I’ve had rather a few weeks of a hiatus, all in all, after the writing frenzy to get sufficient words ready for the Adventures in Fiction ‘New Voices: First Novel’ competition by the 14th September. Thereafter, it was a spell of poetry which was the only creative response I could manage while my father died.
Now, as time passes on, as I wait again for feedback on my attempts to carve out a novel in the Historical Fiction/Young Adult genre (as I assume), I’m putting my shoulder to the grindstone again and rejoining the writer’s treadmill: 1000 words a day, day in and day out.
At least on weekdays, but the weekends are for other things. My writing time is the morning, I’ve decided, and the DIY and gardening things can be for the afternoon. I don’t feel able, quite any more, to face the physical labour so soon after waking up! So the finger exercises and mental stimulation are good after breakfast.
I’m re-embarking on my science fiction odyssey, trying to create the final volume in a trilogy: Biome NE47: Sequel. Not the most scintillating of titles, I know. Prequel was similarly mundane, and I’ve just read that the title of the middle volume, A Novel, is a no-no now in just about any genre.
I have a dream, however, that at some point, perhaps my next novel, perhaps the one after that, a publisher will be interested in my work. Then they will look over my earlier efforts and help me figure out how to make them better too. And then I’ll be away, sailing off in a new writing career.
Yes, and I have a recurring dream about winning the EuroMillions lottery too.
But only by persevering, by cranking out the words and trying to find at least a few exquisite phrases, similes and descriptions, by developing with my characters and following my nose on the plot and narrative, by actually writing, I mean, will I get anywhere at all.
So I’m buckling down and moving towards 20-25k and the end of Chapter Three of Sequel. By the time I arrive, I should have identified the salient issues and challenges which will populate the novel, so that the protagonists can be dealing with them throughout the middle section, and then I can move along in the new year to the dénouement. There’s a good reason for me to persevere on Sequel, and that is that I’ve booked a read with Hidden Gems for some time in May ’22, of my newest sci-fi/cli-fi effort. It’ll cost, but there’s no other way, it seems, to get a good couple of dozen independent reviews up on the Amazon bookshelf. The lead time has been some 18 months if it’s been a day, but it’s something to work towards.
It would be a shame to have that slot available and no book to proffer, wouldn’t it?
Biome NE47 