Winter General Update

I realise it's been a little while since I last posted, so I think I'll do a quick update about the last few weeks and some forthcoming things I'm involved in.

First of all, Cressy's book launch was very successful, and very well-attended.  I was involved in a Nanowrimo meet-up that night, so could only sneak in towards the end, but everyone was having a lot of fun, not least Cressy herself.  The book seems to be very popular, so I'm really pleased for her.

Nanowrimo itself was very successful, and after a couple of years where I've been doing other training, it was nice to return to writing again in November.  This year we had a fantastic group with some great  ideas and some really lovely people, and I'm hoping we can get together again in the new year for editing sessions.

I made the 50k with two days to go, having quickly abandoned the literary work I was going to produce in favour of something that was a bit more light-hearted.  I'm producing a novella set in a future America where distant nuclear events and climate change have led to desertification and a struggle for resources.  So it's basically hillbillies with lasers in the Wild West. I'm enjoying it, and hopefully when it's finished, you will too.

By coincidence, I happen to be reading 'Dune' by Frank Herbert for my reading group, and while it's nice to fill in one of the key gaps from my sci-fi education, I've found it pretty hard going.  The story is fun enough, with some nice touches, but the complete lack of a chapter structure and the POV hopping all over the place to explain each character's thought process is really grating on me.  I can't help feeling that if it was released today, it wouldn't be regarded as the classic it is.

Some of the people close to me have mooted the idea of a fifty-book reading challenge for 2016, an ideal that appeals massively to me and my poor, underworked Kindle.  I probably won't have the time for 50 novels, but I might well be able to do 25.  It remains for me to think carefully about what I'll read, and what effect it'll have upon my writing.

Finally, my first piece of work for the new year will be writing for and editing the forthcoming 'Shadows at the Door' anthology!  I'm very much looking forward to this.  The Black Shuck legend that my story focuses on is one of those that every town seems to have, but this one will have a distinctly Norfolk twist.  I'm very much looking forward to sharing it with you!