2023 – How The Heck Are You?
Oof. This is my first post of 2023. Pretty much a quarter of the year is gone already and I’m beginning to wonder what I have to show for it. The answer is – a whole lot of words that are yet to see publication! That’s not to say they won’t – as we all know, publishing is a fickle, difficult business so there are no guarantees when or even if a book is going to make its way out there. There’s been lots to celebrate in 2023 regardless of it being a slow publication year so far.
Last Night of Freedom
Last Night of Freedom, my crazy, violent crime/thriller is complete, edited and doing the rounds with agents. I’m proud of this one. There are interesting characters, some horrendous violence and a couple of very nasty twists and turns.
Massive thanks to the Continental Editing Powerhouse AKA Austrian Spencer who gave this book a beasting in beta reads. Also thanks to Kev Harrison (as ever) for reading it and giving his superb feedback.
This is the leanest, tightest book to date. Let’s hope it finds itself a worthy home.
The Passenger
I finished work on The Passenger a little while ago now. It’s a twisted little novella about hauntings, grief, abuse, and the sea. It’s a bit of a departure style-wise from previous books, perhaps leaning more into uncanny territory than before. A difficult book to write due to the themes involved, hopefully I’ve struck a balance between the supernatural and real-life horrors at play. This one needs a hefty edit but the overall bones of the story are there. Something to pull to pieces and put back together over the coming months.
Down in Albion
I took a screenwriting course at the back end of 2022 and caught the bug for it. I’m now involved in running the Mersey Screenwriters, a group that meets once a month to crit scripts and offer feedback etc. This month I finished the script and pitch deck for Down in Albion, a comedy drama about a superfan of a non-league club and his battles to save it from extinction. I adapted it from my 2020 (unpublished) novel of the same name. I’m not 100% sure what to do with this just yet but I’m sure I’ll find a few avenues to try!
Miscellaneous
I think that’s about it for my 2023 progress so far. I’ve just wrapped a short story called “Let The Home Fires Burn” and have started a quick audio script for a scheme I’d love to get on.
There are several novel ideas swirling at the moment and it’s a matter of choosing the right one to take forward. I love them all equally at this point but it’s about choosing the right one that will sustain that momentum for the next 3/4 months. But that’s a problem for next week, then it’s time to dig in and get my teeth into the project.
I write these things for those who are interested but also for myself, it’s always useful to know what I’ve achieved in a quarter and to try to find out where I can improve.
Hopefully, next time I check in I’ll have concrete news on where these projects are going and maybe (please, Old Gods) some news on publication or representation. Who knows?
Until then…
Dan