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.
I’ve eased off writing a little the last few days due to family and work taking priority. But today I’ve got stuck into editing some short stories for Ko-Fi, which means I’ve got stories scheduled for the Welcome To My Nightmare tier through the end of the year. Then next year, I’ll have something that I’ve been working on for a long time kicking off…….
In total I’ve edited 13751 words on four different stories today.
I’ve also stepped back a bit from Black Blood. I realised I wasn’t doing the deep edit it needed and was just going through the motions a bit. This tells me I’m burnt out on this story and I’m going to put it to one side for a while. I’ve got notes keep popping up in my head for it so I’ll note those down and when I get to editing it I’ll put those where they need to be.
In the meantime I’ll be working on Vampire Era as that’s the next on the schedule. I do need to make one minor addition to Penal Earth that I think will explain something a little better. It’s not a change, it’s just a small detail that I need to do a little research on, but it’ll likely be less than a sentence when I do add it.
Speaking of Penal Earth, I am in the very early stages of planning book two.
The last few weeks I have felt off pace, so I’m going to try and step it back up to the level I know gives me a decent level of productivity.
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.
I set out in my post this morning to try and hit 250 words. In the end I wrote 511, and after the first 50 or so they flowed pretty damn smoothly. It’s a new story that isn’t one I’ve been thinking about it was just shot from the hip. I don’t know where it’s going, and I don’t need to know. I’m going to try not to think about it too much and just le the words carry me along.
I also began a little prep work for NaNo, as in I created the file and made some notes on a story idea I had Monday. I’m kind of tempted to go for the short story collection again. I like that format for NaNo and the story I was going to write for NaNo I’ve already started and the one I was thinking about doing I’m not sure it’s the right time to be doing it. I was going to do a rewrite but I’ve GOT TO STOP with the rewrites! I’ve got first drafts done of a few stories and I need to just go through and edit the crap out of them. There’s some good stories there and they deserve to get some proper attention. I’m a big believer in not truly growing as a writer unless others are reading your work. Well I’ve got maybe half a dozen stories of novella length that have never had another pair of eyes look at them. Time to change that.
Maybe focus on writing short stories for a while, and learn more about honing those skills while also working on these edits.
This is my problem, I’m all over the place when it comes to things like this! I think some of the problem is I’ve got three novels that I think I’ve done all I can but can’t afford to send them to an editor at the moment and I’m not sure I want to lumber my beta readers with in excess of 150,000 words of fiction in the next few months. I know if I ask them they would, but I get that anxiety hit and back off.
Speaking of which, I will just take a moment to mention my Buy Me A Coffee page. I am occasionally able to take money from my day job income to fund my writing aspirations but anything would be grateful. I don’t really post much different to Buy Me A Coffee then I do here, I use it at the moment as a way people can easily tip me if they so wish.
And I’d just like to thank everyone who takes the time to read, comment, and share my posts. I am obsessed with numbers (even though they are my nemesis!!!!!) and seeing how many people do stop by always makes me smile!
416 words today, but I also edited my kidnap story and have submitted it! The publisher for the anthology it’s for are pretty good and I should know by the end of August if it’s successful.
It’s always humbling reading through Beta reader’s notes. I’m not fooling myself, I know I’m still learning how to write. But seeing some of the basic mistakes I make it grounds me and makes me want to push harder to improve. The only thing holding me back from improving is myself as I’m not getting enough of my work read by others. It’ something that I drastically need to change. I’m not even talking about publishing. I’m talking about Beta readers. It’s these people who’ll show me what works and what doesn’t, and dear god just how bad my grammar is! A lot of these things I think are the basics and I definitely don’t want to making too many basic mistakes in my work before send them out to editors and for submissions.
Right, I’ve got a few things to do tonight before a little gaming with friends. Then tomorrow, a lot to do!
I’ve written 885 words on a new short story today. And damn boy did those words fly out! And they’re pretty disturbing as well. If it reads as uncomfortable as they were to write then iv done the job right! I managed to get a characters voice feeling pretty damn genuine as well.
It felt good just letting myself go, I’ve not done that in a long time.
But right, just a quickie this morning. I’m off to Rochester with a friend for a wander and cake!
I wrote 1600 words yesterday and have kind of finished off the sequence of Black Blood I’ve been working on. I still think I need to do more with it, and well just make it stronger with more impact. I’m pretty sure I’m capable of that, but I want to put it down for maybe a month or so and then look at the story as a whole and start editing it again from scratch.
For the next few days I’m going to be working on a couple of stories connected to my Penal Earth universe. Of the two that I’ve got started, one is nearly a full story while the second one is more at the concept stage. The second one really does need a lot of work. I’ve got an idea for the setting, but not an actual story for it yet. I’ve got a few ideas but nothing has settle hard for it.
Right, I’m going to make a start on one of those stories.
Gooooooooood afternoon, folks! How are we all doing?
Yesterday I edited 10379 words on Penal Earth, and today I’ve got 9728 words edited.
I was going to hold off till next month to start on this edit and focus on three unfinished short stories the rest of this month, but when I started struggling to write I knew I had to do something to get myself back on track. I made a small start on Wednesday with 563 words edited. If I can do 10k or so a day, I’ll be done a week today. I’m not gonna bust my guts to get it done by then, I’m going to aim to have it done by the end of the month.
I did get in a situation where I was stuck on what to write. I couldn’t get my head around any of the three short stories that I wanted to work on and the story that is talking to me I’m not sure if I’m ready to work on it yet. I don’t want to just dive in and hope it works out, I think I’ve got a decent tale to tell in a setting that I think is going to be one I can play in for a few stories. So I want to think things out a little more before I just dive in.
Right, I’m going to wrap it up there. Good day’s process. I’m working a lot of making changes in my life so I’m happier in myself, and I think the changes are going to be a good start in moving forward.
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.
Howdy folks! When I was in bed last night, not being able to sleep, I gave up trying and started writing and ended up writing 473 on a new story set in the Penal Earth universe. I haven’t read it since I wrote it, so it could suck! but who cares! everything can be fixed in edits!
I took time during my break to make some notes on the mermaid story, and it feels like I’m getting some good world building down. This story is beginning to fill out nicely, although its just occurred to me that I’ve not done too much on characters yet.
Anyway, after work I did a little work on the vampire book and added 182 words on that one while also carrying out edits. Not much, but I worked through a fair bit of what is a difficult scene.
Right, I’ve got an early start tomorrow. So I’m going to bed! Have a good one, folks!
Peter Germany's World 