Books

2022 Reflections, and into 2023

Peter Germany Books, Editing, Horror, Horror Writer, Life, Nanowrimo, Planning, Preparation, Sci-Fi, Short Fiction, Vampires, Writing, Zombies , , , , , , , , , ,

This year has been a ‘Get Shit Done Year’. Writing wise I didn’t have a lot of focus in the early part of the year as that attention was on personal matters. Those were happily resolved and I could put a little more attention into writing.

I did set out goals, but they ended up getting lost in the churn a little. The core focus was on getting the Zombie book done. That, was essential for this last year. It’s going to be three years past when I had first wanted to get it published, but better late than never. It is done. All that needs to be done is have the artwork for the cover finished (the artist has been super patient and trust me, the cover is awesome!), and the formatting needs to be done. Once they’re done, it’ll be published. Hopefully the early part of next year, but definitely next year at some time.

Another project that had a lot of attention this year was Penal Earth. This story has been on the go since 2015 but I’ve really honed into a story, the setting, and the feel of the world in the last couple of years. This year I’ve got it to the point where I can’t take it any further, I think it’s as good as I can make it and I’m really proud with it. The next stage with this one is to have it edited and or submit to publishers. I do want to test the waters with it as I think it’s my best written tale and I think it does have appeal to it. If it doesn’t get snapped up, I’ll self-pub it.

Next up is The Vampire Era. This has a similar history to Penal Earth, in that it’s been on the go for a long time. This one even longer than Penal Earth, bit again. It’s had a lot of work on it this year, and has come as far as I can take it. Also like Penal Earth I’m very proud of it, and hope it finds a following. The main difference with this ones future is that I’m going to publish it on here. It’ll be released on Welcome To My Nightmare tier and the first post is live. It’s a nine episode first season, and will run until August if I remember right. After it’s come to the end of it’s run I’ll put it in the list to be professionally edited and then I’ll self-pub it. I won’t do that for at least twelve months after the final post has gone live.

Speaking of Ko-Fi, I don’t get a lot of income from the site, those who do support my work on here are all awesome people and I can’t tell you how much it means to me for you to give me your hard earned money. I’m barely a newborn when it comes to writing careers, and I don’t expect anything but what I do get I’m incredibly grateful for.

Although I don’t write for the money it’s nice when I am paid for my work. The way I look at it at the moment is, if it pays for my fees for my web domain each year, then I’m happy. And thankfully for the last few years it has done.

Back to the fiction, and we come to Black Blood. This story is not at the stage that say Penal Earth and The Vampire Era are. It want’s one more deep edit and then it’s going to be ready for an editor. At the moment I’m feeling like self-pub is the route for this one, but I’ll leave it open for the moment. This has been another long term project that has come a long way during 2022 and I’m very glad it’s moved in the direction it has. It’s not far off done, but isn’t quite there yet.

A project I got quite deep into this last year has been a series of serial killer stories that are like The Vampire Era in that they are set up like a TV series and will all build to a conclusion. This one isn’t anywhere near done yet though. It is a huge mess, but I’m not worried about it. It’s one where I need to focus on getting the individual stories tidy and then I can add in the little knots to tie them together. Some with be big, heavy duty knots. While others will be smaller ones. It’s a long way off, and one that isn’t a priority for this year, but I think I’ll be working on it here and there.

I was looking at starting Penal Earth 2 in the early part of 2023 but I’ve got a few hard decisions to make about plot lines and where I want to take it, so I’m not quite ready to get it off the ground just yet.

​The first part of next year will be getting a first draft of the NaNoWriMo ’22 project completed. I’ve been editing it this month, well editing is a strong word. I’ve been going through tidying it up and making a sort of bible for it as I go. Again, this one is a long way off but will be a priority for the next twelve months.

Black Blood will also be a major project in the first part of the year as well.

2023 isn’t going to be a make or break year for my writing career. It’s going to be a series of steps forward.

Status Update 13th October 2021

Peter Germany Books, Editing, Horror, Horror Writer, Nanowrimo, Preparation, Sci-Fi, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Good evening folks, how are we all doing tonight?

I’ve got a lot I want to get through tonight, so let’s get cracking!

The anthology K is for Kidnap came out featuring my story ‘Mother is God’ and is available in ebook and paperback. Please hit the link and check it out!

Love this cover!

The fantastic Leah Solmaz is working on an adaptation of one of my short stories! (squeeeeee!!!!!) Please go and check out Leah’s Instagram page, where you can see the intro!!! I’m super excited about this. Not only because something I’ve written is being adapted into a short animated movie, but also because its working with Leah who is a fantastic human being and damn talented as well. If you haven’t watched Theosight please check it out, I’ll add it to this post.

I have started on reading through and making notes based on the editors read of ‘Is that a zombie?’ I started then got hit with a head cold that knocked me off my feet. I focused my energy on work and matters away from writing. I’m going to get back on track with it by the weekend.

I’ve had a beta reader look at some of my longer pieces and got some excellent feedback, including that one wasn’t as polished as the other, so I need to go back and put my editing head back on to look it over.

Something I’m going to do in the next day or so is sit down and get my bearings on the different projects again. I’ve got a few which are at different stages and I’m just going to write them all down and figure where they all are.

On top of all of that we’ve got NaNoWriMo just around the corner…..

I am struggling to get back in the flow, much more then I thought I would. But it’s there, and I know NaNo will give me a massive boost and help get the words wrangled.

11th of September 2021

Peter Germany Books, Dog, Health, Horror, Horror Writer, Life, Lifestyle, Mental Health, Reading, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Good evening, folks!

Well, I think I did have the productive day I was aiming for.

I got up at a decent time, made tea and sat in the chilly morning air in the garden wand wrote some more thoughts down. I’ll put those in another post. After the tea and morning thoughts I ran into town for a few bits for my folks. I finally got Max a couple more balls for him to chase around the garden.

It’s nice working with Max with me. Normally as I write upstairs it’s the cats hanging out.

I got some writing administration work done, then I got stuck into some words. A nice 710 was written on a short story. Then I gamed, took Max for a walk, read, then gamed, dinner, washing up, and now I’m watching a movie and writing this post.

I don’t normally break my days down like this, and looking back it doesn’t feel like I’ve done a lot today but that’s because I only wrote 710 words. I keep reminding myself its not just about words. It’s about progression of the story, and I progressed the story today.

I’ve got plans tomorrow afternoon, but in the morning I’m going to try and get some words wrangled again. I was planning on getting a lot of writing done this week, but I’ve spent the week working on myself. It’s been freeing this week, and I need to keep that forward progression of myself as well as my fiction going as well.

4th of September 2021

Peter Germany Books, Horror, Horror Writer, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Howdy, folks! How’s everyone doing today?

I was laying in bed last night and I suddenly had a revelation on his to make my story Homestead work. So at nearly one AM this morning I wrote maybe a little shy of 200 words. I added to that before work and ended up 684 for the day.

I know where this story is going to go now, I’ve got a good idea of some of the beats to it as well. I’m looking forward to getting stuck into it and getting it done.

Right, I’m set to ease of for the day. Gonna watch a little YouTube and then do some reading.

Just started The Hollower by Mary SanGiovanni

Good Evening, 10th August 2021

Peter Germany Books, Editing, Horror Writer, Life, Lifestyle, Reading, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Howdy, Folks!

How are we all doing tonight?

My plans changed for the day which meant I had the day. So I wrote this morning, hitting 1065 words. At one point I was going to be happy with 300 words. That’s the target I set myself because I really didn’t sleep well, but when I checked to see if I was at least close to the 300 words I was over 700 and figured I might as well just keep going for four digits.

After that I did some non-writing bits and pieces. I had a couple of phone calls that I was able to see to today. I was going to do them and the other bits tomorrow but as I had today I managed to get them ticked off.

Then it was a red-pen out loud read edit. I’m liking this story, called Sweet Danny, and I’ve got a good feeling for it. I hope it works. One person has read it and they liked it, I really hope the icky factor works for it!

Because of the fatigue from a couple of long shift at work and an ongoing issue with sleep, today could have been a washout but I’m glad I worked to make sure it wasn’t. When it comes to sleep, I’ve always had a lot of problems with getting enough sleep. It is something I’m working on (just realised my TV stand is at an angle (yes, welcome to how easily distracted I am)), but haven’t got it close to being figured out yet. I honestly think it’s going to be something that will be part of my life and will go up and down depending on what’s happening around me.

Not too zombified this morning!

A positive is I’m slowly picking up reading again. I am determined to finish Six Wakes by Our Lafferty this month. I’ve been reading this book since last year, and I’m enjoying it but with all the ups and downs of the last eighteen months I’ve really struggled to just sit down and read. It feels really good to be getting into the habit of reading again.

Right folks, I hope you’ve all had good days!

And rock on!

Good Morning 14th April, 2021 (Make Art Uncomfortable)

Peter Germany Books, Cat, Horror, Horror Writer, Insperation, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hey folks, how are we all doing today?

Yesterday I wrote 336 words on a short story but also did a lot of research for the same short story, and I’ve come to the decision that I’m just gonna go balls to the walls and yet loose. I’m not going to worry about grounding it in reality. I’m just gonna try and make it batshit crazy.

I’m having trouble letting go when I write recently. Stephen King said in On Writing that you have to write like an orphan, or words to that effect. I was reminded of this when watching the film M.F.A. recently. At the end of the film there’s a line where it basically says art shouldn’t just preserve the beauty of life, but also the brutality. Make art uncomfortable. I love this message. So many of us grow up listening to music about good love, or films where everyone lives happily ever after.

Art is different for everyone. Some people thrive on the uncomfortable while others thrive on a good old romcom. Everyone is different and we embrace different things. For me, what I write, people will find uncomfortable. But some will find it fun. I can watch Saw movies with barely a flinch at the content, but watched The VVitch and The Ritual, made me squirm in my seat. But there are different degrees of being uncomfortable. Listening to the audiobooks of The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum and What Good Girls Do by Jonathan Butcher made me very uncomfortable. Even to the point where I had to stop listening to them. M.F.A. falls into that grouping. Although not as extreme as I Spit On Your Grave, it’s still a content matter that is not pleasant and when done wrong, without the respect the topic deserves it just makes a whole other level of horrific.

For films like The Vvitch and The Ritual, these made me uncomfortable because there’s a witchcraft/cult elements to them. An unknown factor that made me uncomfortable in a way I’d yet to experience. It’s something I’m still trying to put my finger on exactly why I find it uncomfortable.

Another book that made me uncomfortable is The Silence by Tim Lebbon. This one I had to stop listening to three times. It’s got a quiet brutality to it, one which I can see happening. There’s three distinct moments in The Silence which I could see myself being in that situation. Having to make an uncomfortable decision.

Not being scared to write things which people will be uncomfortable with or offended by is something I need to be better with. I’m not going to write something just because it’s shocking. I don’t think that works and people tend to see through things like that. I’ll strive to write what the story is asking for.

Right, speaking of writing it’s time to get a few hours done.

Rock on folks, never give up on that dream. Never let someone take it away or belittle it or you. Just keep going.

1st of April, 2021

Peter Germany Books, Horror, Life, Lifestyle, Mental Health, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Good morning! It is very, very morning here in the UK, about 5:30am when I start writing this post.

A couple of hundred words yesterday before work. I’d planned more but got sidetracked. I’d like to say I’m going to get a nice chunk of words done today, but I don’t think I will. After work I think I’m going to have a nap! I’m about 2 weeks into very bad sleep patterns and it’s really beginning to take a toll on me now. I’m okay, I will prevail! But a few more hours of sleep would be nice.

I’ve got to think about my goals for this month. I think finishing this draft of Black Blood should be one of them, probably the priority. I can feel it’s endgame building and I think I can bring it home.

Something I’ve been doing this last few weeks is listening to First and Only by Dan Abnett. This is the first book in the Gaunts Ghosts series, which is probably my favourite book series. It’s great catching up with the story and characters who are long dead. But it’s also a reminder of how other people write. I’ve not read much the last eighteen months and most of what I have is done in different ways to that of how Abnett writes these books. I’m loving the depth he’s putting into this story but also realising that I’m not that writer. Yes, I need to put mire depth into my work but I don’t think I’m the type of writer (at the moment anyway) that will build background for a setting that is a smaller scene in the scale of the book.

Obviously I don’t find anything wrong with this, it’s just different styles. With my work I’m a little more direct, I think is the best way to put it. I like a story that gives plenty to the reader but it’s not my style at the moment. I’d like to put more of that in. I look at something like Black Blood and I can see ways for me to fit those details in, and I want to. It just won’t be world building to the extent I’m seeing in Abnett’s work. That said, the Gaunts Ghosts books are Warhammer 40k novels and there’s a lot of world building to be done.

Right, i feel like I’m beginning to ramble, and I’ve got to think about getting into work.

So, have a great day folks! Go for that dream and stuff anyone who tries to take it away from you.

Good Morning, 17th of March 2021

Peter Germany Audiobooks, Books, Life, Lifestyle, Mental Health, Reading, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Howdy, folks! How are we all doing this morning?

I have work in a couple of hours so want to get on with some writing. I slept badly so I’m feeling wiped out already, but I’ll be okay once I get up and running and I’ve got tomorrow off, so it’s not too bad.

Time is something I don’t have a lot of here so this is gonna be a short post. If I can hit 500 words today, I’m a happy word wrangler!

The Gaunt’s Ghosts books are being made into audiobooks and this is the first. Arguably my favourite book series that I’ve been wanting to reread for some time 🙂

Good Morning, 12th of March 2021

Peter Germany Books, Editing, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Good morning, folks! How are we all this morning?

I have written 836 on Black Blood this morning.

It was a slow start as I didn’t want to start another vampire one and with not much time I didn’t fancy working on the edit notes for Ashes. I thought about working on the Penal Earth short story I started the other day but I’m not feeling it. I looked at Black Blood, and yes it still feels like a mess but that’s the story that spoke loudest to me this morning and I managed to get a solid session out of it.

There is so much to do with this story that I’m a little intimidated by it but I just kinda want to dive in and get cracking with it again. So I think I’m going to bounce between Black Blood and the vampire book until one is done, then start on the Penal Earth edits. I used to always be quite productive when working on two stories at a time, so maybe it’s time to try and focus that creative energy a little more.

Right, time to get ready for the day job. Have a fun Friday, all!

Finally have a little space for my vanity shelf 🙂

2020 Numbers

Peter Germany Books, Editing, Health, Horror, Horror Writer, Insperation, Life, Mental Health, Nanowrimo, Short Fiction, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Originally posted on Buy Me A Coffee.

Last year was a mixed year for pretty much all of I would say. I’m no different. It was both the best and worst year of my life, from an amazing high to a low I didn’t know existed. If you’re a reader of my blog at petergermany.com you’ll know I’m not going to go into details on those moments. I talk about them because they did have an impact of writing. As you will see from the words I wrote and edited last year.

So, let’s get down to business:

  • January – 9011 words written
  • February – 11171 words written
  • March – 5691 words written
  • April – 562 words written
  • May – 1454 words written
  • June – 517 words written
  • July – 4524 words written, 39962 words edited
  • August – 14641 words written, 55323 words edited
  • September – 20471 words written, 7495 words edited
  • October – 15773 words written
  • November – 50615 words written (NaNoWriMo)
  • December – 13698 words written, 4477 words edited
  • Totals – 148128 words written, 107257 words edited

I only started tracking the words I edit in July which is why there are no numbers for them before that.

I was also published in three anthologies:

  • Corona-Nation Street from Burdizzo Books
  • Beneath The Leaves from Burdizzo Books
  • It Came From The Darkness from Red Cape Publishing and Phillip Rogers

I am so proud of these stories. My story in Corona-Nation Street, The Wank Diaries, had been written with this anthology in mind but I didn’t like the ending and with everything in life I’d forgotten about it until I’d seen a reminder pop up about it. So I rewrote the ending, which totally changed the tone of the story and I bled into it a lot. In hindsight maybe a little too much, now that I think back to it. But what it adds to the story I think gives it an impact that wasn’t there before.

The other two anthologies are ones I was invited into, with my story in Beneath The Leaves written long before life took a hard turn. My drabble in It Came From The Darkness was easy to write, almost impossible to get it down to the required 100 words!

Looking back now I’ve got the numbers right there, yeah, I’m incredibly happy with how much I achieved as a writer in 2020. There was a moment late in 2019 that I quit, then during the darkest moments of 2020 I didn’t make a decision but writing wasn’t going to be something I ever did again. When I started pulling myself clear of the dark hole I’d slipped into the words started coming again. I remember when I started blogging again last year, I talked about how I was struggling to get the words out again. The Wank Diaries got me going again. There was a deadline and I got it done in time.

That story got me back to doing what I needed to be doing, writing. Many things have helped me to get to the good place I’m in now, but that was a very distinct moment. Writing to me isn’t just a career. It’s part of my soul. Written into my DNA at the most primal level, and I’m never going to stop.