A Machette, a Scalpel, and a Steady Hand

I’m sure was I was smoking some serious drugs when I wrote the second novel, Bindings & Spines. There is just so much… rambling. So much that needs to be cutdown to size. It makes the going tedious. Trying to sift through the gravel to retain the nuggets of gold, dump the rest, then integrate those nuggets int one flowing chain – then repeat. These edits are taking more time than I expected, which means my dedication to doing them is being tested. I’m trying to stay resolute and confident that the end result will be worth it.

I continue to add a few hundred words to the fifth novel, pushing it slowly to a conclusion. Yet while I do, the fear that I am making the same mistakes in it as I did Bindings & Sines haunts me. I have no other way of working though. I don’t edit or censor myself as I write – I simple release the words. Hopefully, it will be purer than B&S.

The new short story is also coming along. I am not in the least bit worried about word count with this one. I’m calling it a short story but if it turns out closer to a novella – so be it. If this one works, it will have a special place all of it’s own and won’t have to fit any guidelines. Which is good , because I’m finding it harder and harder to keep Jonathan Alvey’s stories under seven thousand words.

I’m basically done with the edits for Charon’s Obol – the White Dragon Black short for Xchyler Publishing’s fall release paranormal anthology. It’s sort of cool to be in this one, as it feels like a cycle coming round. Jonathan’s  first time in print was last years anthology – Shades and Shadows, which lead to Tomorrow Wendell being published and now, Charon’s Obol, sees his return to print in another short story. What is also satisfying is that, in a way, this short story is a follow up to the novel.

On a completely separate note, I’m think I’m going to start trying to make attending Toronto’s Ad Astra Con an annual event. I haven’t gone to even one yet, but it is a con for writers and fans of sci-fi and fantasy, that is as close to my back yard as I’m going to get. And it does have a good reputation and has been running for a good number of years.

Filed under: Publishing, Writing Tagged: Ad Astra, anthology, Bindings & Spines, Charon's Obol, current work in progress, edits, Jonathan Alvey, muse, novel, paranormal, paranormal private investigator, Shades and Shadows: A Paranormal Anthology, short story, Tomorrow Wendell, Urban Fantasy, White Dragon Black, writing, Xchyler Publishing