Ambushed by a Novella
There I was, editing my novel and working on some short stories, when from out of the literary undergrowth a novella sprang. It was on me before I could defend myself: I was too slow to take evasive action; too weak to wrestle it to the ground. I had no time to shout “murderer!” or “cheat” (two of the qualities possessed by the novella’s main protagonist, Will). 20,000 plus words poured from the laptop, scattered themselves across the screen and then reformed into what seemed, and still seems, an orderly structure. I’ve just submitted the novella to two competitions in the United States. I’ll keep you posted.
Now I really do need to finish the novel. Apart from the aforementioned ambush, there was a second reason for a pause on its development. I had made an enquiry to the Boston Museum of Fine Art concerning a matter of detail in the manuscript – a valuable piece of antiquarian art which proves to have been stolen before coming into the Museum’s ownership. The response that I had from the Curator of Provenance, Victoria Reed, was so comprehensive and helpful that I need to revise a part of my story. It was a stroke of great fortune for me to be able to avoid an error of historical fact and I am enormously grateful to Victoria and the Museum.