MRH Blog

Ramblings and mutterings

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March Update

Well, where to start?

Amid a world going quickly to rack and ruin, I am resolved to position myself in a quiet place and keep writing as best I can. To that end, the novella is progressing, probably not as fast as I’d like, but we are also renovating the house at the moment, so you know every now and then I get comissioned to do some painting or lug slabs of rubble around.

As a taster, the novella is about the potential mental health issues that can easily develop to any of us when this bizarre thing called life pushes us too far, and tries to break the fragile egg-shell that we call reality. Happy reading right?! 🙂

Still I hope someone will enjoy it. Until then, stay safe and healthy.

Namaste.

January update

Shit the bed! What happened to the end of the year?!?

Seriously, I think I fell asleep and missed most of winter, it is already halfway through. Ho-hum, sometimes that happens I suppose, the best thing is to just relish any joy you have experienced and move on with rest.

Winter, brrr. I just don’t like it. Maybe I am part reptilian? Equally I not happy when it is too hot either, so maybe I’m just awkward and annoying. 🙂

But I digress… what is the update? I am still working on the novella, it is shaping up to be very satisfactory (not wanting to commit at this stage). The lead character is broken and vulnerable, but without giving too much away, is also frustratingly useless and ponderously innactive. Hmmm, I sometimes wonder where I get my inspiration.

The days are already getting longer and soon I will be feeling my spring burst of creativity – hurrah! The plan is to finish the first draft before then so I can work with a editor to polish it and then decide where to flog it.

All that while dealing with life – I am amazing. Hahahahahahahahahahaha!

Namaste.

October update

October came and went in the blink of an eye… mostly because it didn’t stop raining and so I kept my eyes shut for a lot of the time (hums to himself ‘I don’t like the rain outside my windoooow’) .

So, not a lot happened from a literary point of view, I watch the leaves change colour and feel inadequate as a writer because my production has faded with them, I wait for it to drop off completely. Ah, melancholy you old sweetheart.

A quick face-slap later and I am yet again full of vigour, or is that vigor? I guess it depends which side of the Atlantic you stand.

The novella that I planned out a while back, has been grinding on, so I have set myself a daily word-count goal (which I may yet fail, grrr). It has a working title, which I quite like, even though it is a little cliche, so I may need to beta-test that along with the rest of it. My main area of concern / indecisiveness lies with the ‘view point’. I am not sure whether it would be better in first person or third. My instinct tells me ‘first’, but I have reservations about the style; its inherent issues with not being able to view a situation from another person’s frame of mind. I think my gut is right, I think it will bein the ‘first’, but research is needed.

Anyway, must press on. Namaste.

September Update

In keeping with the ‘summer from hell’, my submissions took an equally brutal battering, with a handful of rejections to face-slap my reserves. But, I am, if nothing else, a resilient fecker, and have lived through enough in life to know that when it gets nasty (as it will inevitably do at times), you’ve just got to press on regardless. They say blood is thicker than water… but skin is the only real defence you have, so sometimes you have to grow an extra layer or two in preparation for when it gets flayed.

I am writing, I am not sure if any of it will be published anywhere, I still have an idea for a ‘bare-all’ poetry book, laying down those difficult moments, and the thoughts of my inner mind whilst at its darkest, but I’m just not confident on a) the readership; b) the desire to expose it all.

On both levels it feels exploitative. I would be feeding a market of those people who seem to relish reading about others real pain, whilst at the same time feeling like I am doing at the detriment to my own psyche.

On the upside I have started working a novel that is genuinely exciting me, which is something that hasn’t happened for a few years, so hopefully it may actually come to fruition. It is still the very early stages, but there are chunks of it already well-formed, and potentially I am thinking about working some my own recent experiences into the character’s experiences, thus finding a creative outage for my pain, but without it being directly related to me. Of course, I have now digressed that information to anyone who reads this! Never mind, I don’t think anyone reads this anyway. 🙂

Enjoy the coming of Autumn. Namaste.

June – July… August?

Haha! My procrastination got the better of me and my monthly updates were pushed to the very bottom of a long list of things I haven’t got around to doing. Never mind, I’m here now. 🙂

So, where are we?

The Silk & Smoke Issue 1 was published, containing something a little prog-rock influenced by yours truly, and what a lovely compilation it was to be amongst – it’s free and most enjoyable, go on have a read.

To be completely honest, most of July has been a complete wash-out; it’s been probably one of the most depressing months I’ve experienced for a number of years, so the less said about it the better. That said, there have already been the inklings of some very dark poetry emerging from the smoldering ashes. I can’t be sure where those will be released (if ever), but I’ll let you know if they do.

August is looking more promising, there are oodles of competitions and submissions to pull together, and hopefully something will emerge.

I wish you all a joyous summer. Namaste.

May update

So Spring is upon us proper and I have therefore renewed my efforts of creativity… just writing that sentence was fairly hard work. Seriously, good things are afoot (and a hand, etc. – ok I’ll stop the puns).

A couple of my poems have been published in an anthology titled ‘For The Silent’ which is helping to promote the protection of our native species (and ones that were imported), by donating funds and raising awareness for the deaths of animals due to ‘sport’. You can purchase a copy here.

I have also had news that one of my poems will be published in a magazine which should be coming out in summer, produced by Silk & Smoke.

Of course I am continuing to write various other bits – and sometimes I think I may be spreading myself thin… I have considered concentrating on one thing at a time, but my brain doesn’t like it, I find I need to diversify my creativity to keep it active. Which is ok, but can be hard work sometimes.

Oh well, keep on swimming…

April update

This month’s blog is a little behind, partially due to my awesome laziness, but also because I have genuinely been busy – not writing I’m afraid, but dealing with home-stuff.

Pleased to say that I’ve had another poem published in a poetry journal (The Dawntreader), and have submitted a another piece which has been accpeted but not published until later this year.

Various other submissions are still pending.

On the back of how lovely my latest poetry collection turned out (A Small Herd Of Cats) I have decided to pull together another, which may or may not be cat related at this moment – I have got a number of cat ideas floating in my head still.

Plus I have finally started writing (in ernest) the second instalment of my cat adventure story… the aim is not to leave 5 year gaps between each instalment, but I’m blaming that on the family!

Onwards, onwards, the ship sales on through the night…

March update

The full steam ahead begining of the year has not showed sign of slowing yet… in case your thinking that the limited output I leave in my wake is not what a normal person considers to be ‘full steam’, ‘throttle’, or indeed ‘fast paced’. Then I would remind you that I label myself a ‘life-long procrastinator’, so don’t judge me, just be willing to accept that my current pace is very unlike me!

As I was saying …the collection of verse is finally up on Amazon, I urge you to purchase and read, as I have a starving student illustrator to recompense for her wonderful contributions.

Additionally, I have revised book one of my feline adventure story, ‘Tails From Darkly Moon’, which is also now listed on Amazon and again, I can’t stress enough what a fantastic read it is… my young son is thoroughly enjoying it as a bedtime ditty.

There are a couple of potential publications in other areas pending at the moment, which I will describe further in the next update or two.

February update

January was a good start to the year, cold and there was some amount of illness, but still productive. In fact it took a hallucinatory, fever-addled brain that allowed me to make a really positive connection to some of the bits and bobs of writing I had lurking about.

I have finished the book of verse, and the illustrations are coming along nicely, so it should be ready for a March publication deadline.

The Redwell Anthology is progressing and should also have a spring publication date, which will be good stuff, one short story and a poem in there.

I have a poem due to be published in the spring edition of a literary journal, news about that to come soon. And I submitted another poem and a short story to two other publications… awaiting the outcome of those.

Additionally, I am working on a collection of short Cthulhu stories, which I may or may not publish myself; depending on whether I can get any published elsewhere first. As well as a novella which I am planning to publish on Wattpad.

See what I mean – productive! 🙂

New year update

So the year has started and my reserves are suitably prepared to see me through the winter months into the spring – although the weather seems to have forgotten it is winter at the moment.

As usual my intent is to post as much as possible, but that may trickle off over time… may be not this year. 🙂

Things on the horizon:
I have been working on a collection of poetry that is due for publication early this spring – more info coming soon.
Redwell Writers is publishing a second anthology soon which will include a short story and a couple of poems of mine.

Namaste.

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