I started posting about on 23 February (… 2013). Three months of blogging and it is time see where I am going. These were my aims.

I had in mind to raise my writing profile and also to reach out to the Far Eastern Prisoner of War researchers in the hope of finding some of the families of the men who served with my father. I have letters from relatives of these men. I also wanted a sort of notepad for thoughts about fiction and for updates about my publishing hopes and woes. I will inevitably talk about my passion for opera and my current reading and keep a diary of progress and plans in the garden and mark my development on the Lindy Hopping front. Lastly, I suppose, I should update my non-progress on re-learning the piano.

I don’t think my writing profile has risen. I have made contact with WWII researchers, but none with the relatives of my father’s men. I have posted some thoughts about fiction, but I see that some major concerns have never made it from draft to publication (drafts headed ‘Guilt’ and ‘Writers’ responsibilities’ are unpublished). Reading, opera and gardening, especially the latter, have had lots of my attention. Lindy Hopping and Piano have disappeared. I still Lindy Hop, but the piano is gathering dust.

I have put a category chooser on my home page and people can look at my blogs by subject area. However the crucial factor in this revision is to note that I have not been working on my writing. I write posts using snatched moments and garden and run the house etc much of the time. As I wrote my first novel in snatched moments, I can’t pretend this is not writing time. I must now return to the three manuscripts.

Most of all I think I have missed the chance to get in touch with the Far East POW community. I must write posts relating to the letters I have and work harder to make contact with relatives and survivors.

So… I have just put on Edith Piaf’s Milord, this seems to be the self-selected theme tune to my new novel. I cannot imagine how I have let it sit untouched for so long. Of course I do know why – I must first deal with the publication, one way or another, of my novel Border Line and the non-fiction WWII memoir/history Writing to a Ghost.

From now on, more posts relating to WWII or writing, no other posts until I have sent more submissions – for both books. Further character work on Border Line. Post the difficult drafts.

Finally – publish this instead of leaving it as a draft simply in order to put up pretty pictures of my garden.