First the swim, then the climb.

I've been away from my desk for a couple of weeks thanks to holidays and the like - it's been great to step away from the laptop and let the thoughts for Book Two (the sequel to Hidden Daughter) move around without me being able to tie them down.  I've also been doing a little more background research into my Victorian adventure story, which I know is going to be a new challenge for me; it has to be told in a very different voice to the one I found for Hidden Daughter, and finding that voice has been one of the things I've been working on this week.  After a week of scribbling and headscratching, I still feel like I'm only half way across the water, with the mountain to climb afterwards.

The simple way to do it would be to leave it to one side, and carry on with Book Two - unfortunately, like the story of my reluctant Time-Traveller Penny, Junior Fireman Freddie's tale is too exciting to leave alone for long - so it's back to the coalface to dig out the story.