Shoe Thorns

Finished the latest novella. Clocks in at around 51 pages. Currently I’m busy with the dog work of cleaning it and making my initially jumbled dream into something smooth and aerodynamic. Have noticed a trend in plots – or rather, in the time frames that each of the stories so far have been set in. [...]

Questions Answered #2

What is writing?
Writing is inference. Suggestion. Its not about what you achingly detail in precise steps – often its what you don’t say. The monsters are off-screen, or – as in the case of writing – conjured up by the mind of the reader. At times I relish the Proust-thing of putting the brakes [...]

Questions Answered #1

Who Do You Read/What are You Reading at the Moment?
-No one. I haven’t read any books for a few years. I’m not too fussed about what other writers might be creating. I’m only interested in the quality of my own work – and the effect of it on on potential readers. Good for other writers [...]

“Good morning, Worm, Your Honour.”

Finished the editing of the novella yesterday. Today’s task involves doing a slow scan over it, looking for dumb errors – and getting a sense of the unfolding story. This second novella, titled ‘Flies for the Mayans’ has been a painful process. I wrote it once, and it clocked in at around 44 pages – [...]

The Anticlimactic Nature of Reaching Mountain Tops

You know that when you’re reduced to scanning through your manuscript for stupid word-usages, that you’re almost ready to throw the book towards an agent.
Its pretty much done.
As to whether its ‘Harry Potter and the Big Piece of Shit’ – or merely ‘Big Piece of Shit’ – who knows. I’m too close to it. [...]

per ardua ad astra

Normality has returned.
One day I’ll share my thoughts about my experiences with the Ivy League ’sensibility’ I encountered.
Its been enlightening, and I can feel the desire growing to create some characters and portray what I saw.
I think even Gerald Scarfe couldn’t do it justice. But for now, loose lips and all that.
Its good to [...]

Atnatu

have had a two week break from the dorm living, until the ‘Dogs’ show resurfaces, so I returned home. Dealt with the usual wobbles of trying to find a routine amidst the quiet life on the edge of a forest and a lake. Finally begun focusing in on the writing again, and – like a [...]

Courage

Its now been more than a week of sleeping on the floor in a dormitory. (I tried using the bed, and ended up twisted like a Rubik’s Cube. Mentioned the shitty mattress to the powers that be, who suggested either a plank under said mattress, or putting mattress on the floor. No use. So I’m [...]

Putting Yourself in Harm’s way

An update. Semi irked, I guess. Finished a new novella, and realized that it didn’t properly capture the world (or the story) that I was trying to explain. I’d got the story arc nicely created – but much like the Fairyland book – the complexity of the world I created was just too vast to [...]

Tobacco seedlings and prose and plays, Oh My…

Its been a while since I got around to writing words that aren’t directly connected to the manuscripts I’m creating. So apologies to the aether and the 2 or 3 out there who stumble past on occasion.
The house move was as horrifying as one can imagine, and the least said about it, the better. More [...]