week four (jan 22 - 28)

The story notes for In the Cage of Ghosts are almost done. It remains to be seen if my decision to put in some extra preparation before starting the first draft was wise or over-cautious. Some of my best stories were hardly planned at all, while some of my not-so-good stories were – probably – planned to death. As is usually the case, a happy – and successful – medium ought to be found. I've perhaps got some work to do on the characters before I begin, but the plot is approx. 95% in place.

In the Cage of Ghosts will be to Circling what King's Desperation was to Bachman's The Regulators – only shorter and not as good. What I mean is both stories will share a number of common elements. For example, both deal with the aftermath of a plane crash, both feature a character, Tom Camron, the man responsible for the crash. There will be other connective threads, I'm sure. Now, I should say that I'm not trying to be clever with this. All I'm doing is retracing my steps to early 2006, to when I wrote Circling, in an attempt to write the story as it was originally conceived: two guys, both of whom have been deeply affected by a plane crash – one of them the cause, the other the effect – meet in a motel for the first time to discuss what happened. Not the ghost-trapped-on-the-runway tale Circling turned out to be, which was good but…flew its own course, shall we say?

Monday saw me resume work on The Novel: The Ballerina, the Boy, and the Thing in the Water. It's a working title. Maybe. I haven't really mentioned it on here before, not because I have anything to hide you see, but because I've had my share of false starts with novels and wanted to be sure, or as sure as I can be, that I was truly serious about this one. Which I am. It's not a matter of if but when. At my current rate of production, however, I won't be typing 'THE END' anytime soon. It is my hope that by mentioning or discussing, or perhaps by not mentioning and not discussing it on here I will remain motivated enough to write the bloody thing sometime before my thirty-fifth birthday!

Okay, I've gone on long enough, but I'll leave you with this small teaser: The Ballerina, the Boy, and the Thing in the Water was inspired by a Salvador Dali painting that I happened upon whilst image-Googling the word "Dali". Which work of his provided the spark, you ask. I'll give you a clue: it's not on the first page and it's not after the tenth…

STATS:
3 submissions: Espresso Fiction, Triangulation, Not One of Us
3 rejections: FRiGG (all 3)

Currently reading: Ghost Road Blues by Jonathan Maberry
Recently watched: Prison Break Season Two (*****), Before Sunrise (****), The Host (**1/2)
Current iPod favourite: audiobook of It by Stephen King

Finally, here's a short vid of Stephen King talking about the inspiration behind his latest novel, Duma Key.

week three (jan 15 - 21)

Finally found the time and opportunity to clear some writing backlog this week, namely the proofs of All for One and Sunrise in Coat City for Satirica and TQR's Best Of anthology respectively.

Hopefully I can now kickstart '08 by getting down to some serious work on In the Cage of Ghosts and my dark literary novel The Ballerina, the Boy, and the Thing in the Water (working title). With so much demands for my time and attention right now (like selling stuff online and clearing out eight years worth of accumulated crap from my two-bedroom flat so my wife and I can decorate, sell up, and move) it's going to be tough to find some uninterrupted writing time, but that is where self-discipline and strong coffee come into play.

STATS:
1 submission: GUD Magazine
5 rejections: Ninth Letter, Read By Dawn - congrats, BGR ;), Stickman Review, GUD, & Quick Fiction

Currently reading: Ghost Road Blues, Jonathan Maberry (SK's Duma Key is on the way...)
Recently watched: Capote (***), Before Sunrise (****)
Current iPod favourite: Lately, Stevie Wonder

week two (jan 8 - 14)

Life got in the way this week. There always seemed to be something else that needed doing, so my writing time was restricted to half-hour lunch breaks minus any ill-timed phone calls or co-worker visits. I wrestled with a single paragraph the entire week!

2 submissions: Outercast, GUD Magazine
2 rejections: Flash Fiction Online

This week my wife and I discovered US television show Prison Break. I love sitting down to watch a DVD with little or no expectation and for it to completely blow me away. Rescue Me did that to me last year, though by the end of Season 3 it seemed to be floundering somewhat. The box set cover for Prison Break had me bracing for something like The OC does Shawshank Redemption. I was wrong. Prison Break has everything: brilliant plotting, a solid ensemble cast, action, suspense, and more twists than a Rubik's Cube. Can't wait to get my eyes on Season Two...


"Prison Break"

week one (jan 1 - 7)

Did some work on In the Cage of Ghosts this weekend. As usual, I didn't cover as much ground as I'd hoped – two thousand words or so of assorted notes – but it feels good to be working on something. I'm determined to keep myself from rushing into the first draft because I really want the characters and plot to be as clear as possible in my mind before I start writing. I fear it may be one of the reasons why Hear Not the Murmur on the Wind is being turned down more often than an Ugly Sister on Singles Night at the Palace. I don't want to leave it to the semi-blind gropings of the premature first draft to discover what this one is all about. And those plot twists along the way need to be thought long and hard over if they are going to seem at all spontaneous and surprising...

Other news this week-
4 submissions: 1 short to Big Ole Face Full of Monster, 3 flashes to FRiGG
1 acceptance: Satirica (anthology, non-paying)
2 rejections: Aberrant Dreams and yet another near hit at GUD Magazine
1 rejection 'of sorts': Circling failed to make Spinetinglers' Best Of print anthology (a rejection 'of sorts' since stictly-speaking I didn't submit it for consideration)

Finally, if you haven't seen the movie Pan's Labyrinth yet, please please do so; you will not be disappointed. Easily one of the best foreign language movies (or movies period) of the last ten years.

"Pan's Labyrinth"
Next week, I'm working on In The Cage of Ghosts and the proof of Sunrise in Coat City for TQR's Best Of anthology...

2007 - The Short Fiction Numbers

For all you statisticians out there, this is my breakdown of the last twelve months in terms of short fiction written, submitted, accepted, and actually published…

Writing:
1 novelette
7 short stories
10 flashes
Total – 30,700 words (approx.)

Publishing:
143 submissions
16 acceptances
129 rejections
19 no response or withdrawn
3 no placings (comps)
11 publications

The 16 acceptances consisted of:
1 Pro
2 Semi Pro
9 Paying (2 of which were cancelled)
4 Non-paying

The 11 publications consisted of:
1 Pro
1 Semi Pro
6 Paying
3 Non-paying

3 were print, 8 web-based (incl. 2 podcasts).


And so there you have it. Generally, the numbers are down on previous years (with the exception of writing output, which is double that of 2006) but in ’07 I tried to be a little more sensible and selective with my submissions while also targeting some of the tough big markets. This year I will adopt a different strategy again, based on some of the lessons I have learned in 2007 and, hopefully, the fruits will be bigger, sweeter, and altogether more satisfying.

All the best for this New Year, folks.

And as someone whom I greatly admire recently told me…

“ONWARDS”