It’s had a longer gestation than The Gulag Archipelago, but at last the finishing line is approaching for The Naked Guide to Cardiff.  My editor informs me that the edit will be completed by October.  I will then have the manuscript back for a couple of months to do all the updates and amendments and the magnum opus should be published “early in 2012”.  To be fair, it’s no wonder it took 1½ years to edit it down to publishable size: I didn’t really stick to the guidebook brief and instead delivered an encyclopedia of Cardiff, 450 A4 pages of small-font type without line spacing, divided into 34 chapters and amounting to 350,000 words – twice the length of the entire New Testament!

When I know exactly what’s been cut I’ll pile it all onto this blog bit by bit, so nothing will go to waste.  Regarding the blog, I need to deal with some points that have been put to me:
• Advertising –  WordPress put ads on their blogs once a threshold of regular hits is exceeded.  I paid this no attention when I started the blog, not expecting a significant readership, but now there is enough traffic for WordPress to insert ads.  As they’re hosting me for nothing this, I presume, is how they make their money.  I don’t like it either and will eventually have to find an alternative.
• Page design – Apologies for the messy/ugly/jarring visuals on some pages.  I’m only tentatively finding my way around the many options, tools and functions on WordPress, and have a fraught relationship with technology at the best of times.  Improvements to the look of the blog are planned.
• Picture credits – Picture credits will be included from now on and credits added to previous pictures when possible.