I think I even use it to procrastinate on writing, and I've been...too busy to write, never mind post to my blog. Brief story info: Alumni is Season Eight of Hiding Behind The Couch , and obviously has some elements of the characters coming face-to-face with old acquaintances from university and the like (readers of the series might recognise a name or two in the snippet).  I'm hoping posting will kickstart my brain into writing some more. WIPpet maths for 5th September: 12 - 5 = 7 mentions of Xander by name (yeah, yeah). And the WIPpet Snippet: Standing dead centre of Genie’s daughter’s liquorice-all-sorts-inspired bedroom, Lord Xander Etherington-Bowes flapped his hand—palm up, palm down, palm up, palm down—and hummed a monotone melody. “What’s he doing?” Genie whispered, ...

Another CV / character profile from the  Hiding Behind The Couch series . Profiles posted so far: Kris Johansson Charlie Davenport Sean Tierney Jess Lambert Dan Jeffries Eleanor Davenport Krissi Johansson Shaunna Hennessy Andy Jeffries Hiding Behind The Couch  is an ongoing series about a group of friends—‘The Circle’ (the original main characters in the series), which has expanded and changed over time to include the ‘extended circle’ (additional main characters, below the circle on the right). This week, it’s time to catch up with Adele, who—in my head—looks a fair bit like the image above. Images used in these character spotlights (this one included) which aren’t from book covers / Daz3D are from Pixabay . You can find both the writing and suggested reading order for the series on this page:  deb248211.blogspot.co.uk/p/hiding-behind-couch.html Adele Reeves Name: Adele Reeves Eyes: Blue-grey Hair: Blonde, straight Complexion: Fair (but t...

Another CV / character profile from the  Hiding Behind The Couch series . Profiles posted so far: Kris Johansson Charlie Davenport Sean Tierney Jess Lambert Dan Jeffries Eleanor Davenport Krissi Johansson Hiding Behind The Couch  is an ongoing series about a group of friends—‘The Circle’ (the original main characters in the series), which has expanded and changed over time to include the ‘extended circle’ (additional main characters, below the circle on the right). Today, we’re stopping off for a cup of tea and a gossip with Shaunna. If there is such a thing as someone who is in charge of The Circle, it’s definitely Shaunna. I should also add credit for the images at this point. Those which aren’t from book covers are from Pixabay , and this one is a good likeness for what Shaunna looks like in my head (or how she’d have looked in her late-twenties, at least). You can find both the writing and suggested reading order for the series on this page:  ...

Another CV / character profile from the  Hiding Behind The Couch series . Profiles posted so far: Kris Johansson Charlie Davenport Sean Tierney Jess Lambert Dan Jeffries Eleanor Davenport Hiding Behind The Couch  is an ongoing series about a group of friends—‘The Circle’ (the original main characters in the series), which has expanded and changed over time to include the ‘extended circle’ (additional main characters, below the circle on the right). Today’s featured character is Krissi, who isn’t one of The Circle, or even the extended circle, but she’s been around as long as they’ve been ‘a thing’. Krissi is Shaunna’s daughter and Kris’s stepdaughter (Circle: The Next Generation?). She turns twenty-one during Season One ( Hiding Behind The Couch ). You can find both the writing and suggested reading order for the series on this page:  deb248211.blogspot.co.uk/p/hiding-behind-couch.html Krissi Johansson Name: Krissi Johansson Eyes: Brown Hair: B...