Time to 'fess up'!

Introducing Joseph Panormo 1768 - 1837

A long time since I blogged. A long time in the creative wilderness. So, what have I been doing with myself since the publication of my third novel, Nanteos: The Dipping Pool in 2020?

Recovering. Tormenting myself with reserach for a new Nanteos Mansion novel, the last in a trilogy exploring the Powell Family and the struggles and achievements of that most notorious member of the family, George. Set in the 1880s and titled either The Switch and the Monkey or Algernon and George, I have most of the research I need for a first draft, including key locations; the beginning; the end; the structure and voice - but have lost heart. The hotel is now closed and the owner, who had become a friend, is selling up.

Cue the wilderness. Uncertainty is a bugger; it saps will. There's no small measure of grief in there too - what larks were had in the mansion, and what inspiration too! There may be good things ahead for the lovely, listed Georgian mansion, but for now, thinking about it just makes me sad. In goes the MS into a locked drawer for now!

So, what? Well, creeping up slowly from behind has been another idea. It was gaining traction even as my focus was on the Nanteos novel, but has now taken control. This too has a principal male protagonist and is set, for a lot of the time, outside Wales. Much of the action takes place in the 19th Century and again has an experimental form. It's important to me to have a clear idea of the characters' physicality as well as to actually visit the locations used i.e. Mary and Thomas Powell of The Dipping Pool looked out from an oil painting held at the museum in St Fagans; Cei was a figure on a postcard. After 2 weeks in Italy I found what I was looking for on a wall in the Pio Monte Della Misericordia, Napoli, where the main character was born. 'Arresting' just doesn't even get near to describing the image, does it!