Ray Daley's Blog, page 69
October 22, 2013
Health Update
Nothing related to writing or much else, I know some of you reading will see my references to visiting the Eye Clinic/Hospital all for my glaucoma.
Today I had a Visual Fields Test, wasn’t good according to the Consultant.
Results are VASTLY different from over a year ago so she’s booking me in for an MRI scan.
On my brain.
I’ve had one before (about 10 yrs ago when I was having major issues with cluster headaches) so it’s not a big new scary thing to be doing. It’s just different to the normal tests and treatments I go through for my eyes.
Hopefully they will get me in and scanned sooner rather than later, I hate waiting for things like that.
I’ll report back when I get an actual date for it. Or after I’ve had it done.
October 20, 2013
Second October release is now available!
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/369270
http://www.feedbooks.com/userbook/32538/service-provider
Releasing a little earlier than expected, this months 2nd free quirky horror for Halloween! If you like it, tweet me @RayDaleyWriter
Day 13
It’s now been 13 days since I last wrote anything new or started anything new. 7th Oct was the day I typed up “Fourth Generation Explorers” having written it in bed the previous night.
The only stuff I’ve done since then was write the ending for my Doctor Who fanfic that I felt wasn’t finished but had a rough idea for and some proofing on other releases for next month and December.
It’s getting a bit annoying now. I want to write something but have no desire, I’m at the bottom of the cycle again.
I’ve been meaning to type something up (which is unfinished and never will be) but had no desire there either.
I get the feeling I should go through my handwritten stuff and see what sparks my urges, if anything.
Right now I couldn’t be further away from wanting to start on anything.
There is no light at the end of the tunnel, the spark went out.
October 18, 2013
The RAF. The flying one.
This is an update purely for me, if it’s useful to you in any way then that’s totally cool.
So I was looking through my RAF documents again, this time checking everything out that they sent me.
A heck of a lot of contradictions.
So I was lied to about where I worked when they “moved” me from Command Supply. Apparently I was still officially working for them in April of 1991 when I was promoted to SAC. This means my Warrant Officer lied directly to my face. And I alays thought of him as a friend, I guess you really don’t know people ever, do you?
It looks like ASR were forced to take me after the CRE incident. The job I was doing didn’t exist before I arrived, they had to establish it especially. So I wasn’t filling up a gap, I was creating an entirely new one. Again, I was lied to.
As far as the mishandled discharge, a lot of people backpeddled, retracted and generally bullshitted their way through that.
All of which I have the proof for. I may well approach the RAF again to get them to retroactively fix my discharge conditions.
End of message.
October 15, 2013
Writing update
ALL covers for the rest of this years ebook releases now finished.
In order those are:-
Mid October release.
5 weekly November releases.
1 December release.
Oh, and 19 completed stories ready for next year.
I’ll start planning those out after I’ve done the December release.
And that’s how ahead of the game I am right now.
October 14, 2013
Almost done…… Almost!
Three of four Doctor Who ebook covers now done, took a few hours.
Hopefully I can finish the last one tomorrow.
I know, that’s Who!
All Novembers Doctor Who fan-fic stories are now finished, proofed, spell checked with legal disclaimers attached.
I know which I’ll release and have my calendar marked for each weeks release.
Now they need covers. 4 unique covers that go with the story.
It’s a good job I’ve still got a few weeks of October left to do that in.
“Who” knows?
Currently about to make another start on finishing one of my Doctor Who fanfic pieces for release next month.
It was the shortest piece of the 4 I’ve written and I was unsure about the “non-ending”, I had a further idea (which stayed in my head for at least 7 weeks) so I’ve decided to write it out and see if it works.
If not, I’ll delete the extra stuff and go with the original short version, possibly including the rewrite as part of the authors notes.
October 11, 2013
Why short stories?
It’s a very good question that I imagine some people want to ask.
Why do I favour the short story over longer ones?
A few reasons.
I like to be able to do something a reader can pick up, get into quickly, read for up to maybe 30 minutes max and be finished.
I find short stories easier to write. Sometimes an idea can only be taken so far.
I’m genuinely nervious about writing a novel. True fact, the idea scares the crap out of me.
(In my life, I’ve started writing 4 different novels. None ever got past the planning stage)
A short story is easier to proofread. I’m the person doing all the proofing at the end of the process.
More places publish Flash Fiction online than any other type of story.
A short story or piece of Flash fiction can be written in less than a day, sometimes under an hour.
This doesn’t mean any less effort has gone into it than any novel you’ve ever read.
Far from it. It’s harder to tell a story in less words.
It makes you have to work to get your point and ideas across more quickly.
People have to be able to read and say “Yeah, I get where this is coming from”.
October 7, 2013
Ever writing
Had an idea whilst making my evening meal last night which I was turning over in my head and eventually handwrote in bed late that night and early into this morning. I finished it in one go and typed it up after having lunch today.
Its just short of 800 words and I have put out a request for beta readers (please don’t apply from here, go to the Goodreads Beta reader group and it’s for experienced betas only!) in order to get solid feedback.
My hope is to polish and tighten it to the point where it will be good enough to make it onto on of the paying magazine sites.
More on the feedback process as it happens.
