I couldn’t get Miranda Hart or Jools Holland, and I know it’s a bit late, but I thought it was worth doing a quick spin over 2010.
For me the highlight was probably the World Horror Convention. As well as meeting everyone who’s anyone in the world of horror (Well, almost everyone…) I had the opportunity to read the first two chapters of “Bloodie Bones” to a captive audience.
Hot on the heels of that is probably my year’s experience on the TLC mentoring scheme. Over the last twelve months I’ve worked closely with Miranda and as a process it’s been educational and rewarding and there are many lessons I will take through to future projects.
Editing “Bloodie Bones” has been much longer and more convoluted than I had anticipated. Perhaps in part because it was such an old novel (I wrote it about ten years ago) and I’ve grown as a writer in the meantime I have essentially had to rewrite it completely.
I was shortlisted for the Brit Writers Awards, which at the time seemed like a momentus achievement (I’m less sure of that now…). Also, during the year I started my mailing list and two blogs (one for myself and one for Writing East Midlands) and then there have been the publications (drum roll please…)
Race – published in Morpheus Tales IX
Visiting - Published in Midnight Echo
An affair to remember - published in the Derby Evening Telegraph
Murden’s Hollow - published in the House of Horror
Christmas Spirits - published in the Derby Evening Telegraph
with another 5 short stories accepted and in the pipeline for 2011. It is the best performance I’ve managed in a year to date.
So what happens next? My plans for 2011 are straightforward: finish editing “Bloodie Bones” in the first three months of the year and then try to get representation on the back of it. I have the outlines for the next two novels lined up (I just need to settle on which one to write first) and aim to beat my record of 5 short stories published in a year set in 2010.
I’m working on a revamp of the website which should be finished soon, which will also bring about a resolution to the current identity crisis. And that’s about it.
