I’m not one for yearly updates on my life, but it feels appropriate this time to share some things. This is an excuse to pat myself on the back for a few things instead of criticise for the smallest of screw ups. I might ramble, but what's life without a good rant? Dr Cox wouldn't know. Anyway, I want to talk about books, but that’s for another post, probably for the last blog post of the year. It’s all about achievements, both life and writing. I got a new job, one I love. More on that later. I finished editing my first YA novel this year, finished another and I’ve just finished the first draft of my third, WE LIVED AS GHOSTS. So, actually, writing news will dominate this post for the most part. That’s cool with me.
This is the One
Late last year, I started my first YA novel, WHEN IT RAINS, CALIFORNIA POURS. With that I wanted to keep writing YA fiction, and that’s what I’m doing. CALIFORNIA was the first book I wrote that I felt happy with and something I wouldn’t mind trying to send off to publishers. I edited it as best I could, and although one can never edit a book enough, I’m so proud of it. I’d usually refrain from such thoughts, but no, I should feel proud of it. I wrote it, I proved to myself I could do it, and I did. Then in the summer just gone, I started AURORA CLARITY IS COMING HOME, a novel I’d written before but it was missing something. An interesting story, I think. The rewrite is far better. Before AURORA CLARITY, I always planned my stories on paper and stuck to it. However, when writing that book I digressed towards others things and followed the story from the page instead of following my own plan. We’re all different. Some of us prefer to focus more on plot than story, but I’m a story guy. Stephen King wrote about that in On Writing and it made complete sense. I noticed a massive difference in my writing when I threw away plot for story, and I’m sticking to it.
And that brings me to my latest achievement. Finishing my first draft of WE LIVED AS GHOSTS. Not only was this novel 95% un-plotted, but I wrote 100,000 words. Yes, a good chunk of those words will disappear when editing it, but I still can’t believe I did that. Not only that, I had a seed of an idea, lots of notes and I produced a story without the shackles of plot pinning me down. I had no idea how it was going to end or who’d backstab who, but it made for exciting reading and I was surprising myself with where the story was going. I got those feelings with AURORA CLARITY, but more so with GHOSTS. It needs a ton of editing to make it right, but I’m convinced that focusing on story rather than plot is the way to go. I’m not a believer in fate, so my stories shouldn’t either. And milestones don’t stop there. Earlier on this year I won my first writing competition, the Yeovil College Reading Room Competition with The Strangers We’ve Become. I’m still in disbelief. I had a near miss with another, and also I’ve been flattered that short story magazines and websites I’ve submitted to have offered feedback and helpful tips. Submitting things is new to me, and thankfully, their tips and Stephen King’s On Writing is proving invaluable. Good manners, people. It helps.
And that brings me to my latest achievement. Finishing my first draft of WE LIVED AS GHOSTS. Not only was this novel 95% un-plotted, but I wrote 100,000 words. Yes, a good chunk of those words will disappear when editing it, but I still can’t believe I did that. Not only that, I had a seed of an idea, lots of notes and I produced a story without the shackles of plot pinning me down. I had no idea how it was going to end or who’d backstab who, but it made for exciting reading and I was surprising myself with where the story was going. I got those feelings with AURORA CLARITY, but more so with GHOSTS. It needs a ton of editing to make it right, but I’m convinced that focusing on story rather than plot is the way to go. I’m not a believer in fate, so my stories shouldn’t either. And milestones don’t stop there. Earlier on this year I won my first writing competition, the Yeovil College Reading Room Competition with The Strangers We’ve Become. I’m still in disbelief. I had a near miss with another, and also I’ve been flattered that short story magazines and websites I’ve submitted to have offered feedback and helpful tips. Submitting things is new to me, and thankfully, their tips and Stephen King’s On Writing is proving invaluable. Good manners, people. It helps.
The Mythic and the Real
If we step back into the real world, (snoozefest, I know) I can say that I got a new job. Stocking shoes at Clarks. Does it sound glamourous? Well, if you compare it to snowboarding in the Rockies or free-falling from ten-thousand feet then no, it doesn’t. But I love it. Not only that, the company there is topnotch, and although I haven’t got much to show for it or any social skills to speak of, I’ve not once dreaded going to work and more often than not, I’m sad to leave each day. It reminds me of my college days. I loved being there and the work, but I hated leaving. It’s never easy leaving a good thing, but I can’t help thinking that it’s going to be over soon. Even though there is no rational explanation as to why, but I can’t shake it off. What else? I burned a relationship, another regret. I discovered I cannot cope with customer based job roles, and I developed a taste for Fosters. Go me. Also, I’ve been a nerd all my life, and this year I decided to hell with people thinking I’m a nerd or whatever and just embracing it, loving it and not caring. The first step to kicking the hell out of anxiety problems. Being yourself is a precious thing, not something anyone can take away and I found out this year that if you stand tall, try to like who you are and what you do then nobody can hurt you. I bought an Xbox One, and I love it. I read books, I spend my days inside most of the time and I make up stories. That’s who I am.
I suspect I’ll write a post about what I’d like to do for next year, but that’ll be focused more on writing goals than anything else. I’m not one for planning my life as such, that sort of thing just happens alone. Taking life one day at a time works, and I know that if I think about it too much, I’ll freak out and question if I have what it takes to reach thirty. I’m twenty-three, I’ve got a ways to go yet. I’ve got things ready in the pipeline, a new novel for one and website ideas. Do I have any new year’s resolutions? No, I just have the one goal for life. Learn how to be happy.
I suspect I’ll write a post about what I’d like to do for next year, but that’ll be focused more on writing goals than anything else. I’m not one for planning my life as such, that sort of thing just happens alone. Taking life one day at a time works, and I know that if I think about it too much, I’ll freak out and question if I have what it takes to reach thirty. I’m twenty-three, I’ve got a ways to go yet. I’ve got things ready in the pipeline, a new novel for one and website ideas. Do I have any new year’s resolutions? No, I just have the one goal for life. Learn how to be happy.
Statistics to Make it Official
Album of the Year: Desideratum by Anaal Nathrakh
Songs of the Year: The Joystream by Anaal Nathrakh & Methadone by Rise Against
Game of the Year: The Crew
Book of the Year: Bright Lights, Big City
Achievement of the Year: My New Job
People of the Year: The Clarks Crew
Delicious Sandwiches Consumed at Lunch Breaks: Too Many to Count
Songs of the Week:
Songs of the Year: The Joystream by Anaal Nathrakh & Methadone by Rise Against
Game of the Year: The Crew
Book of the Year: Bright Lights, Big City
Achievement of the Year: My New Job
People of the Year: The Clarks Crew
Delicious Sandwiches Consumed at Lunch Breaks: Too Many to Count
Songs of the Week:
- 'Methadone' by Rise Against
- 'The Good Left Undone' by Rise Against
- 'Survive' by Rise Against
- 'I Don't Want to Be Here Anymore' by Rise Against
- 'Hello Heartache' by Avril Lavigne
- 'Why' by Avril Lavigne
- 'Dressed to Fuck' by The Killing Tree
- 'Black' by Pete Yorn
- 'A Firm Foundation of Unyielding Despair' by Anaal Nathrakh
- 'The Joystream' by Anaal Nathrakh
- 'Idol' by Anaal Nathrakh
- 'A Metaphor for the Dead' by Anaal Nathrakh
- 'Rage and Red' by Anaal Nathrakh
- 'Ita Mori' by Anaal Nathrakh