Blood, Sweat and Keyboards

Chronicling the journey of an aspiring novelist

Writing Update – February 24(5), 2023

Well, I’m one day late (thanks to the sometimes-patchy Wi-Fi at my place giving out yesterday), but nevertheless the time has come.

So, what’ve I been up to this week, writing-wise? Well, to be honest, I’ve mostly just kept up what I was doing last week. The new Nightmares Inc. ending is going along OK – my progress has still been inconsistent, but it’s getting there – and it looks like I should (knock on wood) be done by the first few days of March, like I’d hoped. Just a few days ago, the plot took a bit of a crazy turn; I haven’t actually written the words down yet, but there’s this big, dramatic moment I think I’m going to put in now that’ll stop readers cold (again, knock on wood). I don’t want to give too much more away: it just makes me want this thing to be done that much more, so that I can finally get it published and show it off to all of you.

Sigh. If only it were that easy.

Speaking of getting something published, though, I also started work on one of those short story ideas I talked about last week. In all likelihood, one of these ideas (or maybe Endure) will be the next Eric Andersson piece published, and not one of my novels. That’s mostly just because novels are so much more work than short stories: not only do they take more time to write, but because they’re longer, everything else takes longer too. Editing, for one thing: my own edits on a novel can take months, whereas editing a short story can take as little as a few hours, or maybe a few days at most.

But, alas, in typical Eric fashion, this new idea I started on has begun to balloon on me. At this point, I’m once again thinking it’ll be a novella, rather than a short story: you may recall, though, that I repeatedly said the same thing about The Ravage, before I finally crossed that 50,000 word barrier with the end still 26,000 words away. So…who knows? Maybe this new idea (which doesn’t have a title yet) might become my second novel written this year. And all before I even look at Chronicles of Usi.

Sorry, Zuza. Might have to wait a little longer before I start telling your story.

…and now she’s royally ticked off at me. Yeah, Zuza as a character – she’s goanna be the main protagonist in Chronicles of Usi, if you didn’t know/remember – has been very clear in my mind for a while. And she’s been kicking and stabbing and thrashing around up there in my head, screaming at me to let her out already.

Oh, and then there’s Morra and friends to think about, too. Gotta do that Kosan rewrite sometime. And Konrad Clark, too: I still haven’t finished the first draft of The 2nd Realm. I need to get back to that sometime.

As you can see, I’ve got a lot of ideas bouncing around up there in my head. Not that they bounce all at once: they tend to take turns, which is nice of them, I suppose. But they don’t ever stop bouncing. And I do mean ever. I could be driving, cleaning the bathroom, playing Civilization 6, working on my MA thesis, watching a hockey game, whatever. Maybe there’s a few minutes where my mind is elsewhere. Maybe even an hour or two. But a full day? Nah. Sooner or later – and it’s almost always sooner – one of them comes back and starts buzzing around in my brain. It would be annoying if I didn’t love the process of putting their stories down on paper so damn much.

Anyway, that’s just about all for this week. I almost didn’t do a writing update this week – I almost decided to post some writing advice instead, for any would-be writers who happened to stumble on my meagre little site – but I didn’t get too far into that before deciding an update would be better. I do want to mix up the content I post here a little bit soon, though. It’s tough when you’re just starting out: if I get more established, I’ll be able to talk about book tours, meeting other authors, going to conventions, and maybe give some wiser advice than the stuff I thought of giving this week. For the neophyte writer, though…well, I’m sure there are still possibilities out there. Guess we’ll see what happens.

Oh, and lastly, a quick note on Endure: I’m still waiting for a reply. That could be a good thing or a bad thing. The magazine I submitted to says I can contact them about my submission after four months: as of now, it’s been three. So whatever happens, this saga should end by late March, early April at the latest.

And then, in all likelihood, I’ll get to submit to another magazine and start it all over again. But hey, that’s life when you’re a writer. OK, I’ve kept you all long enough. Until next week, have fun, stay safe and keep reading.