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The Annual Update Anniversary

So, last year when I jokingly wrote that I was doing an annual update, little did I know that was prophetic.

Now, here we are in 2024 and I’m doing an update in February! Less than a year since my last post! Incredible!

Well, time to catch you all up on the life and times since May 2023, and away we go!

Family Life:

Things appear to be going well all aside from the bloody budget crunching thanks to the insane interest rates at the moment. I know we’re faring better than most, so I won’t complain about it too much. That being said, my son is a lover of books and his attention span is growing for bigger books. He’s two, but his highest interest is the trio of choose-your-own-adventure novels I brought home. He wasn’t a huge fan of the haunted house one (I do fun voices, but I chose to do spookier ones for that), but the Dino Time Travel and Build Your Own Robot stories have been a big hit. Maybe he’ll be more into sci-fi!

Work Life:

I still have the shop and it’s going great! I am absolutely still loving the job, but I know I have a challenging conversation coming up in regards to renewing the lease. As I don’t want to move it, I’m hoping the landlord comes to the party as she said she prefers long-term tenants as opposed to a revolving door or vacancy. Seriously though, running a bookshop has been a dream of mine and it feels weird to actually be living it!

Reading Life:

For 2023 I managed 156 books through reading and audiobooks. What an incredible year! Some of the highlights I had from last year: Discovered Anthony Horowitz (then interacted with him on Twitter!), read more Indigenous authors than ever before, picked up a physical copy of Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury (SIGNED!), and found myself crying (Before the Coffee Gets Cold), laughing (The Duke & I, romance/biting wit!), confused (The Three Body Problem, first book to make me feel too stupid to read it) and downright concerned for the author (The Eulogy, seriously though, someone go hug her!). I’ve set a LOFTY goal of 200 books this year, and I’m on track halfway through my 21st read!

Writing Life:

The whole reason this blog exists. Writing. Last year, I managed to rack up a few decent things for the old writing CV. In 2023 I managed to get showcased twice on the Australian Writers’ Centre’s #FuriousFiction competition with a long listing earlier in the year too. This follows on from my win in April 2021, and I’ve already managed a longlisting in January this year!

I also placed second in Storyfest’s writing competition which is an excellent win (especially since it was a modified story for a specific publication the year before last). The best part about this is it gives me a bit more confidence that I can write outside the #FuriousFiction competitions and it netted me a gift card for books and a voucher for classes!

In Writing in general, I’m still working on my rewrite of Jefferson (the book now known as The Magician’s Curse). Rewriting for point of view, editing for tense and pronouns, and ensuring the story still holds up has been my biggest challenge yet. Aside from that though I’ve just finished February’s #FuriousFiction, I have a short story about a cat on submission, another story to short édition, and a longer story on sub to Aurealis. So, all in all, I’m putting myself out there and more people are seeing my work than ever.

 

And that brings us to the end of yet another annual update! If you’re lucky, you may end up with a second post before the end of the year, but don’t count on it! I have some other news I’ll be sitting on for a little bit longer, so we will see how that pans out for the midyear! For now, back to writing/editing!

The (Apparently) Annual Update

Let’s start by saying that things don’t always go according to plan.

If you’re looking for many words of inspiration, you won’t find them here. No, instead you’ll find a plethora of reasons as to why I have been unable to get published. I’ll skip through them and cut straight to the chase, I needed a breather.

You see, writing is a labor of love and self-abuse. You write something you love, then you make it look like you meant to write it the way that you did. Then you tidy up your grammar, make vital cuts, and rewrite until your fingers ache. At some point, I think I began to tell myself that my story wasn’t up to scratch, that despite all of the fantastic and glorious feedback I’d received, somehow my book was awful.

So I edited it.

Then edited some more.

I cut a character; a dangerous game when you’ve written two novels set after book one.

I did this until I finally backed away after rejection #(Still in double digits somewhere) and just stepped away from submitting to agents. Then, I stepped away from the book completely. I stepped away from writing completely.

I changed careers, loving my new job when they suddenly announced a change that will dramatically affect my work/life balance. I put my head in my hands and I felt my pulse race. Not again. I ran my fingers through what little hair I do have. Not again.

Now I sit on the precipice of yet another decision. Stick with the new job and sacrifice 6 hours a week with my son? Or find work elsewhere as the company is refusing to budge on their decision.

Whatever happens, I opened the door to my writing room once again and peered in, a physical and visual representation of my mind. Books stacked every which way. A half-finished wooden globe beckoning to be finished. Two hourglasses sit, mocking the time I’m wasting. I sit the three new books I bought from work on a pile and move globe pieces from my usual writing chair.

***

Odd to come back to a half written post a few months later.

No, I’m still not published. No, I still haven’t gotten back into my writing routine.

However…

I’ve made a deal with a fellow writer to help push her to add more to her manuscript in preparation for a Varuna Fellowship next year. I’m going to edit at ten times whatever she writes. Yes, I hate myself that much. But also, she has stretch goals including me cutting and rewriting chapters. If she keeps ahead of target, I’ll keep pushing like I’ve got a month to live. Essentially, if she finished above 30,000 words, I should have edited and rewritten a brand new draft of my book next month. Don’t worry everyone… the energy drinks are on the way. So is the printed and bound manuscript I’ve ordered for such an occasion. Made me feel good when Officeworks called to say the book was too big for the thermal binding. Then I also started sweating. NaNoWriMo is more NaNoEdMo for me. I just hope I survive.

Also, because trying to edit and rewrite a novel isn’t enough, me and my wife are looking into buying a secondhand bookshop. It’s been on the cards to run our own business for a long time and we always put things off like buying property, investing, skipped over buying a business not too long ago, and now… here we are. This may not be the exact opportunity we’ve been looking for, but it also very well may. Anyway, for now I’ll be editing… if I get a chance, I’ll try and pop by here at least a little bit more frequently!

Oh, Hello March.

I fondly remember the beginning of February. Three blog posts ahead, a full team of managers and a plan for my store that was nearing completion to set myself up for the year. Ah, the best laid plans eh?

Staff suddenly were leaving this way and that, others who were transferring into the store decided not to and then my boss and his wife had their baby. Oh, did I mention I was in the middle of writing a novel when all this went down?

Bloody good thing I’m already bald.

The good news? I finished Firebrand, my #writeabookwithal book for February, which clocked in at just over fifty thousand words! Then I interviewed and hired four new staff. Now we are prepping for stocktake. #bossinglikeaboss? I think so.

Writing the book with Allison Tait wasn’t actually sitting in a room with her, but it was the next best thing as we all cheered each other on across Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. In fact, in episode 223, I actually got a lovely callout from the author herself on the podcast “So You Want To Be A Writer” where she spoke of my wins! The worst part about it was I was so far behind I found out about it in the Podcast Facebook group first and then had to wait patiently while I caught up!

The novel I wrote, Firebrand, is a story set in the same world as Jefferson and takes place long after Jefferson’s novel. The story follows the barbarian Balthazar who started off as a prophesied child who would rise up and defeat the gods, only for the town to fear his power after he accidentally incinerates a group of kids who were bullying him. The story follows his exile and search for meaning until he begins searching for the Wanderer, a supposed god who walks the realms of mortals searching for those worthy enough to ascend to the heavens. FUN TIMES!

The thing I love about the last two novels I’ve written is that my writing has improved ten fold and although these stories are lore building stories, it is how they tie in that makes me so happy to write them. The more of these fifty thousand word novels I write, the more intricate the details for the world become. After all, the best part about fantasy is the world building, am I right?

Seriously though, am I?

Lastly, I must mention my latest endeavour. Nope, not another novel. Not a submission to a contest either.

No.

This is nuts.

I queried an agent!!!

So for the next 4-6 weeks (as per the guidelines on their page) I will be a bundle of nerves every time my email dings. I’m both excited and terrified at the prospect of actually finding an agent. It’ll make it all too real to get one, and I’m unsure as to how I’ll react if I get knocked back. This being my first query ever, I do expect rejection but expecting it and receiving it are two completely different things. I will say this though, with Harry Potter being my biggest influence for Jefferson’s novel, I’ve chosen my agent carefully as Harry Potter was the series that turned her into a reader. I really want to do that for a new generation and I want to also welcome them into fantasy with open arms.

Not only that, but I have huge plans for my world. I have two story ideas that have come to mind as of late that are also lore building and diversifying. One tale of two womanising princes who fall for each other and cause war between their kingdoms and another with a battle maiden who sacrifices herself to save the princess she’s fallen for, only to find out that the princess is still in danger and claws her way back from death to save her. These are both stories I believe I could write out in fifty thousand words or a bit more (NaNoWriMo, I’m looking at you) so now I just have to choose!

Anyway, hopefully on my day off this week I can get back to some scheduled posts as next week is stocktake, so I will be a zombie roughly until Thursday! Until then though, let me know how your writing is going and also if you’ve got any tips for querying (as I may need them in the future) or for editing (as I continue the staring contest with my first drafts).

Let me know and thanks for stopping by!