As we come to the end of another tumultuous year, I’m pleased to report that I’ve been making progress on my crime novel, using the wonderful feedback I received from Abigail Nathan from Bothersome Words, who did the manuscript assessment.

The manuscript is really coming together and I’m hoping to have it out to my beta readers before Christmas. It’s been such an interesting process, and I have learned a lot about what kind of crime story I enjoy writing. I love detective mysteries and have been immersing myself in them to gain a deeper understanding of the genre and to ensure my novel meets readers’ expectations (a great point raised by Abigail in her in-depth feedback).

I’ve also been busy reworking the outline for my gothic romance, which I am getting quite excited about because I had a few brainwaves about how to make the characters work better together and how to make the setting become a more essential part of the story.

I’ve also started blocking out the story beats for crime novel number two, which will feature the detective from my first novel. I have ideas for another three or four novels beyond that so it has the potential to become a series if I can get the first one right!

How are you ending your writing year?