As progress continues on my new standalone novel (which, in stark contrast to the Aona series, features a cast of just three main characters) I've found that the situation in the wider world and humanity's endless, determined race to the bottom have meant I've concentrated more than ever on my inner world.

I'm sure I'm not alone in experiencing this subtle shift- after all, as authors the inner world is the one we can control. And in an outer world gone mad, where certainties of all kinds have gone, its attractiveness is greater than ever.

In practical terms this has resulted in more words per day so far this year than in any other. Now while I don't consider that to be a measure of quality s such, it is the result of a little more inspiration and determination, and on a practical level the result of shutting out the wider world (which of course includes social media) and the endless threads of hatred and stories of despair. Closing out the noise and chatter of a relentlessly connected world can have the effect of focusing the mind on the task in hand. Certainly it's worked well for me so far.

Oddly enough my other main work in progress- the sequel to Summer's Dark Waters- is partly about these very evils that I choose to shut out. It's become something of a commentary on the state of the world, as seen through the eyes of two children at a time of impending apocalypse.

But isolation is something that's also helped me to complete the first draft of this as well. It may well mean, at the current rate of progress, that two books end up being released this year.