I'm a very undisciplined writer, aren't I?
The reason there have been no new posts for a while (or any regular posts, ever) on this blog is that I am poor at making the time to write. The reason Shadow continues as it does is mainly because I have a deadline built in to writing it, which encourages me to hurry up a little, and because I do most of m y writing for it during my breaks at work as part of the necessary process of escapism.
Murkland fairs less well. I was writing that in the mornings before breakfast and then winter hit and all I wanted to do was sleep. I resolved this year that I would finish it before Easter, but apart from that New Year entry, I have not managed to work on it since.
Why am I recounting this tale of slovenly writing?
Well, the reason is that my wife, the beautiful Eruntane, whose own blog can be found here, has just finished writing her first full attempt at a novel and it has put me in that itchy typing finger kinda mood, indeed, the last few weeks of increasingly fervent writing from her part has meant that I've been keen to get something more serious done for a while.
Well, what have I achieved?
To be honest, not a lot. What I have done is to unearth the novel I began writing as part of 2011's NaNoWriMo, The Dream and try to sort out some of the formatting issues it developed when I downloaded it from the free online writing software I had been using to keep working on it during breaks at work (recurring theme?). I have thus far managed to reformat about six chapters and have made some of them available for friends to read, which will hopefully result in a little feedback and thus the encouragement I need to continue working on it.
I'm dreadful. You think those pleas for comments on Shadow are because I want feedback? Well, yes, they are a little, but mostly they are because I just want proof that people are reading my stuff. If you read it, I will write it, otherwise I'm likely to loose interest...
Anyway, this seems like as good a time as any to survey my current list of writing projects, either ongoing, or merely in a holding pattern in my head. It looks something like this:
Shadow - The ongoing Steampunk fantasy web fiction series.
Murkland - A Supernatural horror web fiction novella, currently on hiatus.
The Dream - A fantasy novel or trilogy of novels with what I hope to be an interesting twist. It has been attempted to be written about four or five times since 2001 when the idea first occured to me. Currently sitting at about 53,000 words thanks to NaNoWriMo 2011.
DARKSYDE - A Gothic fantasy/Noir novel and set of short stories totaling around 100,000 words, The novel has been untouched for about eight years now and the last short story was finished about five years ago. It may, one day, be suitable for web fiction, or as a novel, but much of it would need to be rewritten either way.
Chronicles of Dust and Air - An anime-inspired wild-west/steampunk fantasy story intended to be made up of several different POV character stories which would intertwine with a strong allegorical element. It currently exists in only two chapters. It could be suitable as web fiction or as a novel, although I'm veering more towards the former, despite the lack of money in it.
Kemet - A fantasy tale inspired by Egyptian mythology and the works of C.S. Lewis, which I original orchestrated as a fairly successful piece of roleplaying/chain fiction with some friends and which I one day hope to re-write, probably as web fiction.
Music of the Gears - A very roughly sketched out science fiction story most probably inspired by George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire novels. It would involve some Steampunk elements as well as some elements of medieval history and Imperial Rome to conjure up a decadent future empire rife with schemes and intrigues.
It would seem that my mind is a busy place to be some times. Remember that the next time I just stare vacantly into space...
