short fiction

5th of May, 2023

Peter Germany Horror, Horror Writer, Life, Writer, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Good evening, folks! How are we all?

Writing has been okay this week, this is the first day of the month that I haven’t written. I’m very close to 4500 words for the month so far, which I’m super happy with. I’m aiming to keep this momentum going.

I’m going to try and achieve this by seeing to it I write a little bit each day. I remember Paul E. Cooley saying that’s daily target was (not sure if it still is) 250 words a day. This is because writing 250 words is relatively easy. Even if I’m not in the mood, I can get the words out. Even if I hate them and rework them the next day, it’s still words written. But what if those 250 words are passed and you’re at 1000 before you realise it? I don’t know about other writers, but there have been days where I was only going to write the 250 words, but I’ve got into a flow and I’ve knock out 1000 plus words before I know what’s going on.

So the hope is I’ll do more of the later than the former.

Right, have an awesome weekend folks!

😈

20th of December 2022

Peter Germany Editing, Horror Writer, Life, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Good evening folks, just a quick post tonight. I’ve managed about 10k words of editing in the last couple of days. I feel like this story (NaNo ‘22) has a lot of potential, I just need to wrangle it a little.

I’ve been looking back at the last twelve months of writing, and I’m pretty pleased with it. They’ll be a more focused list on that soon, that post will also look at 2023 a little.

Right I’m off to bed, retail at Christmas is a workout and a half. So a good nights sleep is a great place to start.

Pushed Through

Peter Germany Cat, Editing, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Today, I’ve felt pretty off all day. I don’t want to say ill, it’s more like I’ve felt off-centre than normal. Work this morning was good, and productive but also very full on. Which is great, I love it. It makes me feel like I’ve earn’t my wages, and working somewhere that I enjoy my job really makes me happy. On the downside was that it wiped me out as I wasn’t feeling a 100%.

My plan was to come home and get a good chunk of a monster chapter (11k words) of Black Blood edited. After I had a shower and some lunch though I really felt off. So I crashed for a couple of hours, and I still feel off but I’ve forced through some editing.

It wasn’t as productive as I was planning, but I cracked out a few words of this edit of this huge chapter (I need to break it up, because and 11k chapter is quite a chunky segment), and tomorrow I’m going to really dive in deep and try and get this chapter sorted.

Kitty company ☺️

I’ve got a couple of days off, so I’m aiming to get a big dent made in this edit and try and get some more of the recent short story I wrote done.

Yesterday I posted a short story to my Ko-Fi page that is available to all supporters, and there should be a new never before seen one on the Welcome To My Nightmare tier tomorrow as well.

5 Things I Need To Do Before NaNoWriMo 2022

Peter Germany Editing, Horror, Horror Writer, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

1- finish this pass of Black Blood. This one feels more daunting then it is. I just need to sit my butt in the chair and work!

2- Make the final tweaks to Vamp book. This one shouldn’t be too bad either. It’s just a case of going through and making some corrections to spelling and the odd small continuity fix.

3- Finish the short story I’ve just started. Um, yeah this one could be challenging.

4- Type up the short story I’ve just finished. This should be fairly straight forward.

5- Do some NaNo prep………

4th of July 2022

Peter Germany Editing, Horror, Horror Writer, Life, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Howdy folks! How are we all doing tonight?

After going out to get my tyre sorted on my car I got home and got cracking with some editing. I worked 2526 words on Black Blood, and 4045 on a story called Trapped. That one will be going up on my Ko-Fi in August on the Welcome To My Nightmare tier.

Black Blood is going to take a fair bit of work to get it where I want it. I feel like I’m slowly sussing out what works for me as a process. After years of fuck arsing about I hope I’m getting to the point where I can get a system where I’m not only writing but getting good words down, getting work completed, and most importantly published.

I have got so much work on hard drives that just need a decent edit. Stories that I was too scared to do anything more with, or not knowing what to do with them. Maybe I was too scared to search out what to do with them.

Stop rambling, Peter.

Anyway, I’d like to get this pass of Black Blood done (as I sit here watching Predator I realise Black Blood had a little bit of a love letter to this movie and Aliens in it), as Vamp Era is calling out to me. There’s one major plot point I want to change which will fix a weak plot point and then It’ll be near done. It’ll go in the ‘waiting for funds to edit’ file on my computer.

Anyway, this is me done for the night. An early tomorrow, but also a midday finish. So back into it when I get home.

Have a great one folks.

30th June 2022

Peter Germany Editing, Horror, Horror Writer, Life, Lifestyle, Men’s Mental Health, Mental Health, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Good afternoon folks, I hope we’re all well?

Today I’ve edited 3779 on Black Blood, 238 on a flash piece called Watermelon, and 171 on another flash story called Roommate Wanted. Roommate Wanted is now live on my Ko-Fi for all supporters.

I’ve been a little burnt out this last week or so, which means I haven’t written much. So I’m playing a little catchup with things like Ko-Fi and where I want to be with Black Blood. I think I might have to print Black Blood off before I go into the next stage. I’m working through the notes I made on my last pass and have a lot of work to get it where it needs to be. It’s been A slow start but I’ll build my momentum slowly and get back on target.

That’s my writing day done, I’m going to go and start unwinding a bit before an early night as I’ve got an early tomorrow.

Rock on folks!

I quite like this one ☺️

22/5/22

Peter Germany Editing, Horror Writer, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

About 400 words today on non-fiction. I did have a little more time as I finished work early but chose to rest a little after I got all the bits and bobs done I needed to.

Tomorrow is another longer shift so I’m not expecting to get much if anything done on Black Blood but I will be doing some more of this non-fiction piece I’m handwriting.

I have another non-fiction piece that needs to be finished typing up, in addition to a short story I need to get typed up. I’m gonna try and do them this coming week as I have a little time off.

Right, have an awesome week folks!

Good Evening, 21st May 2022

Peter Germany Editing, Horror, Horror Writer, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hello!!! How are we all doing this evening?

I knew I had a busy day, but I decided to get up about eight am and get cracking. My body had other ideas and I ended up being up and about a little after six am. So I got cracking.

I wrote 321 on a non-fiction piece. This was done slowly as I woke myself up a little, and then I got cracking with getting the house tidied. Getting up early meant I was done with the chores a lot sooner than I would have been and it gave me time to get some work on Black Blood edited. I did one chapter that was 1952 words and added 641 words to it. This one is really going to take a lot more editing than I thought. I’d given myself a false sense of how easy it would be after flying through that final pass of Penal Earth.

I posted my first published story to my Ko-Fi this evening. It’s available to monthly subscribers and folks who give a one time donation.

Tomorrow will offer little time to write, but I’ll try and get some words wrangled at some point during the day. Next week I’ve got a little time off so I’m hoping to put some decent time to Black Blood and put a good dent in it.

Right, I’m off for the night. I hope you’re all having an awesome weekend.

18th of May 2022

Peter Germany Cat, Dog, Editing, Horror Writer, Life, Men’s Mental Health, Mental Health, Short Fiction, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Good Evening, folks! How are we all doing?

This morning I edited 8510 of a short story that will be posted on my Ko-Fi next month. It wasn’t something that needed a deep edit, just a once over to make sure there wasn’t anything that I’d missed and I needed to make a couple of tweaks that’ll bring it in line with something else I’m working on 😉

This is becoming Dizzy’s spot. She’s gonna be annoyed once that bits done and new flowers are planted!

After that I went out and cracked on with a job in the garden that took a fair chunk of time, I was going to do a little more writing work afterwards but I had a nap!

Raven found me taking an old shed down very interesting.

I felt a little bad for not doing more writing, but not as bad as I used to feel when this sort of thing had happened in the past. Something I’m thinking about a lot is balance. Tomorrow I’ve got an early and I know I’m not going to sleep great tonight. So the nap this afternoon will hopefully balance out any sleep I don’t get later on.

Always time to punt the ball for this great doggo

Right, you lovely people. I’m off to watch Alien Vs. Predator while I nod off. Night all!

Good Evening, 16th of May 2022

Peter Germany Dog, Editing, Horror, Horror Writer, Life, Lifestyle, Men’s Mental Health, Mental Health, Preparation, Short Fiction, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Good evening, folks. How are we all?

Today I’ve written 611 words on a short story I’ve recently started during my break and while I was waiting for something this afternoon. I was hoping to have got a good chunk of Penal Earth worked today but a few things came up that I had to see to and although I had time to write it was with pen and paper as I didn’t have access to my laptop.

I liked what I wrote though, and although I’ve got no idea where this story is going I’m enjoying the discovery aspect of it.

I spent an hour or so this afternoon after work in the garden. Partly to play ball with Max as he hasn’t had much playtime due to a lot going on the last few weeks (needless to say he loved it!) but I also needed to top up the bird feeders, do the poopa scooping; both of which I can do while still punting the football up the garden for Max to chase. I also done the cat litter, sorted the bins out for collection tomorrow, and got a load of washing done.

My Ball!

Now, I get this may not seem like much. It’s not really worth noting, everyone does these things. But considering how tired I was I could have easily just got home, let Max out and have a nap. And I feel so much better for it.

It also means once I’ve finished work tomorrow and ran a couple of errands I’ll have a nice chunk of time to get some words edited and then on Wednesday when its my day off I’ll be able to dedicate a bigger slot of time to writing.

This is a level of organisation I’ve only dreamt of for many years!

Have a great evening, folks!