Donald B. McFarlane's Blog, page 5

December/2019 in Review

December and 2019 has come to a close, and now we’re almost half-way through January. Time for a quick look back at December and how 2019 ended.

I’d have to say that December was not the most productive
month, work wise. Work continued on Project 11, another stand-alone book in the
Earth Saga Universe, but I certainly wasn’t punching the keys to my
satisfaction. On the sales front, I had to settle with a measly 12 sales, which
does not warm the heart.

December also involved the watching of some truly dreadful
films. The Guy Ritchie ‘King Arthur’ film was 
a train wreck, and Ryan Reynolds ‘6 Underground’ was also completely
stupid. How do these people get the funding for these projects? If I could
crack that riddle, perhaps I wouldn’t be selling so few books.

On the music front, got the album from Signal Void, which is
absolutely brilliant. I expect the synthwave music/work dynamic to continue
into 2020. Hopefully some more awesome music on the way.

We had an election in December which Boris won handily. I voted for the Green party. Yep, I’m a lefty.

For X-Mas, I popped over to the US. Ugh. That place is so
rundown. It’s rather sad, and the worst part is, the people living there either
are used to it, or don’t care, but by European standards, there is lots to be
desired. I think another 4 year absence is about right.

When looking at 2019 on a whole, there are 2 areas that are
of particular interest. First, I released 3 projects. Condition Zero: The Earth
Saga VI. Standish: An Earth Saga Story. The Gauloi: An Earth Saga Story.
3 releases per year is an excellent number, I’m not sure I can manage more
than 2 in 2020, but we’ll aim high.

The second point of interest from 2019 is the total book
sales. 124 units sold. That number is what I need to sell in 2 days to cover ‘cost
of living’ etc by being a writer. Clearly something is off. I even bought that
Rocket Publishing program and tried one or two give-aways. The sales and the
reviews just aren’t coming. Very frustrating.

For 2020, I have 3 primary objectives: 1 and 2 are the release
Project 10 (Earth Saga 7) and Project 11 (Earth Saga Stand-Alone). Objective 3
is to get the sales up. Somehow.

Time will tell, but hopefully, we’ll have some new
adventures in print in 2020, and some new stories to keep the fans happy.

November 19

November raced past, and we now find ourselves in the early
and chilly days of December. November was an excellent month for giving books
away, 465 in total with an additional 38 sales. Now that’s not horrible, if it
leads to some positive reviews and future purchases, but it’s only a quarter of
the number of books I need to sell per month, so, still a long way to go in
that respect!

On the reading front, I’ve been battling through Francis
Pike’s Hirohito’s War for a while now. The thing is over 1200 pages long and
weighs almost 2kg. It’s pretty well written, and provides a lot of insight into
the war in the Pacific that many historians miss. Number 1 would be China is
primarily responsible for the defeat of Japan. Sort of like Russia in Europe.
Somehow America always steals the glory.

On the TV/Film side, I really enjoyed watching the Trump impeachment
hearings on the BBC. That guy is guilty as sin.

Film wise, I went and saw The Good Liar in the cinema, and
while I can’t criticize the acting of the two leads, the plot tries to be too
clever, and the end of the film ruins it.

I also went and watched LeMans 66, which I thought was a lot
of fun, but then again, the ending sucks, and by ending, I mean the last five
minutes. It seems this film got a lot of stink in the press about having an
almost entirely white male cast. It was 1966 after all…….

And finally, I watched the Irishman. Ehhh. Too long. The
actors are too old. I wasn’t that impressed.

On the music front, went to the Ollie Wride and Wolf Club
gig in Camden. Great performances all round.

Work wise, things went well, got a 5 star rating on
Goodreads for Standish, which I can’t complain about, and my newest project ‘Murder
on Valtameri’ is going well.

Looking to December, it’s heads down and focus on Project
XI, a whodunit in space that will hopefully be completed and ready for release
in the first quarter of 2020. After that, I’m going to finish the 7th
Earth Saga book, then perhaps tackle another stand-alone. We will have to see.
Everyday I get another idea for a story, and now it’s just a question of
getting the words onto the page.

October 19

October is over, and another title is available as part of the Earth Saga series: Standish. The novel, all 190,000 words, is my pride and joy, and I hope something that people will enjoy reading. The story focuses on a young girl at the start of her military career, and on the same woman as she approaches retirement. It’s a bloody space-opera that hopefully captures my ability to deliver action on a scale that the other Earth Saga books haven’t seen.

October also saw the conclusion of Project 9, now titled The
Gauloi. This is a novella that attempts to blend sci-fi with horror to
deliver a compact journey of survival amid the terror found in deep-space. I’m
looking at a November release for this project.

I have also decided on a radical change of direction from my
previously laid plans. I had planned to keep charging ahead with the Earth Saga
series, currently 1/3 of the way through book 7 of 9, but I’ve lost all drive
on that, and it’s been put on ice. My plans now are to start another
stand-alone project, a novel, around the 100k word mark. No spoilers on the
subject matter, but it’ll be more cerebral, but pack enough action for those
who liked my other books. This project will remain within the Earth Saga
universe, and hopefully, add depth to what is already known, and create a
chance to enrich the collection.

Downloaded some more synth tunes for my creative juices and
watched a few films in October. Nothing that warrants mention.

The plan for November is to get Project 9 out to the readers
and get the keys punched with Project 11, the next chapter in the Earth Saga
universe.

September 19

September is over and autumn is upon us. Sales in September
amounted to 1 copy of Condition Zero sold and 20 copies of Minus
Epsilon given away along with 5 copies of Love in a Time of War.
Clearly my current marketing/advertising system sucks. No other way to put it.
Bad. Grim. Dire.

But hey, at least things are looking positive when it comes
to Project 9, the still untitled novella based in the Earth Saga universe. This
is the cross between Alien and Event Horizon and Pandorum, or at least that’s
what I’m telling myself. We’ve got pages back from 2 beta-testers, and edits
are going to start soon.

Project X, the 7th book in the Earth Saga series
is coming along nicely, and should launch late 19. I’m pumped, and expecting
this to be the longest Earth Saga novel to date. I’m still pitching Standish
to agents, but have yet to have any bites. I’m thinking that if I don’t get a whiff
of anything by New Years, it’s going live, damn the consequences.

On the film front in September, there were some winners, and
some losers. The two most prominent being Ad Astra and In the Shadow
of the Moon.

Ad Astra was very pretty with some excellent
set-piece action sequences, but the story dragged, and overall, it was perhaps
aiming too high, or trying to be too clever. Either way, it reminded me of The
Thin Red Line and had all the same problems of Blade Runner 2049 and
Mad Max Fury Road, very well shot, stylish, but the plot was lacking.

In the Shadow of the Moon, on the other hand, was
fun, interesting, attempting some bold ideas. By far one of Netflix’s best
sci-fi projects to date, and one of Boyd Holbrook’s best performances yet.

On the music front, we added some more synth to the library
with Trevor Something, who is excellent. I’m finding synth to have a lot of
sticking power with me. I also added the new State of Trace from AVB, but it just
doesn’t work for work. Synth seems to be the perfect background tunes to get
words on the page.

Literature wise, I read a rather dull, research paper-esque
book on US military folly since the end of the Second World War, called Why America
Loses War. Interesting material, and rather heavy, but it all comes down to
political stupidity, surprise, surprise.

September all gave me the chance to celebrate my friend
James Sherwood’s latest book launch in partnership with Henry Poole of Savile
Row at Coutts. A lovely affair in a bank that I’ll never have the funds to join
with a koi fish pond in the lobby.

The mission objectives for October are quite clear: get Project
9 live. Shouldn’t be an impossible task. I’ve got the material back from the
beta-testers, and now it’s just a question of taking their corrections and
input and applying it to the novella. I think this story, which takes place in
the ‘past’ will raise lots of new exciting questions about the Earth Saga
universe that will be answered in a trilogy that is planned for down the road.
I like the idea of having the ability to creative stories that take place in
the present, as well as the past that give me the chance to build a universe
that has as much depth as possible.

Of course, I’ll keep applying to agents, and trying to
figure out how to get more people to read my books, never an easy task. We
shall see.

August 19

August came and went in a flash, and while good work was
carried out, even if it was at a sluggish pace, things are starting to come
together with Project X, the 7th book in the Earth Saga series. This
novel is a rather pivotal part of the 9 part series, and I don’t want to call
it the beginning of the end, but it certainly puts things in motion to see the
series to a logical conclusion.

At present, Project 9, a stand-alone novella is with two
readers, and once those two drafts have been edited again by me, the story will
go to the final tester, with an October release still on the cards. Looking
forward, I’ve decided to push ahead with the conclusion of the Earth Saga and
wrap up the final two stories in 2020. After those are finished, I plan on follow-up
stand-alone novels, and at least one trilogy set in the same universe. The plan
is to build on the universe that already exists, travelling into the past,
different facets of life, and possibly into the future.

On the film front, there were some good films viewed in
August, and some total crap. I really enjoyed Crooked House, an Agatha Christie,
and Shazam. A film that was as bad as I expected was Hunter Killer. A complete
piece of dumb action rubbish. Kind of a cool plot, but badly executed and
poorly handled. We also got Season 10 of Archer, which was better in some ways
than some of the more recent series, but not hitting the highs from when the
show launched. Perhaps I’ve got Archer fatigue.

Went down to Brighton on a scorching August day to see the
great James Sherwood. He’s been hiding there while punching the keys. I’m
jealous of any writer who can get out of town to work. Anywhere is better than
my tiny flat.  

James was also kind enough to put his eye to Project 9 before
it went to my first reader while sipping some lovely cocktails in Covent
Garden.

August also supplied me with the harshest review I’ve had so
far. Look. I know that I’m not Shakespeare, and I also don’t have a
professional editor, and I’m not trying to write the next Martian, but some people
really like to stick the knife in and twist. Life goes on, and I’ll try to deliver
a better product in the future. I just hope that the story-telling stays entertaining.

September is purely focused on getting Project X closer to
completion. If all goes to plan, by the end of the month, it’ll look like I can
wrap it up in October. A secondary, and critical issue that is ongoing is
trying to get an agent. Not an easy task.

I’ll just keep attack the keyboard and trying to get the
stories out. All I can do.

July 19

July has come to a toasty end in London. Records were broken with a brief heat-wave, and Condition
Zero finally went live. This is the 6th
book in the Earth Saga series (of 9). Sales were grim, again, but I was able to
give away over 200 books, so hopefully that results in some reviews and
additional sales. My sales to reviews ratio
is pretty bad, which could be a result of
several factors, none of which I want to guess about now. Onward and upward.

In addition to completing edits on and releasing Condition
Zero, work started on Project 9, a stand-alone novella, and Project 10, the
7th Earth Saga book. Project 9 is looking at a late September
release, which Project 10 will be released by
the end of the year. Standish is still out to agents and publishers.
I’m giving someone until the end of the year to pick that up, or I’m releasing
it.

On the entertainment front, I watched at least two horrible films in July: Mile 22 and Atomic
Blonde. I know people thought AB was stylish and had a great soundtrack,
but the plot was dreadful, and all the Charlize driven action couldn’t save it.

One film that blew my hair back was The Night Comes For
Us. If you’ve seen the Raid, you’ll recognise
some of the cast. This film is fast, beyond brutal, and hugely entertaining Indonesian action at its best.

On the museum front, July was rather sparse. I went to the
Wallace Collection for the Manolo Blahnik exhibition that they’re showing. The Wallace
Collection is fantastic by itself, add
some spectacular footwear, and it’s a lovely way to spend an hour.

August is a month were Project 10 needs to come together. I
have a working title, and this novel could be the longest in the Earth Saga
series to date. It’s a big one, and I’m not saying that books 8 & 9 are
going to be less critical to the story,
but I feel that this is going to be the last big action-packed novel. However, before that can happen, Project 9
needs to be edited and put into the hands of the beta-readers. I’ve got two on board
for this read, and hopefully, that’ll
help develop a better product.

In addition to punching the keys and editing, I think some
more submissions of Standish to agents is required. That and a
relentless Facebook campaign to get more readers, I’m confident that August should be a good month. Soft plans already
exist for a world post-Earth Saga, and I’m
pleased with the direction the series is
taking, and I think that anyone who has read all the books will find the ending
worthy of their time.

June 19

June was the first month of heat we’ve had in London, and a mostly
positive month for getting ‘stuff’ accomplished. Book sales were happening for
the Earth Saga series, and a few free copies of Love in a time of war
were also snapped up. It was actually the best month of sales since September,
but well short of where we need to be!

On a very positive note, I finally got all the pages of Condition
Zero back from my beta-tester/editor, which will allow me to launch it in
early July. We’re still on target for a 4 book launch this year, just need to
keep the nose to the grindstone.

I was able to get to France early in the month, and did some
editing there while watching the French Open, and I’ve been enjoying Wimbledon
this week while knocking out final edits on Condition Zero.

On the reading front, I’ve started reading The State of
Africa which is both enlightening, and rather depressing at the same time.

Film wise, I checked out I am Mother on Netflix, and
while it wasn’t perfect, it was by far the best sci-fi that they’ve made to
date. Hopefully that trend continues.

A few days in Lisbon was thrown into the mix, which was a
lovely few days out of London.

July has one primary mission objective: get Condition
Zero on Kindle. That is it. That objective should be completed by the end
of the 2nd week, and after that, it’s full speed ahead with Project
9 and Project X, the 7th Earth Saga book.

Applications are still going out to agents, but I’m just
getting ‘NO’ in response. Something to expect, I suppose. Just need to keep the
message getting out.

Let’s hope July goes to plan, and the few fans that have
read books 1-5 enjoy the 6th installment of the Earth Saga.

May 19

We’re into June, and
it feels like May raced by. Work
continues on both Project 9 and Project 10. 9 is looking like it’s going to be
a novella in length, and should be launching in the July or August. Project 10,
the 7th book in the Earth Saga series,
is looking at a late 2019 release. Project 8, Condition Zero, the 6th
Earth Saga book is still under beta-tester review, but hopefully will be good to go for a late June/July launch. It’s well
behind the power-curve

May proved a shocking month for book giveaways. I’ve done several rounds of giving books away on Amazon
to date, and in all that time, those giveaways
have pales compared to the 539 copies of Minus Epsilon that people down-loaded during May. Now I just need those people to leave some reviews,
and maybe buy book 2! Sales were a little less impressive, five units sold.

On the art scene, did three shows in May. The Stanley Kubrick
at the Design Museum, which probably requires a second visit. The Doretha Tanning
at the Tate Modern, which was very impressive, and the Manga exhibition at the
British Museum, which was informative and exciting.
I also saw two shows I hated at Sadler’s Wells. Too damn contemporary for me.

On a music front, grabbed a few more synthwave albums, but the highlight of the month was watching Timecop
1983 and FM-84 play live in Brixton. Both
acts were great, but FM-84 and their lead singer Ollie Wride put on an excellent show.

Book-wise I’m reading
a book on the cold war with a focus on CBRN, chemical, biological, radiological,
and nuclear threats from the 40s almost to today. It’s a fascinating read, and
with Chernobyl on television at the moment, very timely. It’s shocking to see
how genuinely delusional global powers
are about nuclear weapons and how on some level, you can’t trust the West or
the East.

On the TV/Film front, Game of Thrones came to a disastrous
ending after 8 seasons. They really screwed up the last season. I could have
written something better. Avengers End Game was mindless CGI; John Wick 3 was mega. Epic
action. Dogs. Blood. Decent humour. Not without flaws, but a lot of fun. Unfortunately, the month ended on
a low note with Godzilla, which was just a piece of crap.

A few days in France were
sprinkled into May, which is always nice to help brush off the cobwebs.

The plan for June is simple, get book 7 of the Earth Saga
edited and out. That is priority number one. After that, it’s work on Project
9. For those wondering where Standish is, well it’s waiting for an agent
to pick it up and read it and like it.
That process is proving a slow as one would expect. It’s just going to take
time.

June should be a good month. French Open and the Cricket
World Cup on at the moment, then the Women’s World Cup Let’s just hope the weather stays constant, but not
too warm, and the new PM doesn’t do any worse than the last one.

April 19

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.

March ’19

March is over. We’re still in the EU, Standish has less than 100 pages to be re-edited, and ideas are starting
to come together for Project 9, which I will most likely start during the
second week of April. On another positive note, Book 6 of the Earth Saga is
with the beta-tester, which means that it should be on-line before June.

Once edits are completed on Standish, I plan on sending it to agents for representation. Many
of the publishers I’ve searched state that they won’t take work if it’s been
published elsewhere (Kindle), so that means I need to keep the book on my shelf
until it’s hopefully picked up by an agent/publisher.

Did some serious reading in March. I started the Game of Thrones series and raced through
the first book and started the second. I’ve put a pause on that read after
picking up the most excellent Vietnam
book by Max Hastings. I think it’ll be back to GoT after the history book.

On the viewing front, I watched Love, Death, & Robots. I thought that some of these shorts were
excellent. I also enjoyed Triple Frontier
and Fail Safe.

Music wise, I got into Kalax heavily in March. Even going to
his concert later this month in London.

The big challenges for April will be finishing Standish and finding an agent. That is
priority number 1. After that, it’s a case of starting Project 9, which may be
a short story. I’m still toying with the idea of doing like Alien meets Event Horizon. We shall see.