27,000 words plus and still poetry!

Well, it's still growing, and Emma is becoming clearer (she's the woman who runs the B&B). Emma's intense connection with her identical twin has left her aware of atmospheres, shadows, all the ghosts of her family home. In a way, the man who she is starting to see as a friend is fitting into her world of the past as she starts to go into his world.

On the poetry front, I have been playing around with the two freewrites I did on the day school, which I will put up once I have had them marked. One was so intensely personal, painful, the days and weeks we spent on a children's ward waiting for Leonie to be diagnosed/treated. I think the poetry is creeping into the fiction, which is very satisfying. It's starting to read better, even in its primitive first draft. What has become clear to me is the energy in Emma, what happens when she not in front of the guests, folded in on herself, just performing the basic tasks, the cooking etc. I'm liking her more and more!

While I'm playing with book 1 I'm plotting book 2. I don't plot - but this is a more complex book aimed at young adults so I need more research, especially into the minds of teenagers for the background. I don't want it to date too much, so I'm looking for the right language. I've been picking the brains of my 15 year old niece (thanks, Ash!) and will continue to do so. I must admit, she's kind of influenced the heroine a bit! Gradually, I'm picking up threads that will form the book.