Update

It's been a long time since I've blogged but it seems since I've last checked this site out the number of followers has increased 300% to four people! So I can't leave them contentless!

Things have happened since last I blogged. I have changed job into something a little more lucrative with more responsibility and a lot more creativity. I've moved in with my girlfriend and have my own writing room (which is also the guest bedroom) and No Longer Living has been published for the second time on Tales of the Zombie War. It even has comments on it including these little beauties.

"Woah, chilling story, some of the best writing I have seen on the site."

"Ah…damn…you killed it man, excellent work."

and

"Wow… Awesome. Totaly felt the fear and guilt of toby for being around his zed wife. This is one of about 4 stories on here that pulled me and i just had to finish."

All of which were encouraging to read.

The novel continues. And continues. And continues.

I have a proper draft of Part Three now and I'm currently trying out the novel process of working through the thing backwards to see if that works as I try to tie things up and iron out the last few creases in the story. Hopefully still on track for finishing it at the end of this year!

Oh, and there's also the possibility of another short story being published soon but I'm waiting for confirmation. Once I know, you'll know. I promise.

Anyway, enough gassing. Maybe I'll try to post once per month, see how that feels.

Back to work.

Step by Step

This week, I’ve been working on the second third of Part Three. It’s doing well, so far. I know what I want from each chapter and it’s now a case of writing it.

The main difficulty, however, is in the character interactions. At so late in the proceedings, I now have a tight cast of characters with a lot of complexities and history behind them. This means a lot of things to remember, a lot of complex emotions and having them all clash together in a way that works but doesn’t result in the characters tripping over one another and getting in the way of the story like they would do if this was real life.

Needless to say, I’m enjoying writing it. I love challenging myself like this. This book is going to be great.

Speaking of great books, I am enjoying Kraken.

Back to work.

Hurray!

Out with the old...

Another bank holiday comes to an end.

I have started putting more thought into the second third of the final part. I can’t say that the first third is to my liking as yet but there are times when you have to stand away to gain a little perspective and work on the next thing.

Hopefully, when I go back to it, I shall be able to see more clearly what has to happen to make it into the novel I need it to be.

Little has happened since I last blogged. The thing about writing is that it contains an awful lot of typing (or scribbling if you prefer pen and ink) and sometimes there’s only so much you can say about it.

Asimov’s magazine sent me a nice form rejection, which has been added to the pile.

Other than that, I spend the rest of my time playing Mass Effect and enjoying George R. R. Martin. I’m currently reading A Storm of Swords: Steel and Snow and I’m very much enjoying it. Any other writer and you’d think I’d be tired of this massive long epic, but he’s definitely keeping me entertained.

Next up, Chine Mieville’s Kraken comes out at the end of this week. Looking forward to that one!

Anyway. Back to writing.

The Gentleman of Leisure... and work

Let me just say this; being a full-time author just has to be The Bomb.

I had a wonderful week off, last week, in which I pretended I was one and I can't stress enough how much I want that to be my actual working life.

I got up at eight (not seven!), mooched around the flat eating toast and drinking tea (Wow! Actual breakfast!) until nine, then wrote for a couple of hours (Two hours or more on a school day morning!).

Then there was lunch.

Then more writing. Then I read a book in the afternoon sun, cooked food of an evening and awaited the Lady of my Life to return from work. Then I had several hours of hanging out with her, uninterrupted by writing, until it was time to go to bed.

I even tackled multiple problems a day.

Normally, when I write for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening, I start writing, hit a problem that takes roughly twenty minutes thinking time to solve (why it always seems to be twenty, I have no idea) by which time it's time to stop and go to work. Then, when I get back, I write the solution I had that morning. Repeat.

On Saturdays, I write for four hours but sometimes I'm so intent on having Free Time that they're just as productive as a two-hour shift on a workday.

But with all the day ahead of me, I'm more relaxed. I think through my problem, then write the solution. Right then! Until I hit the next problem. Then I solve that! It's wonderful.

That’s a way to earn a living. It’s not flash, it’s not swish but I want it and the holiday underlined my need to work hard during non-holiday time to get these novels done and bring that dream closer to reality.

On another note, I received my shiny certificate from Writer's of the Future a couple of weeks ago. It was very nice and may go on a wall somewhere, possibly. I haven't decided yet. That's another thing to look forward to; an office I can call my own. Though that may not be as far off as full-time authorship...

More next time.

Thanks for reading.

Grey Freeman - Honourable Writer of the Future

It took a few moments to realise that the first word in the email I received this morning was 'Congratulations!'

The Writers of the Future award have given my short story Earworm Turns an Honourable Mention. This means that while I didn't make it to the quarter-finalist stage the judges considered it good enough to be worthy of a mention for being well-written.

I've been told the certificate is in the post. Now I need to send it somewhere else to see if I can get it published!

If you need further proof you can find my name here.

Right, now I really need to get back to work.

Dodge and Fukkit make it Big (or they will one day)

So, as of this evening, it's back to the novel.

It was fun writing Dodge & Fukkit, think I'm on to something there, but unfortunately it had to be curtailed when I realised that it had become over 20,000 words in length, probably didn't count as a short story any more and I still had miles to go with it. Maybe it'll become a novel one day but for now it has to go on the backburner along with a number of other stories.

Going back to Machinations is a bit intimidating this morning. It's this big monstrous thing with plot-tentacles and an as yet ill-defined character and I don't know where to begin making it better. I'm thinking the best way might be to print out everything I've got and work through it page by page taking notes.

Yeah, that might work.

The grass is always greener...

The novel is on the back burner at the moment. It needed a rest and now it's having one until I get my Machinations muse back.

Right now, I'm working on a new side project; my first detective story, which I might call Dodge and Fukkit if a better title doesn't come along.

It's nice to be writing something new. When I’m editing or reworking and not writing new stuff, having the words flow out from under my fingertips, I begin to wonder whether I’ll ever be capable of writing something new ever again or whether that particular talent has deserted me.

But then I sit and start something new and there it is, the skill just comes back and I find I can still write at the same pace as I can create.

Then I have an idea too late, something that should have happened before this or that bit or a new thread or theme or plot point pops into my head and I think ‘that’d be an awesome thing to do’ and I begin to wonder if I still have the ability to edit and polish, to work a short story and incorporate new ideas and make the language flow and sparkle; basically turn a nice short story into a great one (great, here, being a relative term. For you, dear reader, read 'ok').

I guess there's just no winning with me. I always feel I'm losing the skill I'm not using at the time.