Commune achieves actualisation

That's right, about four months after it was begun, Commune is complete. Came out to 168 Word pages or about 103,000 words. I think it's the best book I've written - but then I've thought that about every book I've ever written!

Time to take a few days off, let the mind wander and recuperate, and then see if I can't come up with some sort of idea for Black Sails. The deadline is April, so I'll have to hustle!

Slow work day

Means big writing day! With little else to do after about 9:30am, I took the opportunity to go head down, bum up on Commune and added more than 3,000 words - probably as much as I've written since I started on it. If I get a seat on the train tomorrow I might even finish it then, otherwise it should reach its conclusion at about 9-10am.

'Displeasures' remains in round 1, despite Andromeda's new claims that it gets responses out to most people within 48 hours. Tomorrow, mayhaps.

Displeased again

'Displeasures of the Flesh' is now in the hands of the selective folks at Andromeda. During my time online yesterday, I also hunted up another market for 'Buried Potential', called Strange Horizons. I love that story and I'd dearly like to find it a home. So that's the next short fiction project until From the Asylum finally starts taking subs again.

I'm very keen to get Commune completed, however working out the specific details of the 'aftermath' section is proving more daunting than I thought. I have lots of ideas, but ensuring everything is credible is another matter.

All over bar the shouting

Well, I finished the greater part of Commune this morning. It's come out at about 160 Word pages, and I figure there's about another 10 pages of epilogue needed to tie up all the loose ends. So if that's how it pans out, the first draft will be about 102,000 words. Not quite the 150,000 I first envisioned, but then the narrative did not turn out as I envisioned either.

I finished an edit of 'Displeasures' yesterday and was mortified to find I had sent a version of it to Aurealis that was full of typos and a whole paragraph that should have been deleted. At least I think I did; it makes me wonder if I didn't do a new version on another computer and failed to replace the master copy with it. Oh well, it will be in Andromeda's hands soon.

The final bend

Well, today I think I rounded the final bend on Commune and I'm now heading for home (despite a less-than-scintillating work ethic of late). I've written about 151 pages and figure I have another 10 or 15 pages to write - so about two weeks if I stick to 1,000 words a day.

Successful Commune-ism

Looks like my time off worked has worked a treat. The past couple of days have been marvellous fun - I've really found the elation in my writing again. I've already added about 1,500 words on Commune this morning and with a stick of luck will add another 400 this evening. I've revised my estimate and now hope to complete it by the end of January.

Dead Will Dance, but not with me

Yep, I've neglected blogging duties for the past couple of weeks and I've done very little in the way of writing either. I figured I needed a short break from writing of all types and I think it's done the trick. I'm feeling refreshed and revived and ready to steer Commune to its long overdue conclusion.

Dead Will Dance by 1018 Press rejected 'Mere Symptoms of Living', but I'm not at all surprised. It didn't really fit the theme of the magazine (zombies were the only connection between the mag and my yarn) and not many people seem interested in the emotional/cerebral side of zombie tales.

So that leaves only Loaded on my list of unanswered submissions. When Commune is done, it's submitting time!