--- In madmarthafics@..., "bethann109"
<bethann109@y...> wrote:
> Oh Mad Martha, Mad Martha - wherefore art thou, Mad Martha?
>
> (Lonely sniffle.)
>
> Beth Ann

I'm here! Don't worry. In fact, I've been writing for the last
hour, in spite of frequent nudges from my dog, who seems to think
that I'd be better employed taking a walk with him (he's probably
right, after all the chocolate I've eaten this holiday!).

But this is my cue to make progress report.

I'm currently working as hard as I can on the "Circles of Power"
prequel. This *should* have been posted some time ago, but
unfortunately I reached the last chapter and hit a major block which
totally derailed me. I struggled like mad with it over Christmas and
added about 3500 words - roughly four pages in its current format -
and then to my dismay I realised that it simply wasn't working. In
fact it was terrible, so I had to cut those four pages out again
<clutches hair> However, things seem to be progressing fairly well
again now. I hope <crosses fingers>

I can't give you a deadline for it, because writing to a deadline
would kill the inspiration off completely. But I'm cautiously
hopeful that it will be finished this month.

What I can tell you is that it now has a definite title: "One Week In
The Summer" (abbreviated to OWITS for the frequent text messages
exchanged with my beta) and that it'll be about eight or nine
chapters long. I say "eight or nine" because I suspect the last
chapter will have to be posted in two halves. I can also tell you
that it's already 55,000 words long. It follows directly on
from "The Morning After The Night Before" and covers the week running
up to Harry's eighteenth birthday.

And since I'm spilling the beans here, I'll add that there's another
short story (honestly, it *is* short!) which fits in between "Saucy
Boys" and "Circles" in the Auror timeline, which will be posted after
OWITS. That one is already finished, apart from some obsessive
tweaking, but I haven't posted it yet because it refers to some
events in OWITS.

After that, I will be returning to the Lodger universe. I promise.

That is, of course, if you can restrain yourself from needling me to
write Sentinel slash, Beth Ann!

Happy New Year, everyone!

Mad Martha