Done and dusted

Well, I've officially decided to bring the blog to an end. I'll leave it here with a link to my website, but I am replacing it with a News section on my website.

It's been quite a ride. I hope the odd aspiring writer might take solace and inspiration from it's often moody and sometimes jubilant entries.

Kris Ashton

An end to the diary?

I'm giving serious consideration to ending this blog. As well as taking up time I will increasingly not have, it appears more and more to be a liability. I have a feeling one of my stories was looked upon less than favourably courtesy of a recent post... and it's really not much more than me talking to myself anyway.

Well, for now - I've had a bit of a story idea that might suit Back Roads (which has switched to a bi-annual book format - even more of an incentive). It's to be based in part on a real-life experience, rare for me.

Now it's just a matter of getting my laptop back so I can get to work on it...

The sweetest Kiss

Boy, it's been a while between posts. While making new friends and relatives in Southern California, I more or less forgot about the whole writing and publishing process. During that time, however, I had two short stories rejected - 'Buried Potential' at Abyss & Apex (bummer) and 'Other Intelligent Life' from Yog's Notebook (for the best, as I've now submitted it to AtomJack's short story competition).

Upon my return, I also found what amounted to a glorified form letter from Allen & Unwin, rejecting Loaded. That wasn't fun.

Then this morning, I opened up my email to find that Asylett Press had accepted Ghost Kiss as an e-book! Contracts and other such things are coming my way presently, as no doubt, are a lot of editorial changes. More details as they arrive...

Up and away!

Another hour and a half and I will be on my way to the airport for two weeks of American culture.

Just thought I'd post and say that I completed 'Left Behind' yesterday. It came out at just over 4,800 words, a useful size for a first draft.

Turbo snail

By most measures the publishing process moves like a sedated snail, but occasionally things can happen quickly. Since my previous post, I have seen both 'Level Two' and 'Blue Diamond Pool' published, and even more exciting, a small American publisher has asked to see the full MS of Ghost Kiss.

On top of Allen & Unwin's cursory interest in Loaded, I'm almost afraid to go on holidays ... which I do this Saturday!

These are small steps, I'm under no misapprehensions there. But I'm quietly confident Ghost Kiss could go all the way. I'm due to hear from the publisher, Asylett Press, in about a month.

My new story, 'Left Behind', is about 3/4 done. I'm aiming to complete it tomorrow morning. Looks like it will come out at about 4,000 words - a handy size.

Yog's Notebook is going to take longer than expected to get back to me re: 'Other Intelligent Life'. I was rather sceptical about their stated one month response time, and I notice that since the first issue's completion this unrealistic claim has been removed from their site. The question now is whether I wait for them to reply, withdraw the story and send it to AtomJack, or send AtomJack another story ('Buried Potential' might suit).

Up and Atom(Jack)

'Level Two' is now up and awaiting interested eyes on the AtomJack website. I'm proud to have it there accompanied by stories of a quality you rarely see in an online 'zine, much less a free one. And Adicus the editor also made mention of the story's exploding apples in his introductory letter - I guess we have the same sense of humour.

One of the perks of being published in AtomJack is that you also get a free entry into its short story competition, which pays big bucks for first prize. As soon as I hear back from Yog's Notebook (I have queried the editor), and if its response is in the negative, I am going to submit 'Other Intelligent Life' to Adicus and see if that tickles his fancy as well.

I'm reading another John Wyndham novel at the moment, Chocky, and as well as being a terrific yarn (Wyndham is easily in my top 3 favourite authors), an image he used in a passing descriptive sentence gave me an idea for a horror story. I'm letting it simmer at the moment, but I might take a crack at it in the next few days, or perhaps on Saturday.

One last thing: last night, completely at random, I decided to open the first novel I ever wrote. I remembered it being totally awful, 282 pages of unserviceable mush. But as I read it over, it no longer seemed that way at all. Puffy, yes, but the body of a good fantasy novel resides underneath. Once Commune is in some sort of shape (God knows when that will be) I might even go back to Catalysts of War and see what I can make of it. It seems a shame to write 180,000 words and never give them a fighting chance at publication.

Now for the return journey

Okay, draft number two is all marked up. I suspect I have cut around 5,000 words, which will bring Loaded down to a lean 85,000 words (further recommending it to the YA market, I suppose). I now have to find the time to make the changes, which I fear will be a big ask in the next four weeks. I'm aiming to do at least an hour a night and possibly some during the day if I can wangle the necessary downtime. If Allen & Unwin calls, I need to be ready!