Lee Moan's Steam-Powered Typewriter

Some great advances this week during my time off work. Managed to hit the 30,000 word mark with my steampunk detective novel The Silver Sea . Right now I'm in that all-consuming, totally invigorating period where the characters are really coming to life and the fluid plot elements are slipping into a configuration that is very pleasing, and I am finding myself jotting down sentences, character nuances and snippets of dilaogue at the strangest times. This, for me, is the true joy of writing. This novel is more challenging than anything I've done before because it is the first volume in what will be a five-part series featuring the detective character, Inspector Darknoll. I am constantly thinking "how will that affect future events?", or "will we see this character again, if so, where and why?". It's all very exciting. Right now, I am desperate to get the first draft finished, so I can begin the exciting process of hammering it into shape.

Great article on the true value of devoting your life to being a writer by R J Ellroy, author of A Quiet Belief in Angels : http://www.orionbooks.co.uk/blogDetails.aspx?id=6 . Here's a quote from Kaari Itrio which I like: I can’t help but to write, I have a inner need for it. If I’m not in the middle of some literary project, I’m utterly lost, unhappy and distressed. As soon as I get started, I calm down. Then there's Jack Dann: For me, writing is exploration; and most of the time, I'm surprised where the journey takes me. And finally from Jules Renard: Writing is the best way to talk without being interrupted.

I'm off work for a week, so I've been working on two projects: First off, finishing The Transmuted Engine . This long short story (it's come in around 7500 words) is all but complete now. One more polish and then I shall be submitting it for the Aeon Award. I have a lot of faith in it. The second project is my novel The Silver Sea . I am very pleased with the work so far. I'm just about halfway with this one, and desperate to get that first draft done. Sent The Hotel Galileo to WolfSinger Publications back on August 3rd. Waiting with bated breath... Also waiting to hear back on some stories with painfully-long response times. Feel like I'm starting to get somewhere, though...

Okay, I can reveal that the mystery girl in my last blog entry is model and fashion designer Kato, who, amongst other things, has a fashon line devoted to all things steampunk. You can check out her gear at: http://www.steampunkcouture.com/ . As a lover of all things steampunk myself, it's hard not to love someone devoted to this wonderful style. Yeah, and she's mighty pretty, too.

Who is she?

When I was a young lad I wanted to be a comic strip artist. I would have given my right arm to draw for 2000AD (which would have been a problem as I'm right-handed!!!) Okay, things change. Now I'm a thirty-something father of four who is carving out a career as a writer and trying not to get too jaded by the pressures of life and work and all the crap in between. But my love of comic strips hasn't faded at all. And here I am, at the age of thirty...well, in my thirties...with one of my stories appearing in Murky Depths , one of the most exciting venues for upcoming writers and artists I've seen in a long time. The production values are of the highest standard, and the content, a generous mixture of prose and comic strips, is nothing short of inspirational. Is just works . If you don't believe me, go check it out yourself . Nothing is more convincing than feeling the magazine in your own sweaty hands, turning the glossy pages, smelling that fresh-print smell. Terry ...

The final edit of my steampunk mystery The Hotel Galileo is complete. I feel a massive sense of achievement right now. This project began back in 2005. It's been through several big changes, and to see it now reading so coherently, so complete , gives me a wonderfully warm feeling. I am hoping to submit the manuscript to Carol Hightshoe of Wolfsinger Publications at some point in the next few days. Just tinkering with the formatting now, making sure I've done everything correctly. I don't want to jump the gun (but I'm going to anyway!) but I have so many ideas for marketing the book, as well as some exciting ideas for further mysteries for Barclay Heath.