Work proceeds and life intervenes

Hello again!

When we last left things I had gotten a good chunk of my first draft done. Nanowrimo was over and I was a winner (yay!) with roughly 60000 words completed in a month.

I took a break around christmas and new year and was all set to go at the start of 2020.

Well.

You know the thing that happened at the start of 2020? Yeah, that upset things a little, but I finished the first draft of The Spire War in summer 2020 despite that.

I took another break once the first draft was finished to let it breathe a bit (a common piece of advice that I think holds a lot of merit) and then got to work on the second draft which I was planning on submitting to an editing company called Scribendi during the fall.

Unfortunately, something got in the way:

When my wife moved to Sweden from Britain they brought with her a beautiful, head-strong smoke British Shorthair called Bea. When she first came to live with us she was my wife’s constant shadow and I was also there. But by 2020 she had warmed up to me and would frequently jump on the kitchen table to inform me now was the time for a break by rubbing herself against the edge of my laptop screen before - if necessary - escalating to reaching out with one paw to touch my face until I relented and gave her some attention.

In october 2020 Bea started having fits, and became diagnosed with FIP (Feline Infectious Peritonitis) - a terribly serious disease (which until very recently was considered untreatable) in cats that very, very often is fatal and usually quite quickly.

We fought like hell to save Bea’s life - figuratively and literally when we needed to give her medicine twice a day. Our little girl was the friendliest, most social cat you’ll ever meet: And she was strong as a bulldozer even at her sickest and she did not enjoy being fed pills. Anyone who tells you cats will quickly adjust to routines is lying to you. The first time we fed her medicine was as much of a wrestling match as the last time, two and a half months later.

As a sidenote, during the many, many visits to the vet during this time I more than once had the wonderful satisfaction of watching two nurses call for backup, realising that they needed a third set of hands to draw blood from our brave, bull-headed girl. It was successful, and we got our sweet girl healthy again but for a while it put everything else in our lives on hold.

Eventually, when Bea was better again I submitted my second draft to Scribendi for a book critique and waited eagerly (and nervously) for the results. What I got back was very helpful (and I warmly recommend Scribendi) in telling me what was working, what stood out as particularly good and what needed polish (and some sanding). This faciliated a major re-write: One character was dropped from the novel and another took their place. Major parts of the main mystery of the novel was re-structured and the beginning was re-written to put some more ‘oomph’ in the start. It was very helpful and not just in what wasn’t working - the editor had some very nice things to say about certain sections and aspects of my writing, which was very encouraging.

Work, work, work - I finished a third and then a fourth draft and then began submitting to various agents to see if I could gather some interest that way; But as anyone will tell you it is hard to get an agent deal for a debut novel. It was a long shot, but one I felt was worth a try.

In november 2021 we were back at the vet’s when Bea suddenly developed troubles breathing: She’d been declared free from FIP five months earlier but she was too good for this world. This time an aggressive throat cancer (which is apparently also rare in cats) took her and the day after we brought her in to the vet to stay overnight, Bea passed away while sedated.

My wife was absolutely shattered - and I too felt like a piece of my heart had been ripped out. My last photo of Bea is from just after she had passed; I scratched her chin for the very last time and gave her unnaturally stiff paw one last squeeze. For a while our world fell apart and it took us quite a bit of effort and willpower to pick up the pieces. Our other cat, Rincewind also suffered: His playmate and big sister who he adored was gone and he was grieving, too. For several days he curled up next to us as we sat in our sofa, trying to deal with the emptiness and sense of unfairness. In time we would find Rincewind a new sister (biologically this time) and we now have two ragdoll cats: Rincewind and his baby sister Bonnibel.

Between the pandemic, Bea’s illness and then her sudden death it all became too much and both me and my wife were running on steam for a good while.

That’s why it took a long time before I was able to get back to work on The Spire War (as well as other things) but by the end of May I was ready. So, here we are. The plan now is to give the last version of the novel a thorough proofread and then I am going to get to work on all the things involved in publishing a novel.

Next up I am hoping to be able to give small updates, talk about the process and probably other things, too. In the mean time thanks for your interest!

Take care,

/Pontus

My favourite photo of our darling girl Beatrix. <3