Why I'm writing less and reading more: and prospects for 2013

The bad news is I missed my deadlines for Hastings last year.   Unfortunately for you, it means that you'll have to wait an extra year to read the sequel to Shieldwall.

The good news is that I'm well into the novel, and it's going really well.  I'm enjoying the characters, the story and the way they're interacting, which means that it'll be a cracker when it comes out, in spring 2014.

Having said all that: i've got a lot of work to do, and one of the great things about the Christmas break was that it gave me time to read.  And this is where I've so far managed to keep to my resolution, which is to give myself more time to read: because when I'm emptying my imagination at a furious rate, there's nothing better to refill it than some great fiction. 

I've finished two books so far this year: Martin Booth's Gweilo, an account of Childhood in 50s Hong Kong, and George RR Martin's A Storm of Swords, a mere whipper-snapper of a novel at 424,000 words, according to this little gem of a website.  http://www.cesspit.net/drupal/node/1869

I'm currently into the sequel: which is a lightweight 300,000 words (why do people give Martin a hard time about how long his novels take to write: he's writing the Bible! - Actually he's written two Bibles, as the Bible clocks in at 773,000 and The Song of Ice and Fire is so far twice as long as that....) and really savouring the many pleasures of a good book. 

I'm excited about this year: not because it's 2013 or the world's going to end, but because there are going to be some very interesting developments this year as I move into ebooks: subscribe to my mailing list to make sure you'll be the first to know.  http://www.justinhillauthor.com/get-in-touch/