In case anybody's wondering
I'm still alive and relatively well. I ended up back in Redditch, which I remembered as pretty much a shithole but has pleasantly surprised me. Although it seems to have an above-average share of single teenage mothers and young men with too much time and not enough brains (although nobody rioted here, so either they're not as bad as they seem or they all hopped on the train to Birmingham where all the really cool kids were rioting), it's also a delightfully green town. Especially after the vast expanse of concrete which is London, the amount of trees and parks (and not fenced in "Here's some grass we've carefully preserved" parks like you get in London, but expanses of nature which feel as though they were there before the town) is really rather pleasing.
I'm still sleeping on a camp bed in my friend's living room, which isn't ideal. My friends insist they don't mind, and I'm actually useful to have around as I distract the kids now and again, but I still don't want to impose for too long. And I'm looking forward to getting settled again, anyway. Getting back to proper sleep patterns (although when I was 7 I rarely got up before 10:30 in the school holidays, my friends' 7-year old is generally up around 8am) will make me feel so much better. I rarely feel fully awake at the moment (yet my natural inclincation is still to stay up late every night), and I realise that people with children spend entire years feeling that way, but that's one of the reasons I've chosen not to procreate.
I'm really looking forward to getting my PC set up again, and getting back to writing. I could write in longhand, of course, or in Google Docs whenever I snatch moments on my friends' laptops, but having my own PC sitting on my own desk is so much more conducive to getting words onto the screen. I have two short stories plotted in my head, which I may submit to magazines/competitions initially before self-publishing later, or I may just self-publish them right away. And of course I want to finish '69'. And then I'm hoping to manage a short-story a week, more or less, before giving NaNoWriMo another try in November. If I can manage all of this then by the end of the year I'll have around 10 short stories and a novel, or at least the first draft of a novel. I picked up a novel writing book in a charity shop today which looks interesting. Part of the introduction states: "The hardest part of writing a novel is finishing it, and to make sure you do, you'll use a special template to plan your entire story - subplots and all - before you even start writing." It may be that the 'special template' is overkill, but I do think I need to have a reasonable outline before I make my next attempt at writing a novel.
A combination of Redditch library's book sale (30p a paperback, 50p hardback), a charity shop with 50p paperbacks (just like the one in Penge!) and some decent offers at The Works recently has led to me buying the following books in the past two weeks:
Evan Marshall: Novel Writing - The book I mentioned above.
Sam Green: Max - A thriller novel. I'm reading more fiction to help hone my fiction writing skills.
Dean Radin: Entangled Minds - A book on parapsychology. The subject fascinates me, although I remain undecided on the reality of it all.
Douglas Coupland: The Gum Thief - I like Coupland.
David Rose: Violation - A book about Carlton Gary and the murders he was convicted of. I don't know much about it, but it looks interesting.
Dougie Brimson: Kicking Off - A book about football hooliganism. Violent behaviour and its motivations fascinate me.
Stephen Armstrong: War Plc - "[T]hese corporate soldiers are part of the last great outsourcing - the privatisation of war."
Dave Gorman: America Unchained - Looked amusing and cost 30p.
David Crystal: A Little Book Of Language - The history and future of language. Looks interesting.
Chris Anderson: The Long Tail - A book I've wanted to read for a while, and was delighted to find for 50p.
Various: Extraordinary Engines - I haven't read very much steampunk, so these short stories are introducing me to the genre.
Jimmy Lerner: You Got Nothing Coming - Like I said, violent behaviour and its motivations fascinate me. This book offers an inmate's view of life in a Nevada prison.
Ian Freeman: Cage Fighter - Ian Freeman is a British cage fighter. I like cage fighting. Nuff said.
Carl Merritt: Inside The Cage - I'm not sure how fictionalised this book is. It's the story of one guy taking part in some strange unlicensed cage fighting tournaments. Or something like that.
Robin Barratt: Doing The Doors - I really like the Geoff Thompson books that I've read, so I'm willing to give the memoirs of other bouncers a shot.
Anthony Robbins: Awaken The Giant Within - I don't think I've ever read any Anthony Robbins, but I've heard several people recommend his books.
Jon Evans: Invisible Armies - A thriller.
Various: Pulp Fiction, The Villains - It was 99p and it's introduced by Harlan Ellison.
Richard Wiseman: Quirkology - I love Wiseman's '59 Seconds' so will take a chance on anything else he's written.
Christopher Chabris & Daniel Simons: The Invisible Gorilla - Seems similar to the previous.
Pat Walsh: How To Win The World Series Of Poker - I like poker memoirs. It's been a while since I read one.
Various: Best Crime Comics - It includes work by Will Eisner, Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, and Mickey Spillane. Nuff said.
Timothy J Colton: Yeltsin A Life - This was 50p and I figured I could probably sell it for more than that on Amazon. A brief check reveals the cheapest is £1.46, so I was right.
And now sleep calls, for I shall be rudely awoken in about seven hours.
I'm still sleeping on a camp bed in my friend's living room, which isn't ideal. My friends insist they don't mind, and I'm actually useful to have around as I distract the kids now and again, but I still don't want to impose for too long. And I'm looking forward to getting settled again, anyway. Getting back to proper sleep patterns (although when I was 7 I rarely got up before 10:30 in the school holidays, my friends' 7-year old is generally up around 8am) will make me feel so much better. I rarely feel fully awake at the moment (yet my natural inclincation is still to stay up late every night), and I realise that people with children spend entire years feeling that way, but that's one of the reasons I've chosen not to procreate.
I'm really looking forward to getting my PC set up again, and getting back to writing. I could write in longhand, of course, or in Google Docs whenever I snatch moments on my friends' laptops, but having my own PC sitting on my own desk is so much more conducive to getting words onto the screen. I have two short stories plotted in my head, which I may submit to magazines/competitions initially before self-publishing later, or I may just self-publish them right away. And of course I want to finish '69'. And then I'm hoping to manage a short-story a week, more or less, before giving NaNoWriMo another try in November. If I can manage all of this then by the end of the year I'll have around 10 short stories and a novel, or at least the first draft of a novel. I picked up a novel writing book in a charity shop today which looks interesting. Part of the introduction states: "The hardest part of writing a novel is finishing it, and to make sure you do, you'll use a special template to plan your entire story - subplots and all - before you even start writing." It may be that the 'special template' is overkill, but I do think I need to have a reasonable outline before I make my next attempt at writing a novel.
A combination of Redditch library's book sale (30p a paperback, 50p hardback), a charity shop with 50p paperbacks (just like the one in Penge!) and some decent offers at The Works recently has led to me buying the following books in the past two weeks:
Evan Marshall: Novel Writing - The book I mentioned above.
Sam Green: Max - A thriller novel. I'm reading more fiction to help hone my fiction writing skills.
Dean Radin: Entangled Minds - A book on parapsychology. The subject fascinates me, although I remain undecided on the reality of it all.
Douglas Coupland: The Gum Thief - I like Coupland.
David Rose: Violation - A book about Carlton Gary and the murders he was convicted of. I don't know much about it, but it looks interesting.
Dougie Brimson: Kicking Off - A book about football hooliganism. Violent behaviour and its motivations fascinate me.
Stephen Armstrong: War Plc - "[T]hese corporate soldiers are part of the last great outsourcing - the privatisation of war."
Dave Gorman: America Unchained - Looked amusing and cost 30p.
David Crystal: A Little Book Of Language - The history and future of language. Looks interesting.
Chris Anderson: The Long Tail - A book I've wanted to read for a while, and was delighted to find for 50p.
Various: Extraordinary Engines - I haven't read very much steampunk, so these short stories are introducing me to the genre.
Jimmy Lerner: You Got Nothing Coming - Like I said, violent behaviour and its motivations fascinate me. This book offers an inmate's view of life in a Nevada prison.
Ian Freeman: Cage Fighter - Ian Freeman is a British cage fighter. I like cage fighting. Nuff said.
Carl Merritt: Inside The Cage - I'm not sure how fictionalised this book is. It's the story of one guy taking part in some strange unlicensed cage fighting tournaments. Or something like that.
Robin Barratt: Doing The Doors - I really like the Geoff Thompson books that I've read, so I'm willing to give the memoirs of other bouncers a shot.
Anthony Robbins: Awaken The Giant Within - I don't think I've ever read any Anthony Robbins, but I've heard several people recommend his books.
Jon Evans: Invisible Armies - A thriller.
Various: Pulp Fiction, The Villains - It was 99p and it's introduced by Harlan Ellison.
Richard Wiseman: Quirkology - I love Wiseman's '59 Seconds' so will take a chance on anything else he's written.
Christopher Chabris & Daniel Simons: The Invisible Gorilla - Seems similar to the previous.
Pat Walsh: How To Win The World Series Of Poker - I like poker memoirs. It's been a while since I read one.
Various: Best Crime Comics - It includes work by Will Eisner, Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, and Mickey Spillane. Nuff said.
Timothy J Colton: Yeltsin A Life - This was 50p and I figured I could probably sell it for more than that on Amazon. A brief check reveals the cheapest is £1.46, so I was right.
And now sleep calls, for I shall be rudely awoken in about seven hours.