Fortnightly update 51: 08.11.2021 to 21.11.2021
In this blog series, I share my fortnight-to-fortnight triumphs (and failures) as a writer. Despite all the ups and downs, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Novella
I’ve been pretty cryptic about it, but I’ve been working on a novella for the past few months, on and off. This fortnight I put my head down and pushed through my first draft, finishing it on around 32,500 words. I wanted to quit this project so many times, but some positive words from some friends helped me back on my feet. I’m glad they were there to do so. Some stories just fall out; others, like this one, are a bloody grind. The last two days working on it, I wrote 3,700 words and 4,500 words. I swear my eyes bled afterwards.
This story, with the working title “Cooked,” is set in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, where I live. It’s largely about the secret relationship between a youth a few years out of school, and his best friend’s youngest sister, who’s still in school. There are lies, parties, no small amount of drugs and drum and bass, and, of course, Lovecraftian overtones. I drop the F and C bombs about a thousand times, too, because to censor it would be disingenuous. Let’s just say I wouldn’t want my mum to read this one.
I’m going to let it sit until 2022, then look on it with fresh eyes. Hopefully I can polish it into something worth submitting by late January. I’m gonna need some readers, too, so throw up your hand if you’re interested!
Short fiction
I’m currently submitting short fiction, mostly flash fiction and short stories, to online magazines and such for publication. My submissions have been taking a hit because of the novella, but I’m hoping to write and submit at least two new stories by the end of the year. This is a realistic goal for me, considering all the work I’m doing for Frontier Media to prepare for the holiday season, and also considering the holiday season itself.
Here are this fortnight’s stats:
Submissions: 1
Pending: 6
Rejections: 1
Acceptances: 0
Rejections 2021 (from June 8th): 25
Frontier Media
I write scripts for Frontier Media, a media production company specialising in YouTube. Our two largest channels are The Front and Geetsly’s, and while I’ve written a little for Geetsly’s in the past, I mostly write for The Front and our new, smaller channel The Braved. Just one of my videos went up this fortnight. We skipped one upload for The Braved, and we’ve got two writers for The Front. The Battle for Milne Bay one is pretty interesting, especially if you’re from the Land Down Under.
And here are my total stats:
Videos for The Front: 110
Videos for The Braved: 42
I write 280-character stories and poems using various writing prompt hashtags, mostly #vss365, on Twitter. I wrote just one this fortnight. It got a decent amount of attention, but still…
#dormant
The gene had remained dormant for five generations, including mine. Why did it have to come to life in my baby boy? He latches to my breast not for the milk but for the blood, which he draws with his tiny fishbone teeth. I think I’ll take him for a nice walk in the sun.
Conclusion
This fortnight was all about the novella. The following few are going to be about my client work, my grandad’s memoir, and another epic project I’ve been keeping under wraps for about six months now. I can’t WAIT to share more about that one.
Thanks for reading <3