I think I've now got hold of the theme for my six linked stories, and I have fairly solid ideas for all of them. I started writing the first of them yesterday and managed just over two pages. I've been worried because most of the stories are set in places or times I know nothing about, so the research was a little intimidating, but for once the internet and the books I own came up trumps for the first story. There's one big plot point I don't know yet in the story, but I know the overall structure and I can write the rest while I think through the key plot issue.

Ideas for the other stories are flowing pretty well at the moment. Of course, they are all totally cool in my head, it's just when I put the ideas on paper that they look cliched and clunky. Luckily, when I come to write the stories, the cliched and clunky part disappears again. A raw idea is an ugly thing. The skill of writing is to make it beautiful.

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Last day of the month, today, which, apart from being payday (thank Heaven), means that all of these journal entries will disappear into the archives. Can't help but feel it's all rather futile. Still, both my readers know where to find them...