Midnight Echo issue 4 is out! Go here and buy yourself a copy ( Read more... )

Just put the final word into the 75-and-a-bit k of the first draft of my novel. Woop! Of course, I'm talking about a first draft here, and some major redrafting must be done before I can even start thinking about beta readers, but right now I'm feeling happy.

As of today, your boy Fielding is at 60k on the 1st draft of his novel. I'm just at the big disaster that sets the end confrontation into motion, and frankly, will be glad when I'm finished ( Read more... )

The first part of ’The Void’ is complete at 34k. All I have to do now is write the rest of it. Phew, wish me luck.

11k into the first draft and getting a little more than 1k written a day. I spent some preliminary time thrashing out a detailed chapter plan for the first section, and some notes for where I’m going, figuring that by the end of this first part I’ll be following the story, rather than leading it. So far, on plot. As far as I can tell, my estimate ( Read more... )

Yesterday my Doctor told me not to even think about using my broken hip for three months. So what can I do? Yeah, I think I’ll write a novel. That would be the decent thing to do, right? I know who it is about, what they are trying to get done, but I just can’t quite bring the big bad enemy into focus. I’ve been keeping a dream diary in the hope ( Read more... )

I laughed out loud when my American first reader, who must not be familiar with one of England's largest sea side resorts (and who could blame her), complimented me on the naming of the setting for my story. “Blackpool is a superb name for your town. It really sums up the loss of hope and dejection that your main character feels on his road to ( Read more... )

A scrappy year, lots of unfinished stories, my writing skills not quite up to my ambitions, selling nothing but having a few close calls. Despite all that, I have a sense that I became a much better writer this year ( Read more... )

Last night I had a dream that Fred Pohl drove past me in the street riding a motorised wheelchair. I gave him a wave. And happy birthday to him, he was 90 the other day. What a legend ( Read more... )

I don't mind rejections, I see them as a badge of honour. But sometimes when I'm told that I've just missed out on getting that sale it seems to hurt more than when the rejection is impersonal and suggestive of a quick rejection. Today is one of those days where I seem to wind up thinking about the bad things more than the good things. Still, ( Read more... )