Thursday, April 12, 2012

Back Into Writing

So, the weekend was fun. Actually, that's only mostly true. Work was a bitch and a half of boredom, but Saturday evening got me back on track in terms of writing. While my "output" will certainly decrease as the exams loom closer, I've gotten back into being able to think about stories and actually do something with them. I wrote eight thousand words over the Easter weekend, and I consider that something of a good start.

Those eight thousand words finished off what I call the Sooper Sekrit Project, called so because I don't want to reveal the intimate details of work that may or may not see the light of day. Ever. The public eye is so glaring and menacing sometimes, and I had to protect my fifteen thousand word baby. It's a novella, and a short one at that, and that's about as much of it as I can reveal without feeling like I'm holding it over a balcony.

With the Michael Jackson jokes out of the way, and the novella completed - first draft, anyway - I had to do something else. Not just a want, but a must. I can't just sit idle, and it still seems too early to get to studying like it's my job. It's not, nor will it ever be, my job to study. I might end up doing research for a book or an article at some stage in my life, but my job, for now, is to sell books. And I only do that at the weekends.

However, the study bug must bite eventually. For now, I'm putting it off by writing articles and planning a Young Adult Fantasy novel. I got my inspiration for it a couple of weeks ago while walking down to the cinema, listening to music. Specifically, I was listening to The Cake Sale, an album of Irish "indie" music, featuring the likes of Lisa Hannigan and Nina Person. It was the latter that lit the candle of inspiration under my fantasy novel, with her song Black Winged Bird. It's not so much that the novel has anything to do with a bird. In fact, as far as I know, I don't have any ideas for birds in the book at all. It's other things in the song that got my attention.

So, I've been planning the book. It has a title, but that's a secret from everyone but That Guy I Am, mainly because no one else is around who might take an interest. I don't even know if he cares, but he was within proximity, so I sprung it on him over a cup of tea. Five chapters of planning into the book, and working on getting other ideas around in my head into some sort of order, and I might be sorting myself out for books for the next few years. Or decades.

Now I just need a publishing contract.

But in all seriousness, this is just the beginning. I mean, you need to have a book or books to get published, not just the contract. Because no one will just publish your signature and sell it for 7.99 at your local bookshop and call it a work of literature. Unless you happen to be like Allah, with 99 names. Then it might be something special to watch how someone signs their name.

Did I just make a Muslim joke? I'm going to hell, aren't I?

Now, the writing bug has taken me, and it's time to put it to some use: I need to write the first chapter of my Research Paper. Still need to do research on that. It's going to be fun... Well, you know, some of it will be.

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