By the time I sent off the copyedit of Garment of Shadows the first week of January, my brain was empty of words. In the last year, I've written short stories and introductions, guest blogs, essays, & silly stuff to do with the Pirate King publication, my half of The Arvon Book of Crime Writing, and this novel. Fried synapses, anyone?
I'm now in the odd position of laying out plans for not one, but two very different novels. The book I'll be writing this year is set in Paris, 1929, and is about some of the characters from Touchstone. My shelves are filling with books from the library on Sylvia Beach, Hemingway, Man Ray, Kiki of Montparnasse, etc, and I plan on a week in Paris this June to walk the territory and remind myself of the city's flavor.
On the other hand, I'm going to Japan in April, for a book I won't be writing for a year (yes, the "missing" Russell tale between The Game and Locked Rooms.) Which means that I have to do a certain amount of research concerning Japan in 1924.
As well as work on a bit of the languages involved, so I can ask how much something is and where is the x.
Maybe I should just combine the two and write a Russell investigation with Bennett Grey and Harris Stuyvesant, about Japanoiserie in 'Twenties Paris.
Confusion reigns.
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Yes, confusion is sometimes best, if for no other reason to see who will stick through it tell the end...
Oh boy! Having been an artist's model for many years, I'm delightedly looking forward to the one with Kiki Of Montparnasse...and having just read The Last Nude, which touches on Sylvia Beach...well, it's an era, and folks that I'm very interested in. That said, I also will be waiting with baited breath to see what happened when Mary and Holmes went to Japan. Happy researching! I'm pretty sure your synapses will return with a vengance!
