My Week in Writing (22/04/18)

It’s been a bit of a slow week. I haven’t made much progress on The Green and the Gathering Tide or on any of my projects for the simple reason that I’ve been writing Lord of the Rings fanfiction. Hopefully it’s at least good fanfiction.

However, a little progress is still progress. I’ve also been rejected by the last few magazines I submitted short stories to, so I’ll most likely be submitting next week.

In other news, I’m now almost at the end of The Two Towers in my re-read and I’m at a part which has full-time hobbits so I’m happy again. Theoretically I’m also reading The Blind Assassin but I haven’t picked it up all week.

And I’m twelve episodes into the thirteen-part radio series. I plan to finish it at work tomorrow afternoon and I’m looking forward to it – I assume the final episode has the Scouring of the Shire, which I haven’t seen/heard dramatised before.

I also listened to Turn of the Screw from Big Finish, a short that I’ve been very much looking forward to – though I confess, not quite as much as I’m looking forward to this month’s Erasure which I’ll be listening to next weekend!

I’m also in the process of applying for some very exciting job vacancies, so I shall optimistically say ‘watch this space’.

 

My Week in Writing (15/04/18)

I’ve not have the most eventful week. I’ve done a fair amount of writing, but to be honest, I’ve mostly just consumed various forms of Lord of the Rings related media!

I’m still really enjoying the 1981 radio series, though since I’ve started listening to work I’m finding it a little harder to follow. I’m now into The Return of the King and finding it a bit rushed, but they have a lot to cram in to thirteen episodes. Very close in tone to the books and with some outstanding voice acting.

I also watched the Rankin Bass adaption of Return of the King, because I’m a completist, and I honestly think it’s a little underated. Though that might be because I watched it on the heels of the Ralph Bakshi version so I was just pleased that it had a consistant animation style!

Anyway, it’s entertaining and if nothing else very compact for a take on Lord of the Rings (about an hour and a half long). We had a good time watching it.

Otherwise, I’m still re-reading and am now a fair way into The Two Towers and, as ever, missing Frodo and Sam.

In non-Lord of the Rings news, The Green and the Gathering Tide is 224,240 words long as of right now and my new short story is coming along nicely. I’m also about done with my next review for Shoreline and in the process of applying for a job with Canongate – I’ve applied to them before but never made the interview stage. This time around I have more experience so fingers crossed.

 

My Week in Writing (08/04/18)

I took a bit of a hiatus there and now it’s April. Whoops!

I’ve been having a busy and somewhat stressful time so I haven’t got as much writing done as I’d hope. The Green and the Gathering Tide just hit 220k (mere moments ago!) and I recently typed the words end of part one. This is going to be a monster novel!

And I’ve started a new short story, presently untitled. Broadly speaking high fantasy, and a concept I’ve been sitting on for a while. It doesn’t have an ending but I’m hoping one will arrive before I finish.

I reviewed The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, A Time Lord for Change and The Lathe of Heaven on Goodreads. I’m now reading The Blind Assassin but not as often as I’d like as this past couple of days I’ve been vorariously re-reading Lord of the Rings.

I’ve also been pressing on with the 1981 BBC radio series (highly recommended) and watching Ralph Bakshi’s animated adaptation (don’t bother). I will probably be making some Lord of the Rings themed posts in the near future so watch this space.

My Week in Writing (25/03/18)

I’ve had the most exhausting week. But thankfully after getting some rest my productivity seems to be back! I finished a short story this week, which I’m calling The Glass Legs (or, it’s easier than you think). It’s about five thousand words, which is a good length, and I’m very pleased with it.

The Green and the Gathering Tide is now over 215,000 words and still climbing. I’m in a slower-paced, meditative arc now so it’s slow going.

I also for the first time this week sent the complete draft of Phases of Being, the first novel in this trilogy, to my mother. She’ll be the first person to read it in full so I’m a touch nervous as at present, it’s still an unedited mess.

This week, I’ve been reading The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers, which I’m really enjoying. I’ve also started reading Emily Wilson’s translation of the Odyssey, but I only just today finished the introduction which spans some ninety pages.

I’ve also picked up Lord of the Rings again which I was re-reading a while back as I’m suddenly on a massive LOTR kick. I started listening to the 1981 radio serial this afternoon and this evening I’m going to re-watch The Two Towers. I’m not sure what brought this sudden Tolkien passion on but hey ho.

And I reviewed The Last Unicorn (five stars), The Breakthrough and The Missing Girl (four stars each) on Goodreads.

I also went to the Edinburgh Creative Salon, which now has a new venue, and had a good time as usual. Next week I’ll be at the Literary Salon, all going well, and heading down south to visit my family for Easter.

My Week in Writing (18/03/18)

I’ve been visiting my mother this week and she’s still very tired from her surgery, so things have been pretty quiet. I read a lot: Wide Sargasso Sea on the train south and The Last Unicorn on the journey back north, plus two mini Penguin classics, The Break-Through by Daphne du Maurier and The Missing Girl by Shirley Jackson. (I’m going to have to look up some more Shirley Jackson!)

I also read issue 10 of Shoreline of Infinity and as usual enjoyed it immensely! And I watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind for the first time – I’m not sure how I’ve managed to miss out on it before, it’s a really excellent film.

I reviewed We Have Always Lived in the Castle and Wide Sargasso Sea on Goodreads and I made a start on reviewing Scourge, the novel I’m reviewing for an upcoming edition of Shoreline of Infinity.

I finished listening to Shield of the Jotunn, a Sixth Doctor story from Big Finish. Fairly run of the mill stuff, but some solid Doctor Who and I’m always keen to hear more of companion Constance Clarke.

The Green and the Gathering Tide is now coming up on 213,000 words and still rising. And this week I finally sent the first book in the trilogy, Phases of Being, to my mother to read – no one has read the whole thing before so I’m a bit nervous!

Next week, I’ll be at the Edinburgh Creative Salon, and hopefully finally – finally – going to see Black Panther.

 

My Week in Writing (11/03/18)

A short update this week, as I’ve had a very stressful few days. My mother has cancer and will be starting chemotherapy in the next couple of weeks. It’s an aggressive and unpredictable form of cancer and we don’t know what’s going to happen, long term.

However, I’m very aware (because she has repeatedly told me so) that my mum wants me and my sisters to get on with our lives. And at present, I’m feeling very motivated to focus as much as possible on my writing and in particular on trying to get my novel published. For me, writing is living my best life. To that end, I want to keeping blogging if I can but at some point I may put this blog on hiatus. We’ll see.

My other news for the week, such as it is: on Thursday I went to Shoreline of Infinity’s special International Women’s Day Event Horizon. Unfortunately I was only able to stay for the first half but still had a great time.

I picked up a copy of issue 11 of the magazine… but then realised when I got home that I never actually read issue 10. Whoops. I hate reading out of order so I’m holding off reading the new issue for now.

I also went to Inky Fingers at Lighthouse Books, where as always I heard some really good stuff.

I finished reading Scourge by Gail Z. Martin, which I’ll be reviewing for Shoreline of Infinity. I had a good time reading it but I’m still sorting out my thoughts for the review so no comment as yet.

And I spent much of yesterday reading We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. It’s been a while since I’ve been able to sit down and read a book in one sitting and this was an excellent one, though possibly heavier than I should be reading at present. Deeply engaging and very disturbing ride.

I also acquired a new number of new books this week: The Lathe of Heaven and Always Coming Home by Ursula Le Guin, The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood, and Ghostwritten and The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell, bought with an Amazon voucher I got for my birthday; Bookworm by Lucy Mangan, a slightly belated birthday gift from my sister; a short story collection called A Short Primer in Vice by John Harrison, picked up at a book swap at work; and two miniature Penguin Modern Classics, The Missing Girl by Shirley Jackson and The Break Through by Daphne du Maurier.

I’m hoarding a lot of unread books at present.

Next I’m going to be reading Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys, which I’m looking forward to.

 

My Week in Writing (18/02/18)

I’ve had a pretty busy week! I finished my edit on The Summer Masque and outside of a readthrough of the opening chapters to put a sample together, I have declared it ‘adequate’ and begun writing a query letter. In theory it should not be hard, having written an novel, to write a letter about said novel. In practice… oh dear.

I received (belatedly) my contributor copies of Microtext 3, a very nice (and very tiny) anthology from Medusa’s Laugh Press. I read it more or less in one sitting yesterday and thoroughly recommend it – not just because my writing’s in it! It’s a bit fiddly to read but there’s some really good stuff in there.

I also got, as an apology for the late dispatch of my copies of Microtext, a free book called Cadavre Exquis, which is certainly the most unique book I’ve owned to date. I haven’t read it yet but it came wrapped in a ‘burial shroud’. Very puzzling to receive with no explanation.

I went to see the Wikipedia Slam at the Scottish Poetry Library: slam poets presenting excerpts from Wikipedia articles in the style of their poetry. Very strange, somewhat educational, won by someone who read the article on the subject of rooms.

Today I made peanut butter cookies and went out for lunch at the National Gallery, which is always a good time.

The Green and the Gathering Tide is now over 200k and still climbing. I’m coming up on a good bit so looking forward to working on that later today!

And I submitted a story (at the last minute) to Pulp Literature’s Bumblebee Flash Fiction Contest. Last year I made the shortlist – we’ll see how it goes this time around…

Next week, I’m off to see The Shape of the Water and hopefully also Black Panther so quite excited for that. I’m also getting two fillings which is less exciting. Ah well.

My Week In Writing (04/02/18)

It’s a month into 2018, and what have I accomplished? If I’m going to be brutally honest very little. Oh well.

I did not have the best week at work, for reasons I can’t go into partly because of privacy and all that and partly because all of them are actively distasteful in some way. However, I will say that a thing happened this week that prompted a ten year department veteran to say that they’d never seen anything like it before. So, that was quite something!

I went to the Edinburgh Literary Salon, where as always I met some interesting people and acquired a new Facebook friend. I also registered my interest with Super Power Agency, which seems like a really great project.

In other work-related news, this week I finished my second proofreading course. My final assignment was graded ‘good’ (previously two were merely ‘acceptable’) and I got a certificate.

The Green and the Gathering Tide is unfortunately sitting at only 192.k (a measly advance on last week’s total) as I’ve been busy. However I did start a new arc which I’ve been very excited about. It’s an action heavy arc (previous arc was a slow-paced character piece) so should be a nice change of pace.

I started a new short story, tentatively titled The Lightning Pit, which is for an ongoing collection of tie-in stories for my as-yet untitled trilogy. It’s a bit of a departure from previous stories – the other ones have all directly tied into the plot and characters of the main trilogy, but this one is set in ancient Rome and is an exploration of the world and concepts.

I’m still reading Alias Grace which I’m finding slow going. It did however, in a roundabout way, inspire The Lightning Pit so I’m getting something out of it.

I also finally finished Planet of the Rani which I found ultimately unsatisfying – I was gearing up for a reveal that I thought was a dead cert, but it never came. Genuinely surprised and disappointed to be wrong. Otherwise it was some fairly run of the mill Big Finish. Up next: Shield of the Jotunn.

And I watched the season two finale of The Good Place, which was… not quite what I expected. I all honesty I fully expected it to be the series finale, given the way season two went, but I’m pleasantly surprised that the series is continuing (hopefully). I’m reserving judgement on the new arc they’re setting up for now.

Next week, I’m planning to go to two open mics and hoping to have a better and less weird working week. Fingers crossed.

 

 

My Week In Writing (28/01/18)

I’ve not had the most eventful week! Worked three days, attempted to make arrangements to take time off work to see Hamilton in mid February with limited success. I went to the Edinburgh Creative Salon at Summerhall, which this month was very puppetry-focused so not my thing but interesting.

I finished reading It Devours! which I enjoyed very much and started reading Alias Grace which so far I’m struggling a little to get into but we’ll see how it goes. I also listened to (most of) Planet of the Rani from Big Finish.

I’m coming up on the halfway point of this (hopefully final) edit of The Summer Masque. Only six chapters to go – hopefully smooth sailing from here.

The Green and the Gathering Tide is now just shy of 192k and now over the halfway point. I’m on an arc I’ve been looking forward to for a long time concerning a shapeshifting detective.

I’ve also now officially made contact with my agency to tell them I want to move on. No response as yet, I intend to follow up by phone call asap.

Next week, I’m going to the Literary Salon at the Scottish Storytelling Centre, and I plan to approach 200k on this seemingly neverending novel I’m writing.

My Week In Writing (21/01/18)

I was in London with my family yesterday for the ballet – specifically, Matthew Bourne’s Cinderella at Sadler’s Wells. It’s the third Matthew Bourne production I’ve seen (saw The Nutcracker in 2016 and The Red Shoes in 2017) and I think Cinderella was my favourite to date – love the setting and the period, loved the abstract, dreamlike story and choreography.

Next year’s Christmas ballet is a revival of Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake so naturally we’re all excited already!

I finished reading Pulp Literature’s Summer 2017 issue, which I mostly enjoyed but given my tendency to read issues out of order, I’m starting to struggle due to the frequency of novel extracts and serials. But I suppose that’s on me for not starting at the beginning!

I started reading It Devours! the second Welcome to Night Vale novel, which so far I’m really enjoying, possibly more so than its precursor.

The Green and the Gathering Tide is now up to 186k and somehow still only halfway done. I have another two arcs before I hit the halfway point!

And I’m working on getting The Summer Masque into a fit shape to start querying agents – I’m reading 20-ish pages a day but it’s slow going because I keep finding stuff I want to cut or move. Editing is a neverending task. I’m going to have to call it quits sooner or later.

I’m at my parents’ house in Northamptonshire now. The snow seems to have followed me from Edinburgh – it was snowing when I woke up and didn’t let up until the afternoon. It’s raining now, so I expect it’ll be gone as quickly as it arrived. I’m off back to the city tomorrow.

Next week, I’m off to the Creative Salon at Summerhall for the first time since last year (ha). Looking forward to catching up with some people and getting to go to a mixer when I haven’t been at work all day, for a change.

I may also be going to contact my agency about switching to a new contract – watch this space, I suppose.