Ray Daley's Blog, page 78

Drought over!

I wrote a short story earlier, a piece of Doctor Who fanfic just over a thousand words but it felt longer when I was writing it.

Oddly enough it’s not even about my favourite Doctor either. It’s not even about someone who was the Doctor in my own lifetime, it’s about Hartnells Doctor. Odd that.

The basic idea is what would happen if Susan had never gone to the school where she meets Ian & Barbara.

I’m not exactly sure why I gave her access to psychic paper (part from it being an easy mcguffin that solved several problems) but I did. I also recycled an idea I saw them use when Polly & Ben were assistants before Hartnell regenerated.

Hopefully I’ll use it as one of this years monthly free ebook releases.

A General Heads-up

Or an update about what’s going on in my particular world in plain English.

Being ex-RAF (6 years served) I do tend to drop into military jargon quite frequently without realising it so I will try to translate for the confirmed life-long civilians amongst you.

And I now know people are reading this, I’ve seen several comments. Thanks to all of you for taking those precious moments out of your own life streams to read about mine.

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned before that I suffer from glaucoma, I was diagnosed in the late 90′s so I’ve been living with it for well over a decade now. I’ve recently been sent a date for a new and improved laser procedure (no, not for corrective vision!) to help with my symptoms.

This won’t effect my monthly free ebook releases next month as I’m scheduled for mid April.

I haven’t written anything new since the last week of February. I had a couple of ideas, neither of which I decided to commit to paper. Both have lasted through many sleeps so if I decide either one has the legs to stand alone then I might write it.

I submitted another story to Linguistic Erosion yesterday, no news on that front as of yet.

I’m hoping my motivation level picks up so I do start writing before the end of the month. It’s not an issue as far as the monthly free releases go, I’ve got 20 possible releases which are all completed and ready to go, only requiring covers and blurbs to be made which is never a long or difficult job.

RIP James Herbert

He was probably the first “real” horror author who I read. Almost certainly it was “The Rats” and without him I would have never discovered horror books or authors like Stephen King or Shaun Hutson.

He was a great source of inspiration for my own creative horror outlets, I haven’t written many but I have tried my best to follow in his very large footsteps.

You will be sadly missed.

Grrr? Fuck yes!

Well, after 6 weeks of waiting to hear back from 365 Tomorrows I got a no.

It “may be due to a need for editing, a theme that does not fit within the scope of the site, or the fact that we have recently accepted a story similar to yours”.

I think the last case of affairs as they put up a time travel short a few days back.

I can’t see what was stopping them holding it a few more days then putting it out.

As I’d reached the 6th week of waiting without hearing I was certain they were going to take it. I can’t believe their queue for reading is 6 weeks long, especially as the large percentage of stuff they publish is by the writers who work for them.

No nepotism there at all, is there?

Oh, and if anyone from 365 Tomorrows reads this, please do TRY to defend it.

It’s unreal how much of your own staffs work you put on the site.

I think that’s me on a break for the time being, bit too miffed about 2 rejections.

I can spend more time reading. Currently enjoying “Down And Out In The Magic Kingdom” by Cory Doctorow which is a crapload better than “For The Win” (also by him).

Dealing with rejection

I think the best way to deal with story rejections as an author is to expect them to be rejected when you submit them.

Don’t send them thinking “They’re definitely going to publish this!”.

This way if they don’t, you aren’t disappointed. If they do, it’s a pleasant surprise.

I got a rejection from Clarkesworld today.

But I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Neil Clarke for taking the time to read my work and letting me know it wasn’t what they were looking for right now.

Worth a try and I can always try again in the future.

Keeping busy and psychiatry

Submitted “The Mason Procedure” to Clarkesworld, should hear from them within the next 2 days.

Total finished “The Ground Beneath My Feet” including proofing. Got a beta reader ready for it.

Also wrote another micro flash piece which I was inspired towards during the proofing process.

I’ve noticed that the endings of my stories reflect my mood at the time of writing.

Upbeat endings reflect better moods.

Sombre endings reflect darker moods.

I’m writing!

Finished a flash short earlier and completed another flash piece a few days back so I’ve managed to actually finish 2 whole things in the space of a week. Still working on my Ray Bradbury inspired piece “All The World In Wax”.

Probably am going to release “First One There Dies” as my next months freebie on Smashwords & Feedbooks. I’m struggling to write much over a 1000 words per story at the moment, some are barely reaching the 500 word mark.

It’s fair to say at this point NanoWriMo is definitely not on the cards.

Things may change by November.

Heck, I could be banging out 5000 words tomorrow for all I know.

I’m gonna watch another movie then turn in with Enders Game to read.

Here’s hoping something inspires me.

Waiting

Currently waiting to hear back from 365 Tomorrows about my last flash submission, is it a yes or is it a no.

Trying to decide which of the current finished pieces will be next months freebie release as an ebook. No clue what I am going to set free as of yet. (Possibly “First One There Dies”) Hoping to finish “All The World In Wax” soon but it’s proving to be a bit of a difficult birth.

Still trying to recover from this eye infection which is making life less than easy but I am trying my best to stay on top of things. I just want to get better enough to have my laser surgery.

With my eyes, some days are better than others. There is always pain, I have to live with the fact that’s never going away. It’s just coping with it, some days aren’t that bad.

Writing when it happens

It was insanely early this morning (about 4am) and I’d been sorting through some Ray Bradbury anthologies when I had an idea and started writing.

The last few shorts I’ve started have been exactly that, just stuff I started then left in-progress.

This was different, it was a fully formed idea so I managed to write the whole thing with a few tweaks afterwards. I’m not exactly sure that the ending portrays what I want it to so I’m going to have to ask around my Facebook friends for a beta reader or two to see if they come up with my intended meaning or not on their own.

The chances are it’ll either be next months release or sent to one of the two flash sites that have already published me. (365 Tomorrows & Linguistic Erosion)

The Dream Of Space Flight

The Dream Of Space Flight, a flash fiction story by Ray Daley.

Ever since the birth of mankind, we’ve looked at the stars and wanted to go there. Every human wants to be Space Traveller.

This is not a dream.

Every human has ALREADY achieved that dream.

Right now as you sit reading these words you are on the largest spacecraft mankind has ever known, travelling through space.

Greetings fellow Space Traveller!

The dream is a reality.

Wake up and live it.