That's his century!

You beauty, hit the 100-page (65,000 word) mark on Truck Me this morning. It's taken just under three months, which is slower than Stephen King prescribes, but then if I was writing full-time (and not writing anything else) I suppose I could cap off as much per day as he does too. If I keep up this rate of writing, I could feasibly be finished by the end of May. Not that I mind - I'm really enjoying the rhythm and flow of this novel more than any other I've ever written, and I think it has a lot to do with maintaining that 1,000 word minimum for a minimum of five days a week. It's those long breaks that cause the potholes in the road.

Hey-hey, it's Friday!

Well, it probably says Thursday because Blogger is situated in America, but us Australians are ahead of the rest of the world in that respect. Anyway, I'm in the mid-90s on Truck Me now (which incidentally I have given the subtitle of An Australian Fable – whether that'll stay when I start doing drafts I don't know, but it seems kind of appropriate at the moment). I was dubious about it reaching the 150 page mark for a while there, but certain scenes expanded more than I expected them to – so I'm hopeful it might even exceed that.

With the house to myself this evening, I plan to power through as much of the fourth draft on Ghost Kiss as I can. I've marked up about 50 of its 147 pages (no changes completed, though). I've been living with it for so long that I'm beginning to doubt its quality, which can't be healthy. Time to get it in shape and get it out there again.

A Google search has revealed several of my co-authors on Hell's Hangmen and the stories they will contribute. I've not heard of any of them, but they all have more publishing credits than me, which suggests how far I still have to go before I can quit my day job. They are:

Jason Andrew – 'The Last Delivery'
Rob Rosen – 'Close. So Close'
Charles Black – 'A Fistful of Vengeance'
Steven Shrewsbruy – no mention of title

According to a post from Charles Black (dated Feb 19) seven stories had been selected, but I can't find references to the other two anywhere. I guess Ron Shiflet will be in touch soon enough with the full list of contents.

Slow news ... month

Due to cut-off dates and coincidence I find myself in the literary equivalent of a doctor's surgery – bored, waiting and knowing something potentially unpleasant is about to happen. (The other option, of course, is that I'm going to get some good news and my writing life will not be over.) Between Hell's Hangmen – which is apparently staying open until May 31 after all, contrary to some reports – Andromeda and The Undead 2 (neither of which will have a response ready until mid-year) I'm just about climbing the walls. Now, I know there are worse places to be. I could be in the 'swift rejection' place where I spent most of the years 2001-2004, for instance. But I could also be in the 'full-time author' place, which from the 'one published credit' place looks pretty frickin sweet. It's times like this I wish I had more writer friends ... or any writer friends. Someone to whinge to now and then would be rather beneficial, I think.

Truck Me news: Breezed past the 90 page mark on the weekend, which was satisfying (even if that was the only set goal I am likely to achieve for the Anzac period, since we are now hosting a party of 11 tonight).

Power ... extreme!

Yeah, I forked out the necessary $180 so once again I have a laptop whose battery lasts more than 10 minutes. Certainly aids in composition. Now I just have to make sure I steer clear of the Evil Country Warlock and his battery-slaying hex.

In the mid-80s on Truck Me... it seems to be winding its way towards a climax faster than I expected. I was aiming for about 150 pages (90,000 words) but unless I draw it out or come up with additional scenes, I can't see it reaching that. I really hope I don't wind up with a novella on my hands.

The spirits within

The past couple of days have been something of an emotional rollercoaster, to indulge in a cliche. Part of me has started to despair that I will ever have a novel published, such is the frustrating, insular nature of the industry. This despair tends to come and go with my general mood, but it hit me particularly viciously yesterday. There's nothing in this life I want more right now – the desire drives me, and yet I can't help wonder if it's all in vain, if I am going to retire or die without a single page of my novels being published.

A glimmer of hope stands on the other side of the scales. During a brief surf of the net yesterday, I found an imprint of Macmillan in the UK that specialises in publishing first-time authors (on pretty crappy contracts, from what I can gather, but hey – some royalties sure beats the shit out of no royalties). I think I have the writing chops to stand out from the average, especially in the larger UK market. It has spurred me on to get Ghost Kiss looking as good as it can look. If I can, I will devote this weekend and the Anzac Day holiday to finishing my fourth and final draft, then use subsequent evenings to make the changes.

The future looks fraught with possibility ... and the possibility of disappointment.

So how did I do?

Okay, it's four days on since my last post and my long Easter weekend was a mix of industriousness and sloth.

I sent off both my short stories to overseas markets, picking titles that according to Duotrope have a reputation for swift replies (ironically, I haven't even received a confirmation from either of them so far – although that might be due to Easter).

I did indeed get Truck Me to the 80 page mark, however I think I only added about 2,000 words in total, which means I'm no better off than I would have been on a regular week.

My continuity check on Ghost Kiss has turned into a full-blown fourth draft. Too many unnecessary sentences, too many cliches – it's amazing the things you pick up when your mind is focused on other things for a while. So I'm doubting there will be any submission progress of the novel kind until late May.

Oh ... and 'Other Intelligent Life' was completely ignored. I'm still confident I'll get around to it eventually.

Recasting the net

With 'Fresh as the Bright Blue Sky' and 'Displeasures' both batted back to me, it's now time to seek new markets for them. I spent a bit of time last night doing research and think I've found a couple of likely candidates. These are my goals for the four-day Easter break:

1. Finish 'Other Intelligent Life'
2. Add 4,000 words to Truck Me (which would easily get me to the 80-page mark)
3. Send off both of the abovementioned short stories
4. Final check of Ghost Kiss to correct continuity errors

If I manage (4.) I might even have a stab at

5. Send off Ghost Kiss to overseas publisher.

Details on my success (or lack thereof) on Tuesday morning.

Read not ripping enough

My first real disappointment in a while today – Agog Ripping Reads rejected 'Displeasures of the Flesh'. The editor, Cat Sparks – who has been dilatory with most of her rejections in the past – said she liked my writing style but thought the story was not strong enough ... basically a half-step up from a form rejection as far as useful feedback goes. I still have high hopes for 'Displeasures', though, and it's now just a case of locating another likely market for it. If I can't find a home for it elsewhere, I might try offering it up to Scifantastic later in the year when it opens to submissions for #5. I reckon Sarah Dobbs might dig it.

More than a little writing done on Truck Me this morning – half an hour on the train plus another 1,200 words at work (post-deadline serenity making that possible). Currently in the mid-70s as far as page count goes, hoping to seriously bolster that over the Easter break – 1,500-2,000 words a day for four days being the goal. Sadly, history shows that public holidays tend to be devoted to drinking, eating and playing video games. Wish me luck!

Star Trek XII: So Very Tired

Yes, a Simpsons parody of the apparently endless Star Trek sequels and also a fair summation of my mood today. I've had a stab at writing my novel, 'Other Intelligent Life', and some work-related stuff, and managed about 200 scrappy words for each. I feel like I should be doing more, but it's so dispiriting when the words dribble out like diarrhoea. Probably best just to get a good night's sleep and have at it tomorrow.

I was on such a roll on Friday. Excess beer ruins everything again. Will I ever learn?

The day after (and more on fortune)

Last night didn't disappoint, with 14 beers and half a bottle of wine consumed in the name of birthday celebrations. Vague of mind today but not hungover in the classic sense. Of more concern are the party pies and sausage rolls doing battle in my guts with a huge helping of McDonald's. Fun times.

Once again I've had cause to note the way life throws up curves of fortune when you least expect them. Checking my email this morning, I thought I would have a response from Cat Sparks - instead I finally had a reply from Aurealis (a rejection as I had suspected). It just seems that life goes out of its way to be unpredictable and if anything was ever going to encourage me to believe in a higher power, it would be that.

Tomorrow is another day...

...and the day that Cat Sparks from Agog has promised to get back to me regarding 'Displeasures of the Flesh'. Not having received a confirmation email upon submission (and because the guidelines said the contents list would be finalised in early April) I thought it prudent to make sure rather than wait and find out it hadn't arrived in the first place. Of course now I'm paranoid that I've blacklisted my story by enquiring ... even though Cat is one of the nicer and more constructive editors I've had anything to do with. I rate that story, and I rate Agog, so ... well, nothing I can do now.

Less than an hour now until my birthday celebrations (not much to celebrate in turning 29, but it sure beats turning 30) and they're shaping up to be sizeable. The previous two parties have been huge flops, which to some extent I attribute to the time of year and the inconvenient venues. Therefore, I've kept it simple this time. Either way, there hasn't and won't be any writing done this weekend. What the hell, it's an annual event. (Along with Australia Day, Easter, Anzac Day, The Queen's Birthday, Labour Day, Christmas, New Year's, other people's birthdays ... Come to think of it, it's a wonder I ever get anything written at all.)

Powers ... failing!

Got a whopping 20 minutes out of my fully charged laptop battery this morning (which is even less than I used to get out of my previous machine, a Toshiba Satellite that originated from the time of dinosaurs and weighed about as much as one). So I guess I'm going to have to bite the leaden projectile and fork out the requisite $180 for a new battery. Huff!

IT issues...

They're a symptom of modern living perhaps, but in this case the complete absence of internet and email at work has proved favourable to my fiction output. With nothing else to distract me – or indeed anything else to do at all – I've managed to churn out over 1,000 words on Truck Me and more than 700 on one of those short story ideas I mentioned, currently enjoying the working title of 'Other Intelligent Life'.

Speaking of IT issues, my laptop battery is officially Fire trUCKED – several tests have each shown a truncated lifespan of only 40 minutes (if I'm lucky). I'm beginning to wish I hadn't spent the better portion of my birthday money on junk food and DVDs...

Slow news day

Nothing exciting to report, I'm afraid. Still waiting on any kind of response from Aurealis and the contents list for the latest Agog anthology is supposedly being finalised in the next few days ... but no word from them, either.

The deadline for my 'day job' is this week, so I'm hoping to download one or more of my short story ideas onto paper during the following off-week.