Breaking the rules?

Apparently, one of the first rules of writing is that you should never start to write a new book, before finishing the one you are already working on. I have a confession to make … I have broken the rule. I had decided to take a break from the Megan Waterfield Series, with its Fearless Five, the Salty Sea Cat and the Old Harbour. P.C. Raines, ‘Wet by name and wet by nature,’ would have time to dry off; Billy O would be able to gaze out over the mighty River Severn, untroubled by shipwrecks and storms and Dotty would no longer be lured by ham sandwiches, but instead, be content to rest on her Sailor’s True Love mat and watch the brown trout swim by . Then it happened: a small graphic was sent to me by my cover designer, Rebecca Jackson of Feathertree. It depicted Dotty, the Salty Sea Cat, as a pirate, and was intended as a joke, but it planted a small seed in my brain that had soon blossomed into a fully-fledged plot. The new work is entitled Pevensey the Pirate King and is already up to seven thousand words, and rising rapidly. Although it is slightly on the back burner, Mrs Murgatroyd’s Marvellous Magicarium is still a work in progress. It is a collection of short stories, linked by a common thread, so I can carry on adding to them at any time. Looking at the draft image, it looks as if I am not the only one breaking the rules: Dotty is having a go, too … or is she?