My month of dedicated fiction writing is done, and it’s been wonderful.

I’ve done nothing this month other than relax, research, and write a new novel.

I thought it would be useful (for myself at least) to summarise progress so far.

Words: 35,629
Days dedicated to writing: 21
Avg words per writing day: 1,697

Not bad going for month one. Took me a couple of weeks to settle into a routine, as I definitely needed a holiday between full-time employment and freelance employment, but since mid-month it’s been great. From next week onwards I’ll split my time between writing my novel, editing an old novel, and working on freelance positions.

Books read have included The Daylight Gate by Jeanette Winterson and The Prestige by Christopher Priest, among many more. I used to use Goodreads to track books before the start of this year, and plan to start making use of the site to log what I read again soon.

We’ve had a numerical summary of the month, now here’s the pictorial summary:

(Above: my Zelda Triforce inspired pumpkin for Halloween. I’m nerdily happy with it.)

Writing in a sunny cafe

Attending the spectacular Lion King musical and rather spiffy Disney party afterwards

Regular walks around the Water of Leith

Sunny days in Edinburgh

My new and improved writing space at home

Being stalked by local swans