Onwards...

Hi everyone!

I'm still alive. And even if I wasn't alive, I'd still be loving dark and speculative fiction.

Did you have a good Christmas? I got a Babylon 5 box set of every movie and episode (including Crusade) from my beloved wife. I am a huge fan of that show, and such terrific story telling is an inspiration, so I've been watching that a fair bit since Christmas. I reckon it'll take me months to get through it all.

There's not been much on the writing front for me recently, because I've been having a little trouble with my eyes of late (it's not from watching too much Babylon 5, honest!). This does not mean I've not been creative however, as I've been looking back over some work I'd put aside previously and have been thinking about rewriting it. I even made a short stab at it in January 2010, but again my eyes have been giving me trouble so not much progress there. Ho hum!

As I write more, I'll keep you all updated. Wish me (and my eyes) luck!

Latest story publication news

Now it's time for some more good news of appearances of my writing.

On the 1st December my short fantasy story The Price went up at Mirror Dance Fantasy.

Today, In Vino Veritas, a vampire story, just went up at Fear and Trembling.

I hope you enjoy my work!

One year on

It's been a year since I set up this site and got back into the saddle on the writing trail. It's not been a bad year, a few stories published here and there, and I'm getting gently back into the swing of things after taking so long out from writing in order to study.

I've had highs and lows, including losing some vision due to health issues which has majorly impacted on my life, as well as getting married this year (bad and good respectively!), but although my goals have been modified, it's not stopping me from enjoying the craft of writing. Indeed, more than ever my wife is supportive of my writing, and I've met some great people and friends over the last year through writing.

So here's to the next twelve months!

NaNoWriMo

I mentioned in October that I was going to give NaNoWriMo a go in November. The goal was to write 50,000 words in a month.

Well, how did I do?

I nearly made it. I was on course, having had a few bad days here and there, to make it. On a good day, I was averaging about 2,500 words a day, I reckon, which would have compensated for my bad days (I needed to write a minimum of 1667 words a day to break even and get to 50K).

Then the lurgy struck in late November. A fever, sweats, sickness, all that fun. I'm still not 100% right, health-wise, but soldiering on.

And the writing? My final total for November was 32,790 words, which isn't too bad, almost two-thirds of the way there.

NaNoWriMo raises some important questions, however, the primary one being:

Was it worth it?

Yes, yes it was worth it. I learned a lot about self-discipline if I want to eventually go pro with my writing, and the necessity to write every day.

I also learned that the plot I was using during November might not stretch to novel length, and might be better off in future being rewritten as a novella. I have some things to learn about length and whether certain plots and story ideas are suited to different lengths.

But above all, I had fun doing it. I met some great people along the way, and I'll be back for more NaNoWriMo fun next year!

"Consequences" published; Facebook page now up

My tweet-length horror story "Consequences" has just gone up on Thaumatrope (click the link, then scroll to the bottom of that page for my story)!

I also now have a Facebook fan page. If you'd like to follow me on Facebook, join up there.

Happy Hallowe'en!

The NaNoWriMo 2009 challenge....

Ladies and gentlemen, non-corporeal, non-humans, un-dead, and other readers of this site, the challenge is being laid upon the table before you.

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) 2009 is now only a month away.

I'm planning on taking part.

What's NaNoWriMo?

The following explanatory text is from the NaNoWriMo site:

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.

Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.

Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.

Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.

I must write at least 50,000 words in 30 days. That's a minimum 1,667 words a day just to limp across the finishing line with precisely 50K. There's a lot of writing to be done. And I don't have a clue yet what I'll be writing next month, either. I haven't even thought about a plot, character, or anything like that.

Click here to go to my page on the NaNoWriMo site, where, if you're a member of that site, you can befriend me as a writing buddy so we can compare word counts as we go along.

Who else is up for it?

Bring it on....

Arthur Machen - still great

There was a nice piece in the Guardian newspaper yesterday about Arthur Machen, a writer of dark and fantastic fiction from down my way. He originates from Caerleon, just outside Newport (my hometown). Not a lot else to say at the moment (busy, busy, busy writing, but I should write in more detail on Machen at some point) apart from Arthur Machen is still an amazing read after all these years. The Great God Pan is particularly horrific.

Click here to go read the Guardian article.

Image from public domain source: Wikipedia article on Machen.