October is turning into quite a productive month. I am midway through the third full draft of my crime thriller, Trouble-Shooter. It has also gained a tentative new title – The Providence Clause. I’m still debating whether I like it, but it is better than the working title and so it will stay… for the time being. I am almost ready for it to go out for criticism and closer edit. The goal is end of November.
I have been working through new drafts of my short stories, in particular Followers, Valery & Michael, The Diver, and Fag Hag and Her Screaming Queens (now renamed, Wanda). All are better for the concentration.
I have entered a few competitions and am awaiting results. Having learnt not to hold my breath, I am endeavouring to forget they were even sent. Unsuccessfully it has to be said, but I am learning to temper my disappointments. As I am reminded, I have to be pleased that in the last year, two have been placed in anthologies and one reached the heady heights of the Fish Competition Longlist, before being cut from competition.
My literary novel, The Darkness in Light, is back burning – I am so close to getting the structure right and a lot of the individual scenes are there. It is the voice that is nagging and after experimenting I have decided to leave it to gestate.
In an effort to stay fit, I have joined British Military Fitness. An hour of intensive outdoor exercise first thing each Saturday. It’s tough to do and almost equally as painful to recover from. But, 3 weeks in I’m still there and starting to look forward to it.
Glad to read I am not alone in the venue of disappointment. Literary Competitions I think make your work stronger, and possibly character building. I like to think I am a Veteran of Disappointment. I was not, however, disappointed with Daylight Saving; a life in the days of Twittersphere. I once wrote a fantastic reality type story about a girl called Deborah Pawly who invents another version of herself, but as a boy. Like Mary Shelley’s creation, the other self got out of control. I wanted to create an online person, opened a facebook page, illustrated pictures of Deborah, got lots of friends requests from Europe and South America… then it all got a bit creepy in a Rolf Harris way. My story was getting out of control, ah well. Good luck Marc, thanks for the read.
Thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed the story.