This is my second blog and far too long after my first. My only excuse being that I was hooked in to writing my second novel, the follow on from The Grey Pilgrim’s Gambit. The sequel I never meant to write until one of the main characters gave the ending a twist I hadn’t anticipated. Intrigued with the development, there was no way back. The first draft of The Grey Eminence Legacy is now finished and will sit in a drawer for several months as I build up the courage to rewrite it – laughingly called the first edit. I now know what the saying, 10% inspiration, 90% perspiration means.

What has happened in the intervening period with The Grey Pilgrim’s Gambit? It’s been entered into several first-time author novel competitions as I mentioned in my first blog. The feedback I received indicates more edits are required and for this I will need professional help. It can’t be avoided and doesn’t come cheap. It has pushed back my hope for publication into next year.

Otherwise I have been preoccupied with short story competitions. One entered for the Screenplay competition in the U.S.A. came from my Seeds anthology you can find on this website – The Herald.

During the last few weeks I have tackled the topic of Search Engine Optimisation – SEO for short. An essential task to help search engines find my web site. A very dry task. In the old days the commonly used term was meta data. It seems that is no longer the case, especially for engines like Google. Fortunately, my web builder Everweb (for Apple Mac devices), provide a comprehensive tutorial programme of short videos, explaining each step that has simplified the process. It still took me nearly a week. All I have to do now is wait for the web bots to do their work and discover Iain Aire author.

Well that’s it for now. I am contemplating getting involved in Instagram. Can’t say I am looking forward to it, but needs must when the devil drives.