Feeling a bit lost without a novel to work on. I’d never had a silly season quite so silly as this past one, galavanting around Europe and drinking my body weight in crisp German lager, and I was away for just long enough for all of my good habits to unravel. Coming back to the scorching heat was even worse. It’s spring now, however, and I have my first sinus infection of the year, so since my head is filled with concrete I’ll keep this update brief. 

In case you missed it: latest book came in at more of a novella than anything else. Somehow my fingers delivered me half a book. 

The “scene by scene breakdown” document for the previous novel, Kill The King, came in at around that same word count. I could cut it down even further and have a novella, or beef it up in the rewrite and explore the ideas and themes further and have a fully-fledged novel. Who knows? It was still a damn good ride, but now that Son of the Spike’s first haphazard draft is done, I can take some time to reflect and learn and research. 

Currently doing a few Masterclass courses, starting with Martin Scorsese teaching filmmaking. He makes a few good points about the craft which I find useful, as I’ve always been just as interested in films (and, to a lesser degree, comic books) as prose literature, but next up is an Aaron Sorkin course on screenwriting, then another Masterclass on editing. 

While I’m doing this I’ll also be researching and getting to work on my next story, a slasher-thriller I’m tentatively titling The Massacre at Serenity Ridge. It’ll be like The Treasure of Sierra Madre meets Alien. 

Also, I’ve posted a couple new shorts and flashes on the short stories page,

Anyway, I’m out. Gonna go drink more tea.

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