New Projects Ahoy!

In the last couple of weeks, outside of our DJTees work, we've been busy with other projects. First, I'm putting the 10th Nick Guymer novel to bed. It's called King Tees and is both the longest and most complicated novel I've written so far, which is one of the reason's it's taken so long to get to the end game. As it's now in editorial, I'll be looking to have that published in about a month. It's a story about misdirection, deception and naked selfies.

Doing final rewrites is an intensive process and absolutely crucial to the quality of the book. I need to get things as good as I can at this stage because it's the difference between it being OK and being really good. It's where I add extra colour and detail and it's also where I edit the text to make sure the pacing of the story works well. The plot has to work perfectly and all of the reveals have to be hidden, but not too hidden. I'm not one for writing mystery or crime books which leave anything unexplained. I find that very frustrating, so I make sure, in this final edit, that by the end, every clue is explained, every plot twist rationalised. It's intense work and can only be done at this point because I now know exactly who did what to whom - and for most of the life of the novel, I have no idea who the good guys are and who the bad guys are. I try to make them ambivalent for quite a long stretch of each story, in order to keep the readers guessing.

All of this forensic combing of the story soaks up a lot of time and that's why I've not done as much music writing. But it's almost all done now and once it's finally finished, it will almost immediately begin to drain out of my synapses. In a month, I won't be able to remember much of what I've written because I'll be on to the next book and fully absorbed in that. It's a strange sensation, when something you've lived with for so long and worked so hard and closely on, suddenly goes away. It actually, for a few days, feels like having to do without a drug. For a few days, I miss it with an almost physical pain. It's both an addiction and comfort to be writing a book. I'd go as far as to say it absorbs the majority of my waking thoughts. So when it's done, until you start your next book, there's this gaping hole in your life that you don't know how to fill. Anyway, I shall bravely struggle though. Honest, it's like working down a mine. A word mine. Possibly.

While I've been doing this, Dawn (who, as you'll know, designs all the t-shirts and website, too) has launched her new project called Muso.

Ever the restless creative, this is an outlet for her interest and talents in metal work. Muso is the place where she sells all her original rock-inspired pendants. Her studio looks like a chemistry laboratory half of the time, with bits of metal bubbling in blue liquid with crocodile clips attached and electricity passing through it. For a while I thought she was building some sort of monster. I am the least practical person on earth, and got a CSE Grade 5 in Physics and Chemistry, so I have little idea what's going on, but she's produced some really wonderful work.

They're all one-off pieces, so if you see something you like, be sure to buy it, because when they're gone, they're gone. She'll be adding more stock each week, but they're already proving to be popular. They're lovely quality, have a great rock vibe to them and are really reasonably priced for hand-made individual pieces.

If you go to www.musostore.uk you can see all the current stock and read more about her other interests and work as an artist. You might also want to go to http://www.artgallery.co.uk/artist/dawn_rossiter to see her artwork currently for sale.
So, if you buy our t-shirts, books, art of pendants, thank you. We have no plans to stop now!