Well, I’ve made it. Broken the 50,000 word barrier in my new novel. Trance my first novel was 60,000 words but that was too short. Trouble Cross was twice as long at 120,000 words but taking out the superfluous elements – according to some – means Pratt, Pratt, Wally & Pratt is 100,000 words. Rewind is also 100,000. Therefore, I think it is safe to say I am about halfway through.

As I work full time in my day job, it usually takes me around four years to complete a novel. It is possible that I might be slightly ahead this time. I have had the idea for this novel for a long time. Indeed, the puzzle that is the crux of the story was created over twenty years ago. Having checked, it appears I created my first file for this novel in February 2018. At this time I was writing in the third person. By December 2019 I only had 14,000 words down. In February this year I decided to write in the first person so that means I have written 36,000 words in nine months with the majority of this in the last three months.

If I wanted to complete ths novel by the end of the year I would have to write 10,000 words a week and I am not sure I can do that. Let’s see though, how much I can have done before the end of 2020 – heralded as the year of clear vision which has ended up being anything but. Certainly I hope to be starting the inenviable trudge around literary agents sometime in 2021.

In other news, Lockdown 2 has seen us back to football Sundays – four on TV today now that the pay per view fiasco is over. Let’s not write too much about yesterday though. We were very lucky against West Brom although I do now have a view on our horrendous home record. It is due to the two lockdowns. No one wants to be stuck in the house and play at home any more and it seems footballers are the same.