And yet I have to say that it could easily have been worse. No one I knew died or was badly hurt, and despite a close call involving a power board, an exploded fish tank and a very fortunate power cut I wasn’t hurt either.

 It did hammer home the idea that I need to be working towards my goals, no matter how slowly, and to cherish the time I have with the people I love. Everything can be taken away in the blink of an eye, so if you’re one of the lucky few people on the planet who can give your goals a shot, I say go for it.

 As far as writing goes, it’s been the year of the re writes for me, and one of my New Years resolutions is to limit myself to one major re write for anything I’m working on.

 I’ve gotten out two short stories onto Kindle, had two short stories published and cranked out about 400,000 words total.

 That seems like a lot now that I look back at it.

 Of course a huge number of those 400,000 words were unusable, more practice words than anything else, but I still feel like I’m that much closer to being a good writer for having written them.

 I’ve read like a demon (assuming demons read) and gotten through just under eighty novels. I can’t stress how important reading is to anyone who wants to write. Read outside your genre, inside your genre and non fiction. Read blogs, newspapers and articles. Just read.**

 I finished a film script. I can highly recommend writing a script to anyone who wants to write a novel, if only to appreciate just how different writing for film and television is.

 How was your 2011? Has it gone to plan?

* You know you’ve had enough earthquakes when you’re hiding under a desk clutching a cat in one arm and flipping off the lurching floor with the other hand.

Flipping off the ground wasn’t exactly productive but it made me feel better.

** Reading internet forums counts as anti reading. For every hour you spend on a forum, you have to read an extra book.

There are chickens here too.

When I’m not running rough shod over the laws of time and space I’m trying to plan my next move so I don’t explode into flames over the next month.

So far my plans for the rest of 2011, as far as writing goes are:

• Put out my short story collection, to be called either Squick or Disturbing Thing on June the 30^th this year as a Kindle E-Book. This is dependant on artist (and author) wrangling, but the stories are done, and it’s just a matter of formatting at the moment.
• Finish polishing the novel and then start on the next one.
• Fly to San Diego for World Fantasy Convention 2011 and attempt to sell book/do some networking/hang out
• Collapse in a heap.

What are your plans for 2011? Do you plan to finish a novel? Start one? Let me know in the comments.

I got really sick, and I was cleaning up after the earthquake and generally running my life.

Sorry about that.

There is a big family event happening this weekend, but I’ll be back to a regular posting schedule next week.

Thanks for bearing with me, it’s been a rough two months, but we’re getting there.

Andrew

It’s been six days since the quake that wrecked Christchurch. Despite the holes in the road, the shattered buildings and the lost lives, the thing I see more than anything else is a city doing its best to return to normal.

This is easier for some than others, we are impossibly dependent on electricity, and without it normality doesn’t come closer than boiling your water on the fire pit you dug in your front lawn and chewing through your supply of candles.

In cities we are also dependent on running water, without it you will digging a long drop in your garden, because if you don’t the risk of disease increases with every day you try and use a broken sewer system.

Despite the fact that so many here in Christchurch have no power (I’m one of the lucky ones) and no water it’s amazing just how quickly most of the city has banded together to help one another.

Artesian wells have been tapped, neighborhood watches have been organized and mass barbecuing is happening.

Sadly, there is a part of the human race that’s disconnected with the rest of us. For whatever reason they’re missing the empathy most of us feel in times of tragedy. Their first thought is to try and use the situation to take something they’re not entitled to.

Scammers pretending to be disaster relief workers, looters and thieves masquerading as insurance assessors have come out of the woodwork. Mostly they’re failing, communities here look out for one another and God help anyone caught looting in the wrong part of town.

This disaster has shown me that most people, not just a few, tend towards being the good guys. We’re not all sheep ready to explode at a moments notice (although you might not have known that if you’ve tried to buy petrol here over the last few days). Yes there are people doing stupid, selfish things, but they’re the exception, not the rule.

If you’re writing a large scale disaster, remember that most people will at the very least try to help each other. There are still plenty of selfish people, and plenty of stupid people but it’s a very few that tend towards the outright evil.*

Anyone acting the villain in a disaster or apocalyptic scenario will either have to have backup, a vast amount of power, or something that everyone wants. Without that the remaining populace will very efficiently remove them from the scene.

Sorry this has been a bit of a ramble.

The upshot is that most people will at least try to do the right thing, most of those who won’t do that will try and flee, it’s only a tiny percentage of the population who will truly chose the dark path after a major event.

Goodnight everyone (or possibly good morning), talk to you tomorrow.

-  Andrew

* Some assholes placed fake emergency calls after the earthquake. It is beyond my comprehension that someone can do something so sickeningly stupid.

1. Finish Shadow Library I’m part of the way through draft two at the moment, and for once I’m happy with what I’ve written. My honest to goodness deadline for this is October this year, but I’d like to have it done by February at the latest.

2. Write A Film Script I have a story in mind, now all I have to do is learn how to write a script. Looking forward to it. Anytime between now and 2012 is fine by me.

3. Write another five short stories I initially was going to say ten, but I think five, good quality, publishable, short stories. Also want his done anytime between now and 2012

4. Finish The Downside Of Being Dead This one is outlined but not started properly. Once Shadow Library is done, this is my next project. I want this one done before October 2011 too so I can proceed with goal 8.

5. Lose 10 Kilos (22 Pounds) While focusing on my writing I have managed to acquire some extra padding. This…this needs to go away now. The food I ate last night probably didn’t help.

6. Actively Participate in NaNoWriMo National Novel Writing Month is a month dedicated to writing 50,000 words in a month. some people think it’s a terrible idea, but those people don’t know jack. This month gets a whole lot of people who wouldn’t write normally in front of the keyboard. Will most of them become pro’s? No. Does that matter? not at all…

7. Podcast/Vidcast I don’t have any particular reason to ant to do this beyond thinking it sounds like fun. That makes this very achievable since I have all the gear except a video camera.

8. Make Going To World Fantasy Convention 2011 Worthwhile: This means going there and selling a book or getting an agent. That’s a lofty goal, but if I’m going to spend almost 5,000 dollars (New Zealand dollars, but still) to go there I have to aim high. If I happen to get an agent or publishing deal before then, I still want to go, but he goal will be networking and being involved on a professional level.

9. Finish A Comic Book Script: This was going to be be “Self Publish A Comic Book” but the only artist I know has his plate full for 2011 already.

10. Do 10 Things I Can Add To My List Of “Ten Things I’ve Done That You probably Haven’t” Sitting in a chair writing doesn’t leave a lot of time for doing random things. I like doing random things, and I think that 2011 should have more of them.

So, what are your goals for 2011? Let me know in the comments, and good luck!

Things aren’t going so well for everyone though. Twitter friend and fellow writing enthusiast Wulfie needs some help. Wulfie is good people, and she’s not just begging for cash, she’s offering some high end writing/editing services at stupidly cheap prices. She’s qualified and keen so this is a serious bargain.

So here’s the deal,  go to Wulfie’s website here at Shadow Writes and buy some of her services.  You benefit, she benefits and frankly, everyone wins.

If, like me, you’re not in a position writing wise to buy anything she;s offering, then re-blog/re-tweet/shareher site and get this news out to people who are int he right position.

Thanks, and remember you never know when you might need help, and often it’s people you’ve never met who come to your aid.

Andrew

Whenever I go to the library I usually have an idea of the sorts of books I’d like to get out. However something I’ve started doing is grabbing books literally at random as well.

I was inspired by a story I heard about Salmon Rushdie’s anti library. This was a collection of books Mr Rushdie had not read, deliberately purchased to be on hand whenever he wanted to expand his knowledge.

I currently can’t afford an anti library, to make a good one I’d need to buy a vast quantity of books. Fortunately my local library contains a cast quantity of books, many of which I haven’t read.

So far I have read about fighting knives, pregnancy complications, engine refits, mathematical theory (I didn’t really understand any of it, not even the preface), gluten intolerance, the psychology of sociopaths and a wide variety of fiction I wouldn’t normally have picked up.

While some of these weren’t great, or were simply not that interesting to me, some of them were excellent finds and provided some great ideas for new stories. The selection process isn’t truly random, often I just glance at the “Returned Today” shelves and grab the first book that catches my eye. Even so, I get a lot of books that I wouldn’t normally read.

What would you like to be in your anti library?

I cannot be stopped.

This time it was Joe Hill’s excellent novel Horns. I should warn you that the review has some mild spoilers in it, so if you want to remain unspoiled, that i not the review for you.

In other news I seem to be writing every day still, which is a good habit to be in. I’ll let you all know as soon as my first draft is done.

I may also dance a short jig.

I’d almost like to say I’ve been being slack, but I’ve actually been working my tail off writing my current work in progress. This one’s actually going well, and I don’t hate myself every time I re-read what I’ve just written. It’s been good to get the feeling of writing every day back, it means if I ever do miss a day I’m not consumed by guilt, and can get right back to writing instead of fretting about writing, which doesn’t work.

I read some poems of a friend of mine for a second time yesterday. I’d already read them once a few weeks ago (sorry to my friend who loaned these to me MONTHS ago) and really enjoyed all of them, but I found that I got more out of them with a second reading a few weeks after the first.  I’m mentioning this because I rarely re-read novels (unless Terry Pratchett wrote them) and I now wonder how my impressions on certain books might change if I read them again now. Would, like my friends poems, I get even more out of them a second time through?

I don’t know, but I’m going to have fun finding out.

As soon as I’m done with this draft…

Take my word for it. She’s a Kiwi author who’s novel, Geist, has just been released. Tomorrow is Geist’s release day, in fact, and I wanted to get in and help her promote it.

You might know Philippa from her work podcasting and publishing  Chasing The Bard and Digital Magic. She helped lead the way with novel podcasting, and she’s been one my inspirations so far in my attempts at writing a novel.

Please don’t hold that against her.

I haven’t read Geist yet,  it’s on its way to me right now, but if Philippa’s other work is anything to go by, it’s going to be funny, exciting and sexy all at the same time.

Kiwi* authors need more pimping, so if you’ve got a blog, I’d appreciate it if you could help get the word out about Geist. Philippa’s don a lot for the writing and podcasting community and I think it’s time we showed her some love.  If you’d like to help promote Geist, you can get the images here.

You can get Geist here, from Amazon or from here, at Book Depository. If you’d like to know more about the Geist and the upcoming Books Of The Order, check out www.booksoftheorder.com and to learn more about Philippa Ballantine and her other projects hit her blog, there’s plenty of good stuff on there for aspiring writers.

I’ll hook up a full review once I’ve been able to get my mitts on it, meanwhile enjoy the book trailer:

* Kiwi’s are small flightless birds, they’re also the national symbol of New Zealand. A country at the bottom of the world that radiates awesomeness into the rest of the world.