A New Short & Another B

I had a few days of this week remaining to do some writing. I wanted to do some work on A Kookaburra's Laugh, but I also noticed that all my current stories are out in the wild. I had a choice. I could work on two stories I haven't retired or I could write something new.

I wrote something new. 3690 words of Christmas horror. Very much a family who slays together, sleighs together, type of thing. Fun. First draft is done. Time to let sit before revising, and then maybe going out to beta readers - I know who you are, as do you, so no need to throw up offers - it'll be winging your way in the not too distant future. It is currently untitled.

This is for the Inaugural Festive Fear Anthology to be released by Tasmaniac Publications. This first one is only open to Australian writers (sorry), but make sure you keep it in mind for next year (no doubt I'll be reminding you anyway). I expect the TOC to just get better each year. This year I expect quite a few AHWA members to get behind it. Danielle, David, Flick, and everyone else who is an AHWA member and reads this blog - get cracking. You've got until June to submit.

And to top things off, I got Module 2, assignment 4 back today. That's 6 straight B's for semester 1, 2009. At least I'm passing.

For the next couple of days, I'll be reading short stories in "The Book Of Shadows" which has waited patiently for me to get to it, and knocking out a few thousand words to my manuscript. A Kookaburra's Laugh is way too long to keep writing so I'll be calling it by its nickname AKL. Thought I'd better mention this before confusing everyone.

Okay, I'm rambling; time to go.

Speak soon.

BT

Assignment 1 Done - Again

I have resubmitted assignment 1. Fingers crossed I have done it correctly this time. It was a huge disappointment to me when the note came back that I hadn't done things right. I try to ensure everything I do is to the best of my ability and was very shocked when this was judged to be rubbish or done in correctly.

I thought about it and decided it was a wake up call.

So now if it comes back as being sub standard - then I'll be worried.

Been away on conference for work over the last two days so I've done no writing at all. I gained nothing from the conference either so I'm pretty disappointed. If it wasn't for being able to spend some quality time with my wife in the middle of the conference, the two days would have been a total waste of time. :(

Tomorrow I'm playing the last minor round game of cricketof the season. We're chasing 221. We chased down 250 last game so I'm quietly confident. Then we're into the finals. Finals are played over a single weekend - Saturday, Sunday - not looking forward to that so much. At my age, it takes time to recover from a days play. Must remember to take my time on the Sunday this time round. Last year I wasn't warmed up enough and got out because of it which lost us the game. Don't want to feel that way again in my last year.

My assignments for HorrorScope should arrive early next week so keep an eye out for regular reviews starting soon. I'll be reviewing Black Static, Gratia Placenti and possibly Albedo One.

I'll also be reviewing Book of Shadows and Australian Dark Fantasy and Horror 2007 - both from Brimstone Press.

Lastly, I've been accepted into a new critique group run by Authors by Design. This is important to me as it gives me access to other like minded individuals who are willing to critique my work. In return I will try to do my best to help them advance in pursuit of their goals within writing. Alas, this means that any crit group I thought about starting will now be put on hold.

Well that's about it. For now I think that's enough really.

May all your submissions sell and may all your nightmares be memorable.