Wow, what a year this month has been.

As an ardent stickler for quality, I’m putting off the release of Feast by another week. It deserves another coat of polish, and you don’t deserve to read something unpolished.

I thought about that line that every artist has to draw for themselves: where do you stop? Do you redraft and tweak and spackle and perfect until it’s flawless? No, because it never will be. Do you ship it as soon as X-number of drafts are done? No, because that’s not good enough. I’ve drawn the line at where I could put it out for people to read and I don’t feel the need to stand over their shoulders and point out Bits That Need Fixing.

Before even starting this second draft, I knew there was a full-sized novel in this. I will probably end up at 20-or-so-thousand words for the short story, but I know there’s a story four times as long as that, with much more to say and explore in that location, in that situation, and between those characters. I might do that one day, but in the meantime, this is what it has to say. A 90 minute read for those with a long train commute, or in need of something to read after dinner but before bed.

It’ll be on here, 100% free, once my talented editor has helped me put a spit-shine on it.

Have a good week. Eyes up.

I’ve decided I’m going to start doing weekly updates on here, at the very least.

Feast is enjoying its second draft at a healthy 2200 words, a bouncing baby clone. I want to have it done by next week’s update, if just to have it out the door and out of my head. My final self-imposed deadline is the 15th.

Ideas have been flowing thick and fast for Dirty Eyes, can’t wait to get started on that next. Weekends might be for a tipsy face-first dive into something new, like Rapunzel or some horror short. I feel better when I’m spraying my creative juices all over the place.

Day job is okay. Effy is good, I told her that I’m booked in to get her “pawtrait” inked on my forearm this month, and she described the news as as “mlau.”

Something has to come first.

Currently working on:

Feast – 16,372 words.
Short story, first draft finished and notes.
A mysterious stranger drives into town with a secret in the trunk of his car, and finds himself falling in love with the sleepy little town. Set in South Africa, mystery + romance + travel.

Dirty Eyes – 116,579 words.
Novel, second draft finished and waiting last 1% of notes from proofreader / editor.
A loser moonlighting as a career criminal discovers the unconscious body of his dead brother, and goes on the run from a shadowy corporation to keep him safe. Set in the year 2089, action + thriller + mystery + cyberpunk.

Wouldn’t Be Seen Dead – 29,275 words.
Two-part novella, first draft of part 1 finished.
Down-on-his-luck hacker Mark takes a safe job reuniting a young lady with her estranged mother, and is plunged into a game of deceit, punks, murder, gangland warfare, and birds with neon eyes. Spin-off to Dirty Eyes. Set in the year 2086, action + thriller + cyberpunk.

Also playing with designs for “covers”. I intend on putting Feast and the Part 1 of Wouldn’t Be Seen Dead on this blog for free, and perhaps the first chapter of Dirty Eyes, then shopping around for more traditional publication.

Really not sure why it’s taken me this long to start a writing blog.