October

So… pretty much done with work on the flat and finished my MA dissertation, which I got in on deadline day, with about an hour to spare. With all that out of the way, I can finally get back to working on the book. It's proving a little difficult to get back into the flow of it again. Been almost two months since I last did any work on it and I seem to have forgotten where I was in terms of some of the ideas I had back then. Still, reading back through the rough draft pages and notes, I'm getting new ideas. I just need to keep working at it and I should find my way back into the story.

As a little reward for finishing the MA and getting the dissertation done, I sat myself down and finally watched the whole of the first season of 'The Wire'. Great stuff. Now I just need to start hitting my 1000 words a day target again and I'll allow myself to begin season two.

On the book front, I've bought a few more books recently - even though most of my existing books are still boxed up from the move and spread between the old place and the new. I've got so much to read, I'm really looking forward to finally having time to indulge myself. Once the book's done though.

For the moment, I'm re-reading stuff. Who would have thought that with so much new stuff to read, that I'd be going back to books I've already read. But, there you go. Some things are so good that you find yourself wanting to go back and re-experience them. My recent Elmore Leonard spree being a case in point, although I did intersperse some of the old ones with new ones that I hadn't read before.

Just now I'm re-reading 'Prince of Thieves' by Chuck Hogan, which I mentioned before. Loving it second time around too. When I finish that, I'm planning on reading 'Point Blank' by Richard Stark once more. After that… well, I don't know. I'll have a rummage and pick something. Heard good things about 'The Twelve' by Stuart Neville, so may well give that a go.