Cleaning up the house

Whilst waiting to hear about Dispatched, and saying @#^! it to the idea of trying to write in a completely new universe (I have decided that I would like to work on a new Carl Nicole thriller), I have decided to clean up the house. Well, the files on my computer that contain story ideas. Some, like Thirteenth's Luck

will reappear on either Amazon or Smashwords, or both. Others, like the one in the hands of the lovely Jax, will be edited to shreds and rebuilt to either be something new or become part of the Carl Nicole story arc. Those stories unlucky to be deemed as hazardous to your imaginations will be shredded, stomped on and deleted.

Personally I'm excited with this renewed enthusiasm to revisit what I had written in the past, mostly because it would be fun seeing what I came up with back then.

Currently I plan to alternate between working on the next Carl Nicole story and editing/reworking a story currently titled Avalon. They are two completely different ideas; whereas Nicole's timeframe is roughly a couple years from now, Avalon is set on a made up world in the Epsilon Eridani star system and am hoping to be a bit of noir and science fiction rolled into one.

Exit Strategy

I was going over my files this morning, as one wont to do on a fine Saturday morning here. I have come Smashwords back in 2012. The story is the spiritual precursor to Compromised, as it features the original version of a character I once role-played on a play-by-email Star

across my first story that I published via

Trek game.

So what is this story about, you ask?--Here's the promo for it:

In fact you'll find Emilio Heerdan in another story, but different.

You can buy it, by clicking on the lower right corner of the blog or here.

I'm sure you're wondering why I didn't just delete the story and be done with it, considering that both characters make an appearance elsewhere. The short answer, why not?--It's a reminder of where I was back in 2012 and to a certain respect I'm still proud of what I have written.

Things we find online

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-22089159

Sure, why not. Just find out a wheelchair friendly slide and off we go.

A whole new universe

That is what one of my favourite authors said.

Once you have finished a story and fired it off for submission, start another story. The trick of course was to write something not related to the last story, which is harder then I thought.

You see, I like writing a certain style of genre. You can find examples of Compromised and Across the Board on Amazon, two of my recent stuff that I put up for reasons that I still haven't come to grips with... of course some of my mates would state that I just jumped onto the whole independent publishing scene and hope for the best. But I digress.

As I was saying, I like writing in a specific genre because it's fun for me, and am getting better at it. Well, I like to think so. But my last few attempts at writing had proven to be a variation or replica of the current story that is in its second stage of submission to a small electronic press in the States. Whilst that isn't exactly a bad thing, but when you stick to a specific formula then things tend to get repeative (I have seen a few books that seem to follow a formula; some readers have no qualms with it, while others do).

However, writing in a whole new universe and even genre (I decided to return to my first true love, science fiction) certainly has its advantages. For one, you get to get passionate about your new masterpiece, befriend new characters and have the side effect of improving your writing. It also lets you forget about your last piece, which you could return to with a clean slate if the opportunity presented itself.

Right, off to write I go. Toodles!

Pre-Christmas Update

Good morning all.

It is rather pleasant outside at just after 9 o'clock in the morning here in New Zealand, with some sort of roadworks happening just outside my window.

Anyway, as it's so close to Christmas and New Years, I figured to do an update. Not that there has been much of one really, as work has been super busy and my writing has somewhat dwindled. Still haven't heard from the publisher you suggested I rework a piece and resubmit, but no news is good news. Right?

Hope all is well with you though?

Update on November 2013

Things are slowly progressing here.

While waiting to hear about my resubmission I have had been rather busy, which is a good thing.  Work has certainly picked up, especially with the self review coming up.  That had been easy this time round, and all the paperwork emailed to the appropriate people up north; with the parting words of "time to countdown the hours until the weekend", which were replied to with full blown agreement.  Being busy generally means no time to think about the little things in life that somehow continue to baffle me to this day.

The last while has also seen me being busy over the weekends too, most recent being a parade from Dental School to the Octogan. You can read about it here.  I have also started research on a new premise, and have found a goldmine thanks in part to being connected to a friend of my friend and am now in dialog about certain information.  Then there are the collaborations.  One with my friend Nigel, which I need to get back into, and the other with my good friend Sam.  The preliminary draft with Sam is more or less done, and looks like it will be a novella - so yay to that.  All I need to do is start the next phase of editing and beefing it up.

The only drawback however is that with work getting busier, it has meant that my writing has been really relegated to the weekends.  But never mind, onwards and upwards.  No?

Two writing projects

I am super excited for two reasons; it's the weekend, and if that doesn't excite anyone than boohoo to you, and because of two writing projects that I am collaborating on. One of whom is done with my good pal Nigel, the author of Black Donald, and the other is with Sam.

Okay, so Nigel and I had tried collaborating once but I had to pull out due to other commitments getting in the way. The good news is that Nigel has turned that stalled collaboration into an awesome novel, titled Honourbound and is to be the first in a series. Personally, I am looking forward to its release sometime in the new year, as I think it's one of his better works. Nigel is also working on a sequel to Black Donald. As

Available at Amazon.com, Amazon UK and Smashwords

to what we're collaborating about now, you ask? All I can say currently is that it is in the style of John G. Hemry and Ian Douglas, and centres on the fictional Royal Navy Strategic Space Vehicle Orion and her crew.

The other collaboration is with Sam, a good friend of mine in the States and a meteorologist by profession. Sam also has one of the finest minds that I have used him to ensure my past work, which is resubmitted to a potential publisher, was logical and not too far fetched. Our writing project features a self governing colony on Europa in the year 2207, and the first chapter is explosive.

As for my own writing? Apart from the resubmitted Bukowski story, I have had plenty of hits and misses. It really depends on time, as work is getting busier and the like.

Still, we will see. Maybe one of my next solo attempts may get the creative juices flowing once more. It may mean another Bukowski story, but currently am unsure.