It’s been an odd but very heartening week for writing. As I focus on editing the third book in the Leeds series (currently called The Constant Lovers), things have been building a little with the first book, The Broken Token. First there was a lovely review at http://pamreader.blogspot.com/2011/01/broken-token-by-chris-nickson.html, which made me feel good, and that was followed by this from Mystery Scene, which I’m reliably informed is quite influential in the US (http://www.mysteryscenemag.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1743:the-broken-token&catid=26:books).

That should have been quite enough to spur me on, and it has been. The cherry on this lovely topping, however, was a message I received from a friend on Facebook. She’s a dramatist with several plays on radio and TV to her credit, and lives in Leeds, where The Broken Token is set. She’d read the book and is interested in adapting it for television. Costume drama but not for girlies, as she put it. Now, we both know that the likelihood of this reach fruition is minimal, but that someone wants to do that, and agents are talking to each other, is one of the biggest boosts I could have received.

As if all that wasn’t quite enough, during November I began work on a side project, another novel set in Leeds, this time in 1645, during the Civil War. I penned 12,000 words, and this week, carefully revised and vetted, they’ve gone off to my agent to see what she thinks. There’s even been time to put down some notes about the projected fourth book in the Richard Nottingham series. It never stops. At least, I hope it doesn’t.