In the world of project management, and project sponsorship, where I used to spend my time, milestones are important. They mark important interim achievements on the way to an ultimate goal. So it was when walking the Camino de Santiago. Each milestone (or kilometre stone) is a stage nearer the next meal, the next rest, and Santiago itself.
I feel as though I’ve just passed a milestone in writing The Favourite Murder (working title), the fifth book in the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures. I have now reached 70,897 words. That’s words in the manuscript, not including character sketches, research notes, etc. The first book, The Spy who Sank the Armada, was 83,909 words. Yet in my work in progress I am at the beginning of chapter twelve, with thirty chapters outlined. So this current book seems set to be around twice the size of my longest book so far. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, look how thick the latter Harry Potter books are, compared to the early ones.
I’m also looking forward to my first appearance on a panel at a book festival, the Dartmouth Book Festival. My co-panellist, Tim Pears and I have heard back from Jon Suchet. He seems to have enjoyed reading our books, and looks forward to an interesting chat about how we became writers, how we do our research, and how we write. He wants it to be an informal conversation rather than an interview. I’m sure he’s going to do a fabulous job, putting us at our ease, and getting the best out of us.
I mentioned in my last post that I’m trying to deal with unfinished business and learn Latin. I have now completed the chapter on why one should learn Latin, and the one on why the old way of learning is the best, so I’ve reached the milestone of actually starting to learn Latin.