As I write this, England is coming to terms with the idea of another lockdown – this one due to begin on Thursday 5 November. I am yet to hear if this will affect my schedule for the rest of the year, but I am hopeful that it won’t.

What I’ve been working on

October was packed with work. My first paper proofread for many months was a memoir, and I moved on to the proofread of a business book aimed at women leaders. This was followed by the proofread of the final instalment of a thriller series that has been on and off my desk over the best part of a year. I’ve also had the critique of a science-fiction/fantasy novel to occupy my time. I’m in the middle, roughly, of a copy-edit of a novel I would find hard to place in one particular genre, but it’s a tour de force in how to manage distinctive points of view and break the fourth wall.

On the blog

I published the latest blog post in my ‘Fiction essentials’ series. This one deals with the use of dialogue tags. I can also report that the CIEP has published my review of Jacqueline D. Lipton’s book Law and Authors: A legal handbook for writers.

What I’ve been reading

The Devil and the Dark Water is Stuart Turton’s second novel. It’s an enjoyable read – I got through it in a few days, and it is a chunk of a book – but while the ending makes sense, it feels hollow and unsatisfactory. In a bit of a departure from my usual genres, my next read was The Secret Political Adviser. It delves deeper into the mythology behind Michael Spicer’s ‘The Room Next Door’ skits (if you haven’t seen them, it’s worth looking them up on YouTube). It is an amusing, occasionally laugh-out-loud funny, journey through some of the significant political events of the last four years.

Looking ahead

The CIEP’s online conference runs from Monday 2 November to Wednesday 4 November 2020 and I am looking forward to taking part. The West Surrey and North Hampshire local group is due a Zoom meet-up, so I will be aiming to organise that for the latter part of November.