A Week in my Writing Life...

With the chronic fatigue that comes with fibromyalgia having it's impact on me this week, my writing has been a little quieter.

This week hasn't been about racing towards the finish line. It's been one of those slower writing weeks—the sort that perhaps looks unremarkable from the outside, but is often where the real work happens.

I've been putting the finishing touches to the formatting of my poetic prose piece, ***A Quiet Refusal to Disappear***, which will soon be appearing in Ogygia Magazine.

Returning to those words stirred more emotion than I expected. It's curious how writing captures not only moments in time, but versions of ourselves too.

Over in the world of mysteries, I continue to be deep into the second revision of my first novel, set on the beautiful island of Pico. I've been merging chapters, smoothing out the timeline, and making sure all the little pieces fit together. It's a slower process than writing the first draft, but I'm learning that stories often become stronger through gentle refinement rather than dramatic rewrites.

And perhaps the biggest smile of the week... I've officially begun writing my second mystery novel, this time set on Faial Island. Anna returns, along with her ever-faithful canine companion, Mabel, ready to stumble into another mystery.

Progress doesn't always look like a word count. Sometimes it looks like polishing, untangling, remembering, and quietly trusting that the story is still unfolding.

And this week, that's been enough.

Sally x

Sally Somerton - Island Writer

www.sallysomerton.com

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Photo of one of my writing companions, our Portuguese Water Dog