It’s time for an update on progress with the fifth book in the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures, The Favourite Murder. Today I edited chapter 19. So I have four more chapters to edit for the second draft. Chapter 23 will need to include some additional material, so that may take a day, or perhaps two. I hope to have the second draft complete by the end of this week. I’ll then run it through ProWritingAid for a thorough spelling and grammar check. Then I’ll compile from Scrivener into a Word.doc. I’m planning to try submissions to Joffe, Storm, Hobeck, and Bloohound. I’ll write a 3 paragraph synopsis because Joffe want one. Summarising a 110,000 word manuscript in 3 paragraphs sounds like a challenge, but hey-ho. Other authors tell me that these publishers love a back catalogue, so fingers crossed. If nobody bites, then I’ll publish on KDP again. I remember several authors saying that sales really take off from the fifth book onwards.Here’s hoping. It’s definitely progress.
It feels rather unreal to be approaching the finishing line. Called to account was published on 8th November 2022, so I’ve been working on this book for over two years. The research phase was particularly long, reading three very weighty biographies. OK so progress has been slow, but I really feel that it will have been worth it. I’ll have the next meeting of Milktown Writers in a couple of weeks, so I may try out my synopsis on my fellow writers and see what they think.