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ECHOES FROM THE PAST: UnExtreme- “Get the Funk Out”, & Psychic Metal Terror- “When You Come Back To
This one may take a little explanation.
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I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself (Slight Return)
Coming back from holiday is always surreal- even more so when the downpours of rain have transformed the countryside around our house. When we left, everything was relatively dry and bare- in just a few days, it’s exploded in lush green life. Everything is wet and green and wild, growing in random patterns, while everything wooden glistens with dark colours. It’s at times like this that I’m exceptionally glad we’re living where we are.
A week away from reality has focussed me alot– and I’ve also had some positive feedback on the novel which is leading me to think I may not be too far away from getting it finished. What’s not helping is the general sensation that I’m terrible at multi-tasking– without firm deadlines being involved, I can only handle one problem at a time, meaning I end up spending too much time staring slackly at my life going “What do I do?” One thing I am going to do is throw myself back into the writing fray with another round on Novel in 90. I have a potential idea, which is lurking somewhere in the realms of pulp adventure fantasy and surreal family comedy, and I think the best thing for me may be simply to start writing, and this time try harder not to stop (It’d be nice to beat my previous record). I’ve also got to do some Ebaying- a process I’ve been putting off for too long, meaning there’s a small mountain of stuff to be sold, and the whole thing looks even less encouraging than before.
For a little while, I’ve been a little insecure about my social life (or lack of one), and I’ve officially decided not to worry. It’s never done me any good in the past, so I’m simply going to smile, wink and say “Hey, Nonny Nonny” to the whole thing. Life is for living, and very little else.
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TV EYE: New Who, Week 6: ‘The Lazarus Experiment’
Possibly the most visually slick New Who has ever been- and with very little going on under the hood. Beware the Spoilers…
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Nothing But Flowers
I’m incredibly, incredibly tired. To be honest, I’ve been feeling like this for most of the week, and I’m getting the impression that disappearing off tomorrow to Cornwall for a few days is probably a good idea. Alright, I’m going to be driving so the journey down won’t exactly be the height of relaxation, but otherwise all should be well. After a day’s subbing on Friday and the recovery from the Clarke Awards, I feel in desperate need of a stasis mode.
I’ve ground to a halt on the rewrites. I just need a bit more energy, and then I’ll crack on. I’ve decided– this is going to be my final round of major rewrites. There will be some tweaking, but once I get this version of the book finished, I am cracking open the champagne and calling it done. And then, a few minutes later, I’m going to start panicking about the next one (I’ve had a very possible idea, but don’t want to jinx myself)…
The sun is shining, and George is out re-potting some seedlings in our garden. Life is good at the moment, and it’s going to get better.
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TV Eye: HEROES Ep20- ‘Five Years Gone’
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Incoming Futurity Homesick Blues
I’m feeling oddly melancholic at the moment. Certain subjects are stressing me out more than they should, and while work is progressing well on the book, and I’m rewriting more and more, I can’t help feeling I’ve created something that some anonymous reader is going to look at and go “Hmmph. Well, it was fun, but it could have been alot better…” The chapters are taking shape– I’m in the middle of what I call the Godforsaken Desert of Exposition, where the characters learn all the necessary stuff they need before the next phase of the story can begin, but I got to a certain point in the rewrite last night, and I felt like I just couldn’t push myself any further. I desperately want to improve at this process and understand it better, but the only way I’m going to do that is by writing another one. With a certain degree of preperation, I think I’m capable of burning through a massive level of wordcount in a very short amount of time (my only writing method at the moment is to start with throwing lots of words at the page and seeing what sticks), but then it’s changing that into something good. I guess I’m just finding it a little hard to have faith in myself. It’s a very long road, and while I’m coming to the end of it, I’m getting nervous that the destination might not be exactly where I wanted to end up.
Anyhow, I’ve got the Clarke Awards in London tonight– I’m going to go, talk to lots of people, drink plenty, and hopefully have a good time…
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Holding Out For A Hero (Paranoimia Mix…): A Novel Request
I’m getting a bit paranoid about getting to the end of the rewrite of the novel, finally acheiving my goal- and discovering I’ve crafted something nobody wants to read. So, in an attempt to dip my toe in the water, here’s a preliminary blurb for the book, behind the cut. Have a look, let me know if it sounds like something you’d like to read. If you’d actually like to read some of it, let me know. At the moment, I’m desperately in need of feedback. Every little helps.
(This is repeated material from an earlier post, by the way- if you read the previous “Novel Request” post, you won’t be missing anything…)
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ECHOES FROM THE PAST: The Alchemist, Part 7
Well, I don’t know if there’s anyone left in the auditorium, but here’s the final sequence and credits for the VHS no-budget epic that I produced with my friend Tris when I was a tender 16 years of age. If nothing else, The Alchemist and what I accomplished while making it has defined my life in an odd way, and showed me that if you set your sights ridiculously high, sometimes you can be surprised by where you end up. Anyone curious can follow the tags to the other chapters of the production. To whoever’s left out there– hope you managed to extract some kind of enjoyment from it (and well done for making it to the end…)
Plus, I’m heading back to Cornwall soon– so maybe, just maybe, I might be able to get the legendary Alchemist Out-Take reel on YouTube. Consider yourself warned…
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Go Wild, Go Wild, Go Wild in the Country…
I didn’t want to blog about it up until now– and doing this now might jinx myself– but at the same time as rewriting the novel, I’m also writing a short story. I don’t know what the hell I’m going to end up with, but I’m using the Novel in 90 750 word a day method, and blimey if it isn’t actually working. For the last few days, I’ve even been finding that the best time for me to write is immediately after I’ve gotten up. No breakfast– straight to the computer. There’s stuff coming out that’s interesting, and I don’t know where it’s coming from, which is normally a good sign. I’d forgotten how good being productive makes me feel- today, I managed over 1,000 words, I restructured half a chapter in The Hypernova Gambit, I finished two reviews, and did a rough version of a third. Next time I’m blankly depressed, I’m going to try and remember today, as one of the points where it actually all worked.
Book-wise, I’ve gotten to the end of Chapter 5- and that’s actually a third of the way through the book. (I ended up with rather hefty, multi-part chapters that average about 10,000 words each). What’s coming up is a little scary, as while the middle third is a little weaker and in need of plenty of work, most of the rewriting needs to be done to the final third. Trouble is, I’ve been set a deadline by George that this all has to be done by 25th of June (and that’s including getting someone to read the damn thing, which is proving to be harder than I’d like). She keeps saying that ‘You’re never going to be happy with it’ in response to me saying ‘I just want to get it a point where I’m happy with it’– and the thing is, I know that I’m not going to get this perfect. I’m not fooling myself. But, I am convinced that if I work myself to the bone on this thing, I can get it to a stage where it’s all of a good, survivable standard. The first five chapters are almost there. The rest of it’s taking some work. I’m going to get there, I just wish I knew when…
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TV Eye: New Who, Week 5- ‘Evolution of the Daleks’
Oh dear. My hopes weren’t exactly high after last week, but this week’s episode of Season 3 of Who bore all the suspicious hallmarks of a gigantic mess. Some brief thoughts follow, along with spoilers…
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Saxon Bullock 