April went by in a flash.
Project 8, the 6th book in the Earth Saga series, was completed and handed over to the beta-tester, and work has started on Projects 9 and X. Project 9 is another stand-alone novel set in the Earth Saga universe, and Project X is the 7th book of 9 in the Earth Saga series. I have a slight concern that the 7th book of the Earth Saga series will be the crescendo of the series. I’m thinking that 7 will be the longest book in the series to date, but once it’s wrapped, I’m worried that the final two stories in the series will struggle to have the same level of drama and excitement. Clearly some thought needs to be applied to those last two stories.
Project 9, which is a stand-alone is going to be the first project without any characters connected to any of the other books that I’ve worked on so far. It’ll be a self-contained story that will be my attempt to write a sci-fi thriller/horror story. I’m not certain about the target length of this project, but it’ll probably be around the 90,000 word mark, which seems to be the average I’m hitting.
Standish, my opus, is now being sent to agents. This is going to be a long, painful experience. I’ve already fired off 30 submissions, and was swiftly rejected 10 times. More of the same to follow in May I’m sure. I am holding onto Standish at the moment because many of the agents/publishers that I’ve had a look at won’t touch material that has already been published. Gotta play the long-game with this.
On the art front, I went to the Don McCullin exhibition at the Tate. It wasn’t great. He’s got a few iconic shots, but other than that, it was just all so dark and gloomy and average that I was rather disappointed.
The Battle for the City of Hue, South Vietnam, US Marine Inside Civilian House 1968, printed 2013 Don McCullin born 1935 ARTIST ROOMS Tate and National Galleries of Scotland. Purchased with the assistance of the ARTIST ROOMS Endowment, supported by the Henry Moore Foundation and Tate Members 2014 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/AR01196
I went to a Kalax show in Hoxton in April. My first ‘gig’ in ages. I love his music, and the show was a lot of fun. Synthwave is without a doubt my favourite genre at the moment, and it’s what powers the brain when I’m punching the keys, although I’m listening to Beethoven while writing this!
On the viewing side of things, Game of Thrones is in its final season, and so far, the episodes this season are a mixed bag. 1 and 2 were very good, 3 was a disaster. I’m hoping that the final 3 are good, but I’m not holding my breath.
The plan for May is rather simple: keep working on projects 9 & X, and get Book 6 of the Earth Saga series edited and out to the people. I’m thinking that there is a good chance that Book 6 could be on Kindle before June hits, which would be great.
Anyway, another month down, and many targets left to hit in 2019. I’ll make my bold prediction now. 2019 will see the following: Book 6 and Book 7 of the Earth Saga series on Kindle. Project 9, the stand-alone novel on Kindle. Standish either with an agent or on Kindle. So, that’s 3 books released, and Standish either on the way to being published, or on Kindle. Exciting stuff.
Until next month.