I started my blog in February, when I had just finished But First Maintain the Wall and was thinking about the next novel. So here I am, about seven months later and I've just finished Stranger on the Point.  It's been an amazing seven months with But First Maintain the Wall selling really well. More and more people are hearing about my books and supporting me, which is fantastic. For the first time I really made an effort to promote a novel and I've loved meeting so many new people, chatting about my writing and passion for Romney Marsh. 
Now, I'm back where I was last February, but with a new book. It's just gone to the proof reader and I'm thinking about cover designs. Hopefully I'll be ready to reveal a cover design very soon and the novel should be ready by the end of November! I'll be planning some meet the author events and book signings, as well as promoting through Facebook.
But as before, my thoughts are also on the next novel. Another sequel to Secrets of the Shingle and Stranger on the Point, this one will take readers to the Second World War. I'm going to need a different approach this time though. Usually I start a novel with an event and just see where the characters take me. I work hard at making it historically accurate within the Romney Marsh setting, but don't plan the plot. But now I need to study Romney Marsh at War and make a timeline of key events, and have an idea of what to include. I guess my characters will still do whatever they chose to do, but the framework will be more structured. I've decided on the opening scene, and the ending. Just got to fill in the other eighty thousand words!

A few months ago we explored the uses of hagstones in Marsh Ink Writers' Group. These stones, found on local beaches, have holes running through them, worn through many years of erosion. People often collect them and sometimes thread them with wire or string. A book of local anecdotes educated the group about some of the magical purposes of hagstones and inspired our creative writing.
Did you know that placing a hagstone under your bed could relieve cramp or rheumatism, possibly caused by a hag or witch sitting on your stomach at night? Or that milk passed through a hagstone will not curdle?
In my novel, where I return to Dungeness, there are hagstones aplenty and I decided to feature them in my writing. I'm using a Scandinavian custom of pouring ale through the stone in order to ease birth pains, and a cord of stones which is whirled to dispel bad weather. But for my character, the most significant use will be as a pledge stone. 
I'm coming to the end of the novel now. Stranger on the Point is booked in with my proof reader for mid-September and then I'll need to be thinking carefully about the cover design. I can't believe it is almost finished; it wasn't that long ago when I was blogging about my first chapters!