So, it turns out I’m not as good at this “more regular updates” thing as I’d hoped to be. I will aim to be better though, promise!

So rather than just June, let’s talk about what’s been going on with my writing. Well, despite a stomach bug putting paid to plans of launching A Flash in the Dark at a book fair, it is out now and available for purchase!

Then I found myself in a bit of a slump. I’ve not really been too sure what I wanted to do next. I’ll admit this is in part not helped by low book sales. It can definitely be a hit to your motivation after all the work and effort, to see low sales and even lower reviews.

This truly isn’t a pity party though, and if anyone wants to learn more and purchase my books, you can find info and buy links in their individual pages under the Books drop down at the top of the page.

Medium

Back in December I discovered a website for readers and writers called Medium. There’s loads of publications on there. These are somewhere between a Facebook group and an online magazine. You can request to write for them, and they all accept something different. It might be articles about specific subjects from a non-fiction perspective, or the full gauntlet of fiction types and genres.

Since March, I’ve actually been writing on it in earnest. I’m active in a number of different fiction based publications. I’ve written a handful of short stories and flash fiction pieces, but the biggest thing has been something called a Drabble. These are ultra short fiction, precisely 100 words long. Not approximately 100, EXACTLY 100. I’m writing them for two publications at the moment, both of which give you a word to be featured with limited modification (think “kick”, but with the flex to use it as “kicked”, “kicks”, “kicking”, etc.). The idea is then to tell a complete story in those limited 100 words.

I am addicted to them! They are a real test of my skill, and nothing beats the feeling of finishing a drabble and finding I’ve hit 100 words without trying! The real fun though, is when I need to edit them up or down. A good few are inspiring short stories so that’s going to keep me busy.

Now onto the other added bonus of Medium. I have the opportunity to make some money. It’s free to join the site, you can put stories behind a paywall. This means only people on a paid membership can read them. When a paying reader spends more than 30 seconds reading your writing, claps for it (think likes on Facebook) or comments on it, then the mysterious and almost alchemical algorithms assign a proportion of the membership fees to the writer.

I have a paid membership, the base tier at $5 per month. But, and here is the nice part, I am earning that and then some back month on month. Not life changing sums, but it is quite a bit more over the course of the year to date than I’ve earned from my books. That’s both a bit disheartening and also immensely motivating to keep going on Medium.

If any of you happen to have a paid membership, and ever feel so inclined to check out my work, you can find me here.

A Murder of Crows

While Medium has, and will continue, to take a fair bit of my writing time now it’s become such a great source of community, encouragement and income, I am still writing. A Murder of Crows is now officially “in progress”. I’ve got ideas, I can see how the story is beginning to go and I’m slowly finding my rhythm. And, there are some elements from my work many years back on Our Boy Jack. No, not Jack the Ripper, but a few ideas and themes that are coming back!

The Twelve Days of Christmas

This one is still in progress also. I’ll admit, it’s been a bit up and down tied to my motivational issues, but I can feel the desire and drive returning. I’m not going to try to claim it will be done by Christmas this year, but if it is, I’ll take that as a win!

Other projects

I mentioned some of these drabbles had inspired me to lengthen them into short stories, or more. Well, these are something I am actively thinking about and working on. I’m also considering releasing a book of drabbles once I have enough of them, should there be an appetite from people to read some of them!

Between drabbles and short stories on Medium, I’ve dipped my toe into expanding the stories of Edison Crow and Selah, and expanding their universe beyond them. I’ve also played with some short stories beyond the core Edison Crow story, still in their world, in the past. These are written and languishing in my laptop. I will work on these to collect them together in a book set in The Chronicle of the Crows series in time.

That’s all for now, and I will aim to come back at the end of the month with a further update!