How long does it take to write a book?

Evening folks,

Italy was awesome thanks for asking. I'd recommend seeing more than one city in a trip as you get a great opportunity to compare and contrast different places. Venice is lovely but so different to Rome. Also, despite what everyone had told us, the wife and I both preferred Rome, although we would definitely return to both places. By the way, the pic below is the view of the grand canal from one of our windows. Needless to say one of the better rooms I've stayed in.

I'd also recommend the cross Europe sleeper as an option if you can afford it and don't like flying. It's a fun experience although not exactly the height of luxury. I've attached a couple of links so you can see for yourself. Bottom line is, you get a bed, decent tea, there's a bar and you see all sorts out of the window. It was slightly surreal being in Dijon station at half ten at night, but pretty cool. Either way, we didn't sleep great but enough to arrive in Venice at breakfast time (we had breakfast on the train too), check in to our hotel (with the above view) and spend the day sight seeing.

But the point of this post is the writing. I wrote thousands of words while I was away including a 2000 word session on the train from Venice to Italy which was super. There's a lot to be said for typing away with a glass of wine while the grand canal is only a few feet away. Again, strange but very cool. I also sold plenty of books last month which was very encouraging.

So where am I up to? As of today I've written over 82,000 words of the new book and should have a completed draft tomorrow. Needless to say I'll announce something when it's done. Which brings me to the title of this post. How long does it take to write a book? Well, assuming I finish it tomorrow this book will have taken just over six months which doesn't feel like long at all.

In other news I've had some lovely reviews lately as well. Here's a few words from someone who finished reading All the fun of the Fair this week:

"Just finished All the Fun of the Fair. Gutted it ended!! Absolutely loved Alfie from the moment I met him, tania was fantastic, reminded me a lot of myself in my youth lol, and as for lee I hope he gets an incurable STD."

This person has since purchased a copy of The 24 Hour Jazz Cafe so fingers crossed they enjoy that too.

Anyway, I'm having an easy night tonight since I'm still off work and I've been writing all day. Tele and ale is the plan. Hopefully I'll have a finished novel to tell you about tomorrow along with a couple of other developments.