Smoke & Mirrors: It's coming along little by little. Things have been slow because recently I just don't seem to have been able to find more than a few minutes here and there, so it's just not possible to build up any kind of momentum. Right now the typescript is at about 43,500 words, so it's going to be a while before I get the first draft completed. I'm also thinking about a better—or at least different—title, since there are a number of other books around by that name including one by Neil Gaiman (who is one of my writing heroes, by the way).
An idea: If you follow me on Twitter you might have seen me mention that I had a new story idea that came from something I read on a can of beans. In case you're interested, gentle reader, it was a can of Bush's Original Baked Beans and the label said "Secret Family Recipe". The can was turned so that from where I was standing I could only see the part that said "Secret Family", and it struck me as intriguing. At this stage it's no more than an idea; I've scribbled it in the notebook I keep handy for ideas, and I may explore it further when the time comes. It just goes to show, as many people have said, that sometimes ideas come from the most unlikely places.
The day job: Things are very heavy at the moment. I pretty much finished my work for the quarter on the main project I'm involved in, so I was asked to take on some work from another couple of projects. No real sweat there—but since then we've had a number of problems on the public-facing web servers that it's my job to watch, and troubleshooting the problems means that those other two side projects have had to take a back seat. That means that they're beginning to slip behind. (And in case you're wondering, I write these posts a bit at a time as I get a minute here and there, then usually post them in my lunch break.)
Social stuff: I've been using Twitter for a while now (something like sixteen months, I think) and haven't really had the urge (or time, to be honest) to use anything else, although I did create an author page on Goodreads. Recently I was persuaded to set up on Facebook and Google+, and also to make some proper use of the Goodreads author page that I'd hardly used. So I have. None of them is very active just yet—most of the Facebook stuff comes from my tweets, I haven't really done anything with Google+, and my Goodreads updates are limited to saying how far I've got reading this or that book. Also, I'm probably not going to accept many friend requests over and above the ones I already have but still, if you're interested by all means look me up and follow me if you like.
That's all I have time for today, except to say Happy Valentine's Day! to all my readers but especially to my wife Kate (kiss, kiss).
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