Reluctance

I've been working really hard these last few days. My left shoulder aches to prove it, though I don't know why sitting at a computer should make one shoulder ache and not the other! As I think I've said on this blog, I'm going through a second draft of the first Matho Story. I had named this volume Treason, but as my wonderful critique partner pointed out to me, an Englishman can't commit treason in Scotland, though he can in England.  So as well as a second draft, I'll have to rethink the title.
The second volume of Matho's Story is written, but  also needs that vital second draft polishing. I've already begun writing the third volume, which is going very slowly because of all the second drafting and also because I received edits for a novel called Reluctance. and also because all the details of French history and locations on the internet  are in French, as you would expect.
I'd almost forgotten about Reluctance. I signed the contract for it so long ago, way back last year. Set in 1803, not quite the Regency period, and in the north of England rather than the overdone locales of London and Bath, it makes good use of my local area. In fact, I got the idea from visiting a local National Trust site at Gibside, one of my favourite places for a day out or even just a hour's walking in the woods. Back in the seventeenth century it was owned by the Bowes family, who married into the Strathmore family of Bowes-Lyon fame. Evidently the Queen Mother snitched a fireplace from Gibside and took it to the Castle of Mey - I think it was Mey.

So, if I work very hard today I should get the final read through of Reluctance finished and sent back to my editor. According to the knowledgable ones, I should be publicising the story now, even though it isn't published until April. An added distraction is the tennis match just coming through from Australia via the sling box! Oh, to be able to do everything at once!