Small Steps...

The writing has continued these past few months but at a slower pace than ever before. I’m surprised, though, how I have trained myself to be more productive despite having less and less time. When I get the odd hour to work on a story, I do it. If I can snatch a couple of hours to do edits on my next book, I do the edits. Time is precious to me now, more so than ever, so I don’t have the luxury of goofing off and faffing about with stuff which is really just procrastination dressed up as something far more important and appealing. You know the stuff of which I speak…
Anyway, I recently received an advance from Wolfsinger Publications for my novella ‘The Hotel Galileo’. Such an amazing feeling, hard to describe, and I couldn’t help but feel a certain sense of…I don’t know, that maybe this is a bit more ‘serious’ now. A great but weird feeling. I am looking forward to the book release with barely contained excitement and anticipation. I’m already getting requests from work colleagues and fellow writers to keep a copy for them. Cannot wait to see the cover art…
My story ‘The Transmuted Engine’ is still under submission at Beneath Ceaseless Skies, a pro-paying ezine. I am holding my breath on that one. As it happens, I am currently in the process of expanding the universe from that story into a full-length dark fantasy novel. I love fantasy, I really do. I enjoyed Terry Brooks’ Shannara books as a teenager, I love China Mieville’s Bas-Lag trilogy of books now, and The Lord of the Rings is my favourite movie trilogy of all time; but I’ve resisted writing a fantasy novel until now because I didn’t feel I had anything new or exciting to bring to the fantasy genre. However, it was a fellow writer who, whilst critiquing ‘Engine’, suggested I consider writing a novel set in the Tasia universe. I’m going to give it a go, and so far, early sketches are proving to be quite interesting and exciting.
I’m ready to start work on the third draft of ‘The Silver Sea’. This will be the hardest draft, I think, because it’s about the nitty-gritty. But the end is in sight for this one, and that is an encouraging thought.
That’s me for now. I hope all of you are getting the breaks you deserve.

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