There’s only six sleeps to go until my wife and I run the Victoria Marathon. Or to put it another way, there’s only six sleeps to go until I no longer have an excuse not to be working on The Ghost Smuggler.

I have been thinking about the book though and I did manage to find a way to plug a very minor plot hole that’s been kicking around since the first draft. It was never really clear how my protagonist earned a living. It’s pretty clear how he spends his money – drinking and gambling – and he’s bad enough at it that he’s run up a not insignificant amount of debt but he still needs a way to pay rent etc. There was also the slightly incongruous fact that he lived above a bakery – for no particular reason.

I’ve now decided to solve two problems with one stone (or something). He’ll now be living about a junk shop and spend what little time he isn’t drinking, gambling or wallowing in self pity scavenging for junk to trade for a little bit of money and a place to live.

It’s a small point, doesn’t really factor into the story (at least not yet) but I feel a little better now I’ve solved that problem.  [Philip Harris]