I know where I'm going ...

How many writers pressed "word count" at midnight last night and breathed a sigh of relief that they'd actually achieved their NaNoWriMo objective?! Well done to everyone who did - I certainly stand in awe of anyone who can put in such tremendous effort over that period of time to come up with a first draft of a novel. The hard work of  rewriting, editing, polishing, etc. etc still to come, I know, but actually getting those words down and the story on paper in the first place is a great achievement in itself.

For me it proved a useful month, "getting my house in order" and prioritising my writing projects. I've now got a much clearer picture in my mind of what I am aiming to do with "Digging Up The Family". It really is proving a far more extensive project than I had first envisaged, encompassing not only the story of my predecessors over a two hundred year period but also putting their lives into the appropriate social and political context and telling the tale of my "quest" to research and write it. I've now set myself the goal of completing the first draft within twelve months, so a concentrated period of work ahead!

Nineteenth century Ebbw Vale miners - my current area of research