Still kicking

I've not written in my blog for a while. I know, I know, I am a lazy blogger! The major news recently is that I managed to finish editing the draft of my novel and it's presently under my agent's scrupulous eye. Anxiety is the name of the game here, as any writer worth their fingertips will tell you, whether you're waiting to hear about the fate of a random piece of flash or a ten-book rambling epic (not that I'm going there...) . I'm expecting some more editorial feedback, I'm armoured and ready for it, but it's all pretty exciting either way. And nerve-racking. Very, very nerve-racking...

I've even managed to write a new short story, based on an old and familiar Arthurian myth, which I'll be touting about sooner than you can say 'submissions drive'. It was enjoyable to write something humorous and throwaway after the mind-squeezing and nit-picking over the novel. Admittedly, it did take a while to get back into the mode of the short story, and I found Stephen King's comment in the introduction to his new shorts collection Just After Sunset food for thought:

'...Many bestselling novelists in America don't write short stories. I doubt if it's a money issue; financially successful writers don't need to think about that part of it. It might be that when the world of the full-time novelist shrinks to below, say, seventy thousand words, a kind of creative claustrophobia sets in. Or maybe it's just that the knack of miniaturization gets lots along the way. There are lots of things in life that are like riding a bike, but writing short stories isn't one of them. You can forget how....'

Like I said, food for thought, and certainly one worthy of discussion with the old writing group.

Novels of note I've read recently are China Mieville's excellent and beautifully different The City & The City, the pacy, exciting and never-less-than-phantasmagorical God of Clocks by Alan Campbell and the fabulous, forward-thinking The Steel Remains by Richard Morgan. These books are all worthy of a read (and a re-read!) and are perhaps a brilliant snapshot of contemporary commercial Fantasy as it's happening right now. Do check them out.

And not forgetting, of course, Titus Groan, which - somewhat ashamedly - I've finally gotten around to reading after years of prevarication and I've absolutely fallen in love with.


Ok, so that's it for now. Back to biting the last few toe-nails (there are none left on my fingers.)

JB

Endgame

With only 4 chapters left to edit (some, admittedly, on the long-ish side), I thought it a good time for another post. I've learnt so much during this edit, mainly, my propensity to overwrite (having nearly lost 40,000 words from the draft has made that painfully clear!!!). It's an exciting feeling, approaching the end, even if I have written a novel to coincide with a worldwide recession and as far as publishing seems concerned lately, it's all doom and gloom! Onwards...

Went to see Coraline last night. A fabulous book and the film doesn't disappoint. It's very 'Burton-esque', as you'd expect, and the kid we watched it with was scared out of his wits by the end, but we did all we could to assure him that no-one was going to replace his eyes with buttons and that seemed to do the trick.




I'm very pleased to see that my upcoming mini-novella The Vampire Narcissus has appeared in the 'Coming Soon' section on the Screaming Dreams website. I'll announce its release when the time comes and I'm interested to see what readers make of this one...

Ok. that's it for now. Just a quick note to let people know I'm still alive and still on the case.

Best

JB

An Even Keel

After a very bad start to the year everything appears to be returning to an even keel and in terms of the novel, going as it should. I'm a lot happier being out of work for the now and seeing progress being made. The novel seems a lot sharper and more sure of itself, and that can only be a good thing, right?

Also, I'm really happy to have a new short story out Bordering Sunset which you can find and read for free here:

http://www.screamingdreams.com/ezine/Progress2009.pdf


It's a little black comedy, just me making light while getting through my rather dark novel.

I finished reading Nick Harkaway's Gone Away World which I heartily recommend. A really good read. Now I'm reading Matter, the new Culture book, and that's equally as cool. And looking forward to the Watchmen movie more than anything!

Ok, that's it for now, just a little post. Glad to see the back of winter and looking to the future.

JB