Novel Number Two Is Almost There

I haven't had a lot of blogging time recently as I've been working flat out on my second novel. You might ask "why?" as Give Me Your Tomorrow has not exactly been an international best seller but I love writing and the cold snap has given me the incentive to stay inside and crack on with it. And, whilst my first book may not be a best seller (yet), reviews for it have been very positive and I am still selling copies every month. 

Gore Vidal famously said "Write what you know" so my new book is about a sixty-two year old retired bloke and his wife living in Framlingham. I'm kidding but I did take that wise advice on board and the novel owes a lot to my life experiences as a bank employee, antiques enthusiast, detectorist, husband and father. It is a comedy and its success will depend upon whether or not it makes the readers laugh. It won't leave them in fits of uncontrollable laughter but I hope that it will keep them as amused as it has kept me. I am aiming to self publish in the summer so I need to work hard to get it perfected on time. I'm well over my 80,000 word target so there's plenty of scope to give it a good polish.

No matter how much writing I want to do , no week is complete without a cinema trip. After the lovely With Love From Suffolk at the Riverside in Woodbridge on Monday it was back to mainstream movies on Thursday when we travelled to the super little Abbeygate cinema in Bury St Edmunds. We saw A Bigger Splash. A rock star played by Tilda Swinton is with her partner recuperating from an operation on her vocal chords in a beautiful remote villa on a small island in Southern Italy. Days into her break, her vacation is interrupted by the arrival of her ex lover, a record producer, who invites himself along with his sexy young daughter to stay with the couple. Ralph Fiennes plays the uninvited guest whose arrival is welcomed far more by Swinton's character than by her partner.

The film's success is down to Fiennes' performance. I have seen him in a number of movies and, whilst he has always been good, I have sometimes wondered what the fuss has been about his acting. But he truly excels in this part. His horrendously over confident, cockiness fills the screen and a scene in which he dances to The Rolling Stones Emotional Rescue will surely become a movie classic to rank alongside other famous cinema moments such as the diner in When Harry Met Sally and Bohemian Rhapsody in Wayne's World. Tilda Swinton is equally impressive despite the shortage of lines dues to her character's throat problems as the heat of the island and the heat of the sexually charged atmosphere amongst all four of the characters threatens to spill over into disaster. Another great film in what has been an excellent picture going year to date.

We've both been slightly unwell this week with heavy colds and sore throats so we gave our exercise class a miss on Friday and had a bit of a lie in. As the sun came out and stayed out we decided to go for some fresh air to try and fight off the germs.

 

Our walk took us past this field which has a great view across Framlingham that takes in the college, the church and the castle. This is the field that builders Taylor Wimpey think will look better with 163 new homes on it. The planning appeal against the rejection of their application winds up on Tuesday. I just hope that the inspector sees common sense in reaching his decision and this view is not lost forever.

   
I had a few hours out with the detector today. I haven't emptied the finds out of the bag yet but I kept this tiny item separate. I've not been able to identify it but it's a decorative little item that was once gilded. 

We're off to London to see David Sedaris tomorrow. We love his anecdotes and are really looking forward to the event.