Once more, apologies for the extended blog silencio. While I’ve been on this writing sabbatical, I’ve done my best to cut out the typical faffing around online that I’ve often passed off as “writing” and occasionally “research”. Bullshit, all of it 🙂 Seeing as Arts SA did the right thing by me, I have tried to do the right thing by them. Which has meant head down, bum up, and cranking out the words. Everything else is procrastination and best avoided if you’re serious about becoming a word-warrior 🙂

So, after three and a bit months down in the word-mines, I emerge triumphant.  The first draft of “Papa Lucy and the Boneman” is now complete. I stand with one foot planted on the defeated Project Lucy, wiping off sweat and the occasional adjective.  

What happens next, you may ask? Well, there’s about 100,000 words that need to be taken to with a cricket bat. I’m in the process of enlisting a handful of trusted friends to help with beta-reading. Once comments come back, well me and that novel are going to have a little chat. In a room with no windows. I might be taking in a phone book. Don’t make me spell it out.

In all seriousness, there’s still plenty of work to be done. One of the best pieces of writing advice I ever received was from the legendary Cat Sparks. She said that far too often, writing is rushed out half-cooked, and not allowed enough time to ferment. So yes, the work continues, as I do my very best to craft resonance and beauty into this story. With each pass I hope to pick up inconsistencies, continuity errors, and somehow work up the courage to kill my darlings. But it’s probably a little too soon to jump back in just yet. Couple weeks at least, I’m sick of the sight of that bloody thing!

But the good news is, I’m a couple of months ahead of schedule. There’s a semi-embargoed project that I’m about to start, and I hope to drop some juicy details soon. Have also put some feelers out for a couple of things, and hopefully I’ll land a bit of write-for-hire work in the window of time that has just opened. But overall, I’m relieved that I can cross this one off the list. There was a time when I thought I’d lost my novel-writing mojo and would be cranking out weird short stories forever!

Apart from that, a day or two of down-time, family, videos and reading, and walking around in the sunlight like a myopic cave-Fisch. Then, straight back into things.

No rest for the wicked!

Your pal,

The Fisch.