A friend of a friend came up with the perfect title. That was five years ago and I've come up with several story lines that suit this title. One was an epic tale of a young married couple that takes place over several decades. They would become friends with their neighbours, and after the husband …
A tale of two WIPs
I have just finished editing the first draft of one of my works in progress. This story takes place on a fantasy cruise liner sailing on a chocolate ocean with a permanent rainbow sheet hanging from the sky. In it, Ferris wakes up on the boat, but he's from the real world. He has no …
Just finished a Fifth Draft
These days, that's more that I usually do. But this manuscript is special. This story, The Midnight Man, took me a year to finally start as I was revisiting my earlier works for a new publisher at the time I came up with this story. And while I'm more efficient in my writing these days, …
When Worlds Collide
This blog was originally published at On Top Down Under as part of their sixth anniversary. In it I talk about my new New Year's Eve novelette titled Midnight Angel and discuss why some of my characters continue to appear in different stories. There are several reasons I’m excited about my new holiday read. The first …
That Manuscript you Agonise Over
Perhaps 'agonise' is too strong a word. You see, I've gone back to work on the fifth draft of The Midnight Man, a novel I need to get right. I haven't been this obsessed with perfection since my first book. It's currently novella length and tells the story of Stan, a middle aged man in an …
I never read my own novels
Someone tweeted "Do you read your own books?" Everyone except me and one other person answered "Yes." One of them said "That's why I wrote them." While I get it, I also don't get it. Sure we write the books we'd like to read, but there's no way I'd sit reading one of my own …
Writing on a Work Trip
A couple of weeks ago I went on a work trip. I flew to Broome in Western Australia on Tuesday, flew to Perth late on Thursday night for a meeting the next day, then returned home to Sydney on Saturday evening. I had my meetings, worked on work stuff back in my hotel rooms, and …
For the hundredth time, I don’t write porn!
Okay, I've written one. That was as a dare from my friends and it always sells. But apart from that, all my books are, well, books. But there seems to be a misconception from the mainstream. Unless you're published by a major company then the novel with gay content you're writing must be dirty. This …
Continue reading "For the hundredth time, I don’t write porn!"
I’m Pantstering a Bit More!
My religion has changed a little. I used to be a devout Plotter. My love for working out what would happen chapter by chapter happened with my second novel, Drama Queens and Adult Themes. Two worlds are described in that story and characters from one realm, the Afterlife, interfere with the lives of an unsuspecting …
Insomnia. A writer’s friend.
All my life I've been an insomniac. Not the 'lie in bed trying the fall asleep' type. The 'wake up at 3am and can't sleep for hours' kind. It doesn't happen every night, and if the next day is not a work day, that's not a problem. As writers, we know that these night hours …
