Not only have I been absent from the website for a while, it’s been a couple of years since I did this, so let’s do a massive review of how things haven’t been going!
Oh, and a Happy New Year for Tuesday night / Wednesday morning.
What I Learnt About Writing in 2019
Here’s my stats for this year with the previous two years for comparison:
- Submissions = 9 (9, 2018; 7, 2017)
- Total pieces in circulation = 5 (4, 2018; 8, 2017)
- New pieces in circulation = 2 (2, 2018; 3, 2017)
- Rewrites = 0 (1, 2018; 1, 2017)
- Acceptances = 2 (0, 2018; 3, 2017)
- Published = 2 (2, 2018; 2, 2017)
NOTE: These numbers do not include stories written for the website or published here. Attempts to rehome stories published here and elsewhere have been included.
I think we can safely say that I’m statistically consistent. One of the things I think I missed from skipping this last year is that I didn’t get to see that – in terms of overall word count and results – I’ve been doing much the same as I always have. The key is to keep pottering on when I can.
In 2018, I made a few more attempts to submitting to agents but, this year, that has fallen by the way side. On the other hand, I’ve still made quite a few submissions overall.
As is becoming traditional, one of those submission / acceptances was a request from Michael S Collins of Other Side Books [External Link], this time for something ghostly / horrory for an anthology he was putting together called Sea Horror.
The other acceptance this year was for a short story inspired by Tom Cruise’s repeat deaths in Edge of Tomorrow. This was picked up by The Future Fire [External Link] and is the fourth story of mine they’ve published – having also published stories in 2012, 2013 and 2015. I really hope this doesn’t mean I have to wait until 2027 for the next one!
My base line for word count over the years is around 90,000 words. I think I pretty much hit that in 2018, what with the Patreon side project (Plumtree) and various diversions. This year I’m probably somewhat less. I’m going to say about 75,000 total. It’s taken me two years to scrape through the current main work in progress (WIP) so that’s contributed to the feeling like I’ve got nowhere but I have managed to maintain the Patreon side project (still Plumtree) and write a couple of short stories.
This year, I actually went to a writing retreat – to the lovely Albergo Ristorante Leso [External Link], organised by the lovely Donna Moore [External Link] and by Damien Seaman [External Link], in September. I wrote something like a thousand to two thousand words a day, along with taking walks and eating the most delicious food I’ve had in ages. So, it’s reassuring that I can still do this writing thing provided that I can get brain space.
Writer, Editor, General Dogsbody
Writing plans… I have basically devolved to “just keep going.” Which has been exceptionally hard to do several times over the last two years.
I still would not say no to an agent but I haven’t had anything stand-alone enough of the right length to submit – hence lack of submissions to agents.
The return to the Fur-Skins world has been a slog. I picked it up after having to admit I wasn’t going to make it through the previous WIP and I’m not sure whether that coloured my approach to it or not. However, the subject matter has been difficult, if only because of my choice of framing device, and I have yet to find out whether the story works for anyone but me. We’ll know once it’s had a once over from some beta readers.
My Patreon side projects continue [External Link]. I started Plumtree towards the end of 2018 and it’s still going on. I only had a loose plan for it and expected it to be about a year but the level of detail I’m putting into fortnightly posts of about 500 words means it looks like it’ll be about twice as long as initially thought. I’m not someone who plans especially heavily and it shows…
What I Learnt About The Rest of Life
OK.
So.
Finn had his front left leg removed in September 2018 – just in time for his birthday. Happy birthday, hellhound. There were some minor complications but, over all, he seems to be happier than he was the last few months with the leg attached. Carrying Finn Junior (the cancer) must have become very uncomfortable.
He is, of course, considerable clumsier on three legs instead of four and now Dora thinks she can tell him off (this is instead of telling off Rosie) so I occasionally have to detach her from his back legs. He is much more grumpy when he gets hold of her if it gets that far and, although he doesn’t injure her, she disposes of whatever dignity she has left to come yelping to me. He also has a number of fatty lumps but none of these seem to worry the vet or get in the way.
It became evident very soon after the op that the place I was renting was too small for us all to be downstairs all the time – and Finn can no longer do more than a couple of steps. So we had to move. Rental places that accept one pet, let alone three, are few and far between, so I bought and we now live in a much nicer place in the same small town. I regularly talk to the house and say “thank you,” for being kind to us.
It has also become a source of DIY tasks, most of which I enjoy. It’s been a source of weirdly relaxing activities since we moved in – with the odd mini-crisis to keep me on my toes.
Work continues to go well, despite the fact that they moved to a not particularly people-friendly open-plan new build office. I am not the only one who finds it wearing but I’m likely to be the only person who works there who has overloads because of it. David Stewart of Autism Success Formula [External Link] continues to work with us and it does help. You just can’t fix open plan.
I haven’t attended fencing in over a year. Partly because of being rundown and partly because Sundays (when the club I was attending runs) is now a family day. My sister and I take it in turns to pick up Dad and meet at a pub nearby to the other. Tai chi is relaxing but my attendance is spotty – because just getting there takes a lot out of me.
The rundown thing. This is in part the managing the mental and emotional work it is for me to go to work in the new office. It’s also, in part, the similar workload of maintaining the family Sundays. It’s having to go shopping. It’s having to cope with the idea that at some point we’re going to have supply disruptions that make maintaining life for me and three dogs difficult, that keeps shifting to another future date. (And, no, a hard Brexit earlier would not have eased that anxiety. It would have just meant that I was actually watching the shit hit the fan, not imagining it. This is not something the UK is ready for. Wishing it doesn’t make it so.) It’s having to watch the nation make collective decisions that make me wonder if we’re really just a bunch of fascists.
We’ve done a good job, as a whole, of pretending our history is glorious and we’re always on the morally right side as well as being on the side that won. We haven’t had a 100% record on either of those points and it’s not looking great right now. And I have yet to get my head around how I’m supposed to find it comforting that worse things happen somewhere else. After all, just because it’s worse somewhere else doesn’t mean a) it’s actually good here, or b) I don’t also object to that worse thing happening somewhere else that only gets trotted out when I dare to complain about what’s going on here.
There you go. My two years in review. And this is why I’ve struggled to make posts for the last two years.
