I’m not posting this anywhere. I’m not promoting this (ha, ha) anywhere. I’m just putting this blog up on my site to see if anyone notices it.
You can’t be surprised if this sounds needy or egotistical. It’s a blog!
Read MoreOh, summer. Cruel, hot, possible globally catastrophic summer. Soon you will be gone, never to dark our barometers and shorts drawers again. No longer will people walk into a room and declare ‘oh, isn’t it hot in here’ or ‘oh, isn’t it cold in here’ like some demented, inbred thermometer parrot. No longer will people claim to love the summer but always seem to be the first to reach for the air conditioning, thus exposing themselves as a total fraud.
Read MoreHe’d watched too many versions of the same myth. He could spot the seams between the ad breaks now. The recognisable traits. The revolving carousel of non-threatening villains. The shiny fights. The interweaving soap operas. The cameos just for the true geeks, there to invest a marketing exercise with a little purchased history, borrowed as credit for credibility.
Read MoreThis is it, people. This is not a drill. The second novel is out. Which is crazy. I’ve managed to write another one. Three decades on this planet, two novels published. That’s not bad when you consider the whole first decade and some of the second was spent primarily being forced to learn things in various classrooms.
“So, where did this new novel come from,” I hear you ask. “And what’s with the pink rabbit?”
I guess it’s time I properly introduced you to Fluff.
Okay, okay. The rewrite is moving into the home stretch. It really is. I'm pretty sure it is, only it’s taking longer than I wanted. It was meant to be finished this week and the delay has not been too good for my nerves. For my attention span. For my patience. It’s been a week of feeling defeated by my own story, but I'm pretty sure victory isn’t too far off now. Next week. I’m pretty sure it’s going to be next week. I hope it's going to be next week.
So, as I make a push to get this final, final, final draft finally completed I thought I’d use this week to share something with you. As things stand, what follows are the first 900 or so words my second novel will start with.
In more ways than I can really express right now, I hope you like it.
WARNING: The following blog was written by a sleep deprived horror writer. There will be rambling and a certain lack of sense. Also, there may be some typos and errors. If you do find any, then cherish them. Think of them like seeing the brushstrokes that make up the painting. Apparently there are other typos on this website, but the exhausted author would like to point out this is all free.
MESSAGE ENDS
Read MoreI used to write after work. I’d get home from whatever office or shop I was working in, have something to eat and then try to write for an hour or two. It worked to an extent, but the finished result always felt sluggish. It suffered from a lack of energy as plot and characters became handy ciphers allowing me to moan about my day. Back then, I was very much one of those people who spent a lot of time talking about writing, instead of actually writing. Or, at least, writing happily.
Read MoreThere really is no surface quite as slippery as the blank page. Which is not great when you consider we’re completely surrounded by them at this time of year. There are blank calendars wherever we look, showing all those unwritten days we’re going to fill, whether we like it or not. I hate any new calendar or diary for that. They always seem to offer undiscovered territory. Yours to claim. They’re a map of potential, in that moment you open them, at least. Of course, once you finally start using them, all you really mark down are trips to the dentist and occasional family gatherings.
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