Freitag, 25. Dezember 2009

Chrimbo !

Just a quick one to wish anyone who's interested a very Merry Christmas.
And I sincerely mean that folks!
Reg :-)

Donnerstag, 24. Dezember 2009

R.I.P. Gerd Muntner

R.I.P. Gerd Muntner


A very good friend passed away the other day. After a brief but intense struggle with cancer, Gerd Muntner slipped away in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, aged 75.

Gerd had led a rich and varied life working as a reporter throughout the world. He worked for the South African Press Association in Cape Town during the turbulent years of Apartheid and then for Reuters in Canada.

After leaving Reuters, he took up teaching and taught English in a school in Wolfenbüttel. One of his pupils was a young slip of a girl who would later on in life go on to be Mrs. Jones; so I have Gerd to thank that she could speaka da lingo so well when we first met.



The Muntners owned a house in Cork for a couple of years and would regularly fly over for their holidays. They loved Ireland. He actually spoke with a soft brogue and when I first met him, (as a young soldier contemplating making a life for myself in Germany) I actually thought he was an Irishman.

One of my fave stories he used to tell, and he had a lot of them, was his famous fishing trip. Gerry, (as all his English speaking friends knew him as) went deep sea fishing with his mate. They caught an ugly looking fish, but because it was so big they took it home to cook it. It was bloody awful apparently.

Anyway, a few weeks later his mate rings up and tells him what the fish was that they had caught, gutted and eaten.

It was a Coelacanth.

Look it up on Wikipedia if you don’t know what that is.



Another time he brought chicken wings to his local and dished them out, telling everyone they were frog’s legs. The thing is that Gerd was renowned for being a man of the world and everyone simply took him for his word. He had a very quirky sense of humour to say the least and he giggled like a schoolboy when people complemented him on the French grub.



Gerd could cook with the best of them, craft a Gin and Tonic that even my mother cocked an eyebrow at (an unfeasibly clever achievement) and possessed skills as a host that could outshine Hugh Hefner’s party organiser.



He and Doris, (Mariechen to her friends, it means, “Little Marie”) moved to Malta about three years ago to spend their autumn years in the sun.

However Gerd has now moved on to a better place.



Basically I liked him and I’m sad that he’s gone.



Reg :-(

Mittwoch, 9. Dezember 2009

Catastrophe!!

My life in shards around me, the future plagued with doubt.
My computer, like a trial of Job, has finally conked out.

I may be away a while, wish me luck.
Reg :-(

Freitag, 4. Dezember 2009

Firstly, a quick, "Job Well Done" sticker to Tee for her excellent interview with Jenny Smedley for the Struggling Authors website.
What a nice lady she is, (Jenny I mean).
Well, Tee's nice too but we all know that. Anyway, you can catch it here at:

http://strugglingauthors.co.uk/InterviewJennySmedley.aspx

for the writing side of things.
The full interview, which gets a tad more personal, can be read here:

http://www.teresageering.co.uk/jennysmedley_8.html

So feel free to have a browse.

And that's it really.
I have no news other than my short story will be in issue 9 of House of Horror, which is MONTHS away as they're only on issue 3 at the moment.
I'm busy rewriting my Vampire of Sparta novelette as well.
A friend of mine, Coral King, works as an editor for her own magazine and has offered to view my work with an eye to publishing it.
Obviously I can't trade on our friendship and dole out any old dross expecting it be published, so I'm polishing it up and hoping that it will do. 10,000 words of Ancient Grecian bloodsucking, you have to admit, it does sound interesting doesn't it?

Anyway, that's that, Dear Reader.
Have a great weekend.
Reg :-)

Sonntag, 29. November 2009

Ooh, someone liked one of my short stories!

Thank you for submitting The Ides of March, and I am glad to say we will be publishing this piece for Issue 9 at House of Horror. A great story, love the vampire twist and you pulled it off nicely. The ending was really good, I loved this one. Good job! Welcome to House of Horror.


That made my day that did, lol.
It's only a website, it's only a short story and it's only one cent a word but it still brought forth a grin on my face that could cook a chicken at ten paces.
I would have liked to have seen it in print but, whatever; it was a nice ego boost for my somewhat wilted literary aspirations.

The story itself is about Marcus Julius Brutus and his part in the assassination of Gaius Julius Caesar. The Horror slant is that the plot revolves around the idea that Caesar is a vampire and only Brutus knows.

Wacky?
Yes, but also well researched and with a nice twist at the end.
3600 words and that's that.

Right, I'm off.
Reg :-)

Donnerstag, 26. November 2009

My name is Reg Jones and I am a Facebook user.

My name is Reggie Richard Rhys Jones and I am a Facebook user.
I visit the site at least once a day and I always leave it on a separate page when I'm online

"A frivolous folly of a website, no use to any man!" I hear you wail, "Cry shame you addict!!!"

Not so, say I. It's a wonderful networking tool, designed to locate old friends, workmates, family even and bring them together. It can endorse a group or a cause to an audience that terrestrial television broadcasters can only dream about. It can be used as a medium to advertise commodities, art, trade, services and can even help sway public opinion on a current topical issue faster than any tabloid newspaper.
So stick that in your bong and get nicked by the drug squad with it!

No, I am a Facebook user solely for the first reason.
It has put me back in contact with people I haven't even thought about for over twenty years, which I think is fabulous.

All well and good Gingerboy, but what has this to do with your literary career?"
Patience Grasshopper, like the can of McEwan's that waits like a stone for the right lager lout, you must show patience…

Well you see, Dear Reader, a friend of mine from those acne ridden days of pubetic yore has suddenly popped up on my Facebook friends list. She read my profile, visited my blog, bought the T-shirt, ate the cake and then told me that she is an editor for a magazine and would like to give me a helping hand.

WHAT !!!
Tremendous, all my Christmases in one!

Anyway, I'm in the process now of rewriting my, "Vampires of Sparta" short story to send to her, and then we'll see if it's nuclear rockets or marrowfat peas for breakfast.
Don't ask me what that means, it just reads well.

So, Dear Reader, that's where I'm at right now. Oh the deep joy of the internet...
I'm in a bloody great mood I am. Does it show?

Reg :-)

Montag, 23. November 2009

After an awful lot of trouble, with emails to-ing and fro-ing like gunshot at Waterloo, I can now proudly declare that the Division of the Damned website is finally up and running... sort of.
To be honest, I'm still not happy with it, but it's a tad better than what it was. It's only for anyone who might be interested to see the idea behind the story, or to maybe give the publishers something to mull over as well.
Thanks a lot to Richard of Struggling Authors.com for helping with the setting up and the angry emails, and also to Tee for her unstinting support and kind words. :-)
This is starting to sound like an Oscar acceptance speech, isn't it?

Right, I'll swiftly move on. I rewrote my Caesar-is-a-vampire short story, (The Ides of March) and whisked it off into the ether. Who knows, it might get printed… but it probably won't.
Whatever, it's been dusted down, given a fresh coat of ink and sent off again and that's that.

I'm thinking about phoning up the publishers who hold my manuscript again. As the 1st Anniversary of our parting draws nigh and I still haven't heard a dickey bird, (whatever that may be?), perhaps a gentle nudge might prod them into some movement on the decision front? Stranger things have happened at sea, apparently.
Think about it though, a whole year of waiting like a jilted bride, hoping the groom will turn up with the necessary paperwork for our literary marriage of convenience. I should write jilted groom there but bride reads better I think.
I'm reliably told that a year is normal but I can't seem to get my head around it.
However, as Dick Marcinko, aka. "Rogue Warrior", "Demo Dick" and "Shark Man of the Delta" liked to say, "You don't have to like it; you just have to do it".
So deal with it Reginaldus !!

I'm wibbling now, aren't I?
I'll go.
Reg ;-)
PS, Check out the website: www.Divisionofthedamned.co.uk
And no laughing!!!
PPS Check out Dick Marcinko on Wikipoopia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Marcinko
Interesting chap.

Mittwoch, 18. November 2009

Bad News.

Fortune makes a fool of those she favours too much.
Quintus Horatius Flaccus, (Horace)

We never really know how lucky we are until we set ourselves against our family and peers.
Yesterday my sister gave me the shock of my life. My 14 year old nephew has been diagnosed with epilepsy. He suffered a bad attack at school, was taken to the hospital and then diagnosed there.

My sister is naturally devastated, which chilled me more than the news did as she is emotionally the strongest out of all of us.
We talked yesterday, for about an hour on the phone and as I listened to the tired sadness behind her words, I realised what an awful time my nephew and his mother and sister have had of it.
Details aside, the three of them have had a testing time to say the least and this latest news is the icing on a pretty dire piece of cake.

Epilepsy isn't the end of the world, but it is a hammer blow to this good hearted, honest little family who haven't done a thing to deserve it.The world is full of misery, I only have to look at the news to know this; but the sadness in my sister's voice yesterday made me realise how lucky I have been in life and how laughable my problems really are.

Reg :-/

Donnerstag, 12. November 2009

My good friend and literary companion, (as in person, not book) is well impressed by the Authonomy website, and I have to add that judging by the feedback she's received I can understand why.
"So why don't you send your MS in, Cowardy, Cowardy Custard?" I hear you ponder aloud.
Well, firstly, though Harper Collins is a perfectly respectable firm with a good reputation, (there's nothing bad about them on Predators and Editors, which is always a good sign), I don't actually like literary forums.
I really have had too many bad experiences at the hands of well meaning but ultimately clueless gurus of the written word who have dished out bad information to me from day one. I spent a whole eighteen months looking for an agent on the basis of what one All-Seeing Eye of a forum expert told me… grrrrr.
Do I sound bitter? Well I suppose I am, in a way. Whatever, Authonomy…
Let me explain briefly how it works. You send in your manuscript to be read by other people. If enough readers like it, then it goes to the Editors desk to be viewed as a possible candidate for publication. Along the way other people slot in their input, ideas, criticisms and praise, which gives you a good idea about what other, completely independent booklovers think about your work. Sounds good, doesn't it?
And for a lot of people it is.
So why not for me?

Well, firstly the majority, (not all but the majority) of the individuals who send their work in to any of these websites are at my level; i.e. nowhere.
So what makes them smarter than the people who have already read through my manuscript? Not much in my eyes. The people who have studied my work were BRUTALLY honest because I instructed them to be so. My words were, "prove to me that it's pants" and they did… the B######ds, I hate them all.
However, they were also interested in the time period it's set in and have a passing interest in horror. This naturally makes them a perfect feedback source as they would be my prospective target audience… if I were ever to be published.

Nevertheless, I hear you say, on Authonomy they're an INDEPENDENT source of comparison to other work in the genre.
Mmmm, yes but I don't even trust that point of view, (yes, that's how cynical and unforgiving I've become, lol).
Each and every reader on Authonomy is looking to make friends with the other writers. Friends = support and support is what brings you to the editor's desk. Nobody makes friends by giving a nasty critique because the way the world works is that they'll just give you one right back. So you don't give a nasty critique, you smile and say, "Great stuff" and blah blah blah.
The unspoken rule of you-scrub-mine-and-I'll-scrub-yours type of situation; which is cosy and could lead to that Nirvana-esque goal of publication, but probably won't.

Oh boy, I sound bitter AND twisted on this one, don't I?
I'm not really.
There are obviously good, honest people on every forum who have talent and integrity. I just met the wrong kind when I started out and it has somewhat coloured my view of the whole "scene".
Also, if I send it off to be read by strangers and the publishers do catch a flying pig and get back to me, would the fact that my MS is already in the public domain affect the situation?
I don't know and I don't think I'm going to tempt fate and find out, to be honest.
So now you know peeps.
Reg
PS.
F.Y..I., I sent the first 10,000 words of my initial draft off to "YouWriteOn" a couple of years ago. It has significantly altered since then but I received two reviews and I think it's only right to tell you of them.
The first was really nice but I had the distinct impression he or she hadn't read the passage and had cheated on the quiz afterwards. It was all very general, with no specific examples to elaborate on the praise that was so forthcoming.
The second review was the best. The assessor complained that I shouldn't start a story with a vampire and an SS officer as that would alienate the reader and they'd lose interest in the story. Oookaaaaay…
I, in return wrote three critiques and they were all, in my humble opinion, brilliant pieces of prose that should rightly be elaborating the libraries of all the major centres of learning in Europe, and not wallowing on some internet book bin…
I'm such a fake.

Sonntag, 8. November 2009

The Colours

The Colours
Stand fast stand fast, your head laid bare,
Take heed the ringing bell.
Pay your dues to those brave few
Who for their country fell.

No questions asked, no dissent broached,
They gave their best so willing,
To prove this Crown and Sceptred Isle
Is worthy of their Shilling.

They, the cream of a nation's age,
Who we called to perform,
Did uncomplaining march to war
To perish in the storm.

And yet now times seem trouble-free
And conflict far away,
The brasses on our gratitude
Show tarnish and decay.

How quick forgot their gallantry,
The bloodshed and the loss,
As tales of splendid bravery
Soon lose their modish gloss.

And while our leaders dredge for sludge
And question choices made,
The soldier stands his thankless watch;
Still ready, though betrayed.

So be grateful for the backbone
The Services provide.
Those lions that safeguard our shores
And bear the flag with pride.

No capricious musing, nor
Hollow fashion trend
Will ever weaken their resolve
The Colours never bend.
R. Jones Nov. 09

Montag, 2. November 2009

November

It's November and I still haven't heard from the publishers. This time last year I was coming to the conclusion that trying to find an agent was not the best idea and that maybe I should just strike out for a publishing firm and to hell with the middle man. I still think it was the best move actually.
The fact that they've had my book now for eleven months fills me with neither optimism nor fear. I've reached such a point of indifference that I hardly even think about it anymore.
Whereas once I ran to the mailbox like a hyperactive, underfed Doberman whenever I heard the postman's car puttering down the drive, or scrambled to the computer everytime I returned from where ever I had been; nowadays I send the kids out for the mail and my Facebook notices attract more attention than any unknown email address that just might be the publishing firm.
However, that said, after such a long wait I think rejection will probably tell on me more than usual.

I like to put on a hard man act and say things like, "Well, I'll just send it off again. No big deal…"
However, I know I'll be gutted if rejection is the reward for my patience and fidelity.
As a kid, (which means last week in real terms) I would seek portents and signs in everything I did when waiting for news or a possible treat.
"If I eat these cornflakes in under five minutes I'll get the Action Man Scorpion tank", (Which I didn't by the way).
"If I manage to pee into the toilet without splashing the seat I won't get in trouble for forgetting my Maths homework", (Which I invariably did because Mr. Foss did not like me at all).
"If I can castrate this dingo with only a pencil sharpener, a bag of lemon drops and a ball of string I'll be allowed to work in Disneyland… etc. etc. etc."
Yeah, I know the last one was silly but you get the idea.
However, sadly, I haven't the imagination for such reliance on blind luck to organise my day anymore. I suppose it's a good thing that I have finally taken responsibility for my actions instead of leaving it all for fate to decide but it's nowhere near as interesting.
What am I wibbling on about?
Oh yeah, it's eleven months and I'm kinda hoping to hear something positive soon… That was it.

Tara
Reg :-)

Mittwoch, 28. Oktober 2009

Amazon

Amazon.
We all take it for granted; it's one of the standard addresses I always go to when browsing the net for a book or DVD, (we're not rich enough for a Blue Ray yet).
Whatever, the thing is that it's only now that I've started to think about how cool it would be to see my work proclaimed on its functional yet familiar pages.

"But why now?" You ask.

Well, "Gods Will Be Done" have released their new CD on an unsuspecting public. "The Book of Blood" was issued to great critical acclaim, and can now be bought in selected record stores or on the Interweb thingy.
Now, admittedly, I have a vested interest in this band doing well as any success they reap will automatically provide a side wind of glamour for my modest tome. However, that is not the real reason why I bring this up.
(OK, OK, it's ONE of the reasons)
My main motivation is to highlight how much we accept as a given certain things and yet these same circumstances can be the pinnacle of another's desires and ambitions.
Let me explain.
How many times have I, or you Dear Reader, simply skipped through the considerable list of books on Amazon's very user friendly pages, without ever sparking a single brain cell as to the effort that went in to each and every one of those binded gems?
Each book represents a person's aspirations and dreams; each title a slice of the writer's life that can never be replaced in time and effort given. Have you ever thought about how much joy was derived by that army of invisible writers when, for the first time, they saw THEIR name listed with the other ten thousand faceless authors?

I never have ,until I saw GWBD's CD being sold on the net. That's when I thought about it for the first time, and I'm one of the people vying to be included in one of those lists! How can you, Dear Reader, be expected to ponder such Zen concepts when you have no persoanl interest what so ever?
... And what does that say about how shallow I am??
Oh dear.

I have sweated blood to get a foot in to the Book marketing world; a journey that has taken literally years to travel and I'm still not even on the first rung of the literary ladder.
For me, to see The Division of the Damned being sold on Amazon would be the culmination of years of trial, endeavour, research, experimentation and hope. I have experienced so much disappointment, frustration and powerlessness with agent rejection and dismissal that, sometimes, only a 1930's American Dustbowl farmer could have outbidded me on the Misery Cup.
I'm not craving monetary success here, though that would be nice. I'm simply talking about me, Reggie Jones, ex of Tan y Lan council estate, North Wales, who left school at 16 and has worked every day of his blue collar life, achieving an ambition that seems so impossible in this hard hearted, nepotistic, discriminatory and overly exclusive business. Getting his book published.
Put like that, it all sounds so unattainable, doesn't it?

However, all is not lost and inspiration can be found in the most unexpected of settings. Seeing my mate's CD being sold by a multinational corporation like Amazon has given a lift to my ambitions. To know that I helped write the songs, (all be it with lyrics that nobody will ever read because quality libretto is not the mark of a good Thrash album,) is toasty consolation for the paucity of success with my manuscript.
It also makes me want to see my own work, created 100% by Big Ego me, being sold on some bland but practical webpage for the princely sum of €10.50, plus V.A.T. (free delivery with all orders over €20).

It could be said that hubris sometimes veils itself in the cloak of our ambitions, so am I being laughably over confident in my abilities?
I don't care to be honest. What have I to lose? The manuscript is there, it's not going away and if I'm hit with another rejection I'll just send it off again.
There is a light at the end of the tunnel and perseverance is the train that'll take me to it.
Well that's the way I see it anyhow.
Tara.
Reg :-)
PS. It's a ridiculous name for a website really, when you think about it. A website that sells books, made of paper, made of wood from the rainforest… is that some kind of sick joke?
"Amazon: Forest decimation a speciality"
No, that's unfair.

Samstag, 24. Oktober 2009

Nothing in this life is easy and especially if you're red of hair, Welsh and me. I struggled with the website, stumbling around its cyber halls like an early Bill gates on a bad acid trip; my ignorance and inexperience showing like a white-headed zit at every computer-generated turn.
And yet somehow, and only The Maker knows how, I managed to sort it out to how I, (sort of) wanted it to be.
Happy days, one would think…
Alas, no. It was not to be. Once again that rancid harridan, Fate orally purged her stomach contents over my hopes and dreams.
Two hours of cerebral sweating for nothing; the bloody website wouldn't publish. :-(
The best bit is that they give a reason why, which is all well and good until you realise it's written in some kind of Masonic code that probably resembles the Mayan calendar in its portent, but obviously has me scratching my noggin like a nonplussed baboon.
Here, have a read:

COMMAND: Connect BlahblahBlahwebsite
STATUS: 220-Matrix FTP server ready.220-This is a private system - No anonymous login220-IPv6 connections are also welcome on this server.220 Please note: files for your website must be stored under the htdocs directory.COMMAND: Login divisionofthedamned.co.uk passwd:****** Login Failed STATUS: 530 Authentication failed, sorry

…hello?
What's all that about then?

What I don't understand is that they've written that I haven't logged in but you have to log in so as to make any changes. What are they wittering on about? Can anyone out there make sense of it?
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!
Anyway, I've sent them an email and asked if they'd translate it for me into English.
The answer they send me better be good or there's going to be TROUB.
T.R.U.B.; trouble.

Have a nice weekend, I won't.
Reg :-(

Donnerstag, 22. Oktober 2009

Richard, of Struggling Authors, has sent me the key for the "Website Wizard" so I can update my somewhat neglected website.

http://www.divisionofthedamned.co.uk/

Now, I am no computer, "I-can-disassemble-a-hard-drive-before-breakfast" specialist. In fact, I'm clueless.
However, my friend Tee assures me it's far easier than one expects it to be so I'm optimistic… I'm always optimistic; let's face it, the way I run my life I have to be.
Anyway, that's on the near horizon for the next couple of weeks, (and in reality the next 2 years as I procrastinate and vacillate on getting to grips with the cyber world).

I've also stumbled on a new Blog, "Secret office confessions".
Normally I wouldn't bother with it but it's somehow hooked me. Basically it revolves around the characters, the loves, the jealousies and the private wars in an office environment. Not recommended reading for the normally romantically cynical Reggie Jones but, damn and blast it all, I like it.
I don't know if it's a true record of an actual situation, but I do know that it's extremely addictive.
Read it at your own peril at.

http://secretofficeconfessions.blogspot.com/

Well that's it for today, have a great weekend and wish me luck with my website… alright, don't bother.
Whatever.
Reg ;-)

Dienstag, 20. Oktober 2009

We spent last weekend with friends in Würzburg.
What a great city: the history, the ambience, the whole Würzburg "feeling". It actually inspired me, in one of my more fluid moments, to make a promise that I'd write at least a short story set in that great medieval, castle-dominated Stadt.
I was convinced I could capture the admiration of its architecture and character and carry it over to a reader who would then consequently also fall in love with the city.
Of course, in the cold, blinding, headache-inducing glare of sobriety, I realised that would never happen. To be able to portray a place, be it country, region or city, and to invoke the same love that I experienced in Würzburg whilst under the influence of her Dionysian charms, I'd have to be a master scribe of Zarathustran proportions.
Which I am definitely not, unfortunately.
It brought home how good some of these travel book writers are. Those unsung heroes of the written word who cleverly manage to sell a concept of a place rather than the place itself.
The idea of being a travel writer seemed almost as bad as being a journo, but on reflection, I can now understand their talent.
I've always kept my locations down to a minimum of metaphors, relying largely on the characters of my book and the situations they land in to prod the reader along.
For actual place settings, of which I have many in "Division", I generally tended to ignore the specifics, relying on the reader's imagination to beef out the scenery.
That said, conversely, I read a book about Atlantis, written by a man who specialises in underwater architecture. In the book, when our hero finally finds Atlantis, the author wrecked the whole ending by scribbling reams upon reams about its sub-aquatic ruins. It was so tedious that I actually started skipping pages. Awful.
What's my point here?
I don't know, to be honest.
Würzburg is a great city. Whilst drunk I fell in love with her, all be it briefly, and wantonly yearned to dedicate a story to her. The next day I felt different and broke off our engagement.
Did I, a philanderer and rake, use her?
Würzburg, am I guilty of breaking your fragile heart?
Will you wilt and die for the love of a staggering Welshman?

Nah…
Reg ;-)

Dienstag, 13. Oktober 2009

So, a new look blog for a new look week…
Well, not exactly a new look week but the blog is different. Scroll down, dear reader, and read about Shasta and the Green Kiddies…
All sounds very mysterious, doesn't it?
Well, the thing is, my mate Tee very kindly put up the synopsis for "Division" on her blog. So I thought to myself that it's only fair if I do the same for her.
Then I was smitten by yet another thought, (yes, I know, two in one week. Thanks for pointing it out to me), Richard Grayling at Struggling Authors has always been ready with a helping hand, why not put his up too?
Why not, indeed.
No sooner thought than done, et voila, Shasta and Green Kiddies receive some free, if not limited, exposure. Hoorah!!!
So please feel free to scroll down and check them out, especially if you're a prospective agent or publisher…

I feel so good about myself now; I think I'll have a beer.
Reg

Sonntag, 11. Oktober 2009

Sunday and I'm cream crackered.
Nightshift tends to take it out of me nowadays, though I don't know why as I'm only 42!!
Whatever, time marches inexorably on…
… and I still have yet to put pen to paper.
Tomorrow though, I'll do it tomorrow, honest!

Recently I stumbled on to a blog written, or serviced if you will, by a friend of mine. Simon Wangerman, (Wangerman is a nickname, don't ask me why though) scribbles down his views on music, (mostly heavy metal), the interweb thing and life in general.
He's a funny guy actually and manages to do something that not many Germans can; that is, master the art of being wittily droll.

I know lots of Germans who are cleverly caustic. They use spit and vinegar metaphors to portray an air of blasé loftiness that, to the uninitiated, comes off as sad old Teutonic arrogance.
However, Wangerman has discovered the knack of verbally escorting you to his luxurious, stress-free Penthouse apartment; to admire a song or a group in such a way that either raises a polite eyebrow or lures an indulgent smile.
Though I will add that if a subject does raise his blood, then it receives a full on Neuhochdeutsch version of an Ark Royal broadside, with a machine gunning of any survivors in the water afterwards.

Unfortunately he writes in German so if you can't "speako da lingo" I wouldn't go there. However, if Deutsch is your lingua franca, give him a go.

http://krachundso.blogspot.com/

Have a nice week.
I'll have something down next time I write.
Reg

Donnerstag, 8. Oktober 2009

Had a good chat with my mate George the other day.
I asked him about what his thoughts are on the article I sent him and the new project that I started.
He liked the article but found it a tad too Blackadderesque, however he did not like my latest idea for a story.

I pondered long and hard about this because we are both of a very like mind in a lot of things and I respect his opinion. He felt it was too far into the realm of fantasy, too far fetched to make an impression, and I can understand this point of view. It is VERY far fetched.

However, I like the idea for the story and I want it to work. So I'm going to give it a shot. Dinosaurs warring against a Napoleonic Europe is a wacky conception and no mistake, lol. Let's see where it goes to.

George mate, if you're reading this, thanks for the spur to the flank that set me off again.

Reg :-)

Sonntag, 4. Oktober 2009

So I sent the write up to Richard at Struggling Authors, he reckons it'll do nicely for the December update.

I've also written the lyrics for two songs, "In nomine Dei" and, "Black Agenda". So, as you can see, I've been a busy bunny this last couple of weeks.
I still can't get myself going on the manuscript front for some reason. I am now literally bursting with ideas but sadly lacking in motivation.
I wonder what's wrong with me?
Whatever, that's all the news I have for now.
Have a nice week.
Reg

Donnerstag, 24. September 2009

I've just read an interesting article in a Blog I follow, about whether to send to one agent or publisher at a time or more?
My personal feelings on the matter are that it's unethical to send to more than one address at a time, however, is it?
At the moment I've been left completely on hold with the MS I've sent off.
It's driving me to distraction, I can't put pen to paper, (or finger to key if you will) without thinking about it. Now the question that begs to be asked is, is that being fair on me?
What is against me sending it off again to a different publisher, or publisherS for that matter?

Well, firstly it's not in my genetic make up to be disloyal. It's a major fault of mine that I'm faithful to the bitter end; so I wouldn't be comfortable with playing one publisher off against another, which is how I would see it.
Secondly… well there is no second because the first one is good enough, to be honest.

So, where does that leave me?
It leaves me pining away for an answer that will probably be negative when it come anyway. Mmmmmmm…
Damn my honourable nature.

Reg ;-)

Montag, 21. September 2009

The piece is down for the Struggling Authors website, I'm just tweaking it now.
I've taken a slightly satirical angle on the whole thing; I just hope it's what the website is looking for.

The band I write the lyrics for have also sent me some more work, that's work as in; I write the lyrics and receive my royalties in beer at their gigs. A most favourable arrangement, I can assure you.
Their first full length CD should be on the shelves by the end of October and they're already starting on songs number six and seven for the next release. It's all very heart warming to see the lyrics I wrote, sometimes at work and sometimes at home, being performed by another person.
If you're looking for an ego boost, I can highly recommend it. However, a further ego boost of Saturn size proportions is having the words you crafted picked out by a record company executive as being good enough for packaging and promotion. Record companies are like publishers, they're constantly inundated with CDs from countless bands and to be picked out is, well special actually, lol.
I'll stop stroking my ego now, shall I?

Still nothing from the publishers. Were it not for the lyrics and translation work for friends I wouldn't be writing anything at all! I can't concentrate on anything at the moment, as my mind drifts off on a tangent as soon as I open up any of the unfinished projects I have on the go at the moment.
Ah well, an answer will be forthcoming, I'm sure.
I'll just have to sit it out.

Have a nice week.
Reg. :-)

Montag, 14. September 2009

Monday morning and the weekend starts here, Yippee !!!
(Fail).
After a whole weekend of night shift, I fell I could sleep for a year, at least.

I've had an idea for the problems I had in finding, (free) Latin translations for longer phrases and names.
A local German band have started to use English lyrics and their singer is a Latin teacher. Result!
I have offered my services, as a native speaker of the Queen's diction to check their material, maybe change a few things, blah blah blah, and in return their singer can translate a couple of phrases and the like for me, into Latin.
Sorted.
Actually, I haven't asked them yet about the Latin translation, but I reckon quid pro quo is a fair proposition and it's not like I'm asking them to translate the Bhagavad-Gita, is it?
No Reg, it isn't.

I think I'll go to bed now.
Good night/morning.
Reg

Donnerstag, 10. September 2009

My favourite writer's website,
http://strugglingauthors.co.uk/default.aspx
has suddenly bloomed into a hive of activity.
It's a cosy, intimate little corner that normally ticks along nicely with a wide range of subjects to help the "struggling author" and a small band of writing enthusiasts who regularly add to the forums.
There are no arrogant creative writing teachers snorting loudly onto the page, no know-it-all 6th form students pretending to be 42 year old Poet Laureates and to put a fine point on it, no egos full stop.
I basically like it because it does what a website of this nature should do, i.e. it offers support and advice.
So imagine how nice it was for me to be asked to scribble down a short passage about the adversity and troubles that have assailed me on the long, lonely journey to, (hopefully) seeing my name in print.
Nice :-)
So that's what I'm going to do. Cool, eh?
I've a bit of translation to do for a friend and then I'll get stuck in.
Right, that's it then.
No more news, sadly.

But one day, oh yes, one day I will have something to tell you.
Be it good or be it bad.

Tara.
Reg

Freitag, 4. September 2009

It's Friday and slowly but surely, I'm starting to feel the need to write again. I won't be doing anything this weekend, haven't the tie I'm afraid, but it's on the near horizon.
This waiting for an answer form the publisher is killing me. I'm checking my mails, on average, about five times a day. However, all good things to those who wait… Right?
(I sincerely hope that maxim is right).

You know what, I've whinged enough about this waiting lark. The next time I mention it will be when I hear something.
Dealio?
Dealio.

On a slightly cheerier note, my friend and one time literal partner, Tee, has assured me that she'll be plonking the keyboard on her blog before the end of the month.
Well, actually that was a slight nudge to the J.K.Rowling of Ashford to get something down on her page; I'm fed up of the same, "MAN UNITED A BIG FAT ZERO" entry.
Give me some news Tee, lol.

Anyway, have a great weekend.
Reg

Dienstag, 1. September 2009

What I don't understand is my inability to write at a constant tempo. It seems that I have mad dashes of creativity that dazzle even me, and then long periods of nothing; and I mean absolutely nothing.
It's like I know I should write but I can't bring myself to tap the keys. I avoid even thinking about it.
Why, I wonder, is that so?
I am passionate about every story I do to the point of being able to sit for hours just staring into space, plotting my characters and all the misery that will befall them. Before I go to sleep I think about what I'm writing, envisaging how a scene will turn out or how a character is going to meet a grizzly end. Someone once suggested I take a notebook with me where ever I go, to jot down ideas as they hit me, but the fact of the matter is that I think about every project I start so much that ideas spring on me all the time. I've no shortage on the imagination front.
However, then it comes to actually putting down my ideas and I'm forced to wait until the mood takes me.
Why is that?

I know why I stopped on book two of Division. I was just fed up with all the waiting for an answer from the many agents I wrote to, I needed to move on.
The story's still there and if I hear anything positive I'll simply pick up from where I left off. But for now, I need a break from Markus von Struck and his crew.
Hence my little flurry with the short stories and now the newest project. This latest project is really interesting. I love making up my own little worlds and histories and the new storyline allows me to do just that. However, I haven't touched it for over a month now and can't seem to bring myself into the zone where I'm comfortable tapping the keys.

Well, there you go. Now you know why I'm so phlegmatic when it comes to writing. I haven't mentioned the shift work, house, kids and social life because anyone who has read my earlier whinges knows all about those, lol.

Whatever, I am feeling the need again slowly, so in a couple of days I think I'll be there again; in the zone…

Have a good one.
Reg :-)

Mittwoch, 19. August 2009

10 days since the last post and I have nothing to deliver, I'm afraid.

Next time I'll have something for you.
OK?
Reg ;-)

Sonntag, 9. August 2009

So…
I have absolutely nothing to report, I'm afraid.
I haven't written anything due to all the social and work commitments that have laid siege to my free time since we returned from Spain.
This month I'm invited to a 30th birthday party, a 40th and I have friends coming from Britain and Paderborn with the sole purpose of drinking me under the table. Yesterday was spent introducing a couple of friends from Bavaria to the wonderful world of Guinness. A time consuming process that involved lots of money and hurried trips to the toilet.
All good fun though.
It doesn't stop there though, on top of all that are the usual labour obligations to my firm, family and friends that govern my life with an iron rod.
So, as one can see, writing has a hard time competing with everything else, especially when all it seems to produce are rejection slips and heartbreak, lol.

And while we're on the subject of dismissal…
Still nothing from the publishers.
Every day I check my mails like a lovesick teenager, hoping for that one mail, that golden message of acceptance into the ranks of the published writer's brigade.
Alas, it hasn't yet happened, but I'm optimistic…. All be it very furtively.

Anyway, that's it for now.
Tara.
Reg ;-)

Mittwoch, 29. Juli 2009

Once again the sudden, concussive shock of rejection wrecks my morning.
My short story about the 300 Spartans being vampires received an Emperor-like thumbs down from a short story magazine.
Ah well, life goes on, eh?

The new story is plodding along nicely though. After stumbling around a bit fort a while, I finally found my footing by simply erasing the part that was giving me so much trouble. Easy, innit?
Anyway, that's where I'm at right now.
Another rejection but not THE rejection and another bag full of optimism with my latest endeavour.

Nice.
Reg :-)

Samstag, 25. Juli 2009

Holiday's over, back to the grindstone…
Well, I did get the story going in the first week but, alas, in the second half of my sojourn I was forced out of my little laptop world and back to reality.

What I'm trying to say is that I didn't do anything in the second week. I went on boat and bike trips, shopping trips, on long treks through the wilderness and on even longer treks through the top row of spirits. However, the laptop lay dormant, and with it all my best intentions.
Whatever, holiday was great.

George, it simply hasn't the depth of character and story needed for me to send it to you, though the skeleton of the plot is going well. I'll bung it to you in a couple of weeks mate. I know I promised, but we both know you'll always lose if all-inclusive gin is splayed before me like Aphrodite in a Playboy centre-fold.

Meanwhile, back at the, "Division" ranch…

Still nothing from the publishers. The rejection, when it does come, is going to need some serious liquid therapy to get over, I can tell that now.
Whatever, catch you later my two loyal readers.

(Sighs) How I wish I was popular…

Reg :-)

Donnerstag, 16. Juli 2009

Hiya, I wrote this halfway through my holiday but for some reason Spanish Google wouldn't let me post it.
Whatever, here it is.

This holiday thing is great.

I've got some good stuff down, well storywise its good but I'm sure George will rip into it with a veangeance. However, grammatical, punctuational and spelling monstrosities aside, the story is ticking along nicely; it's not running away with me as "Division" did.

It's just a damn shame the bloody animation team at the hotel insist on treating me like a mutant because I don't want to do, "Crazy Sports" while I'm packing the laptop... GITS !!!

Life's a trial and no mistake.

Tara.

Reg :-)

Freitag, 10. Juli 2009

Peeps, I'm away now for two weeks.
Let's see if I get anything done, eh?

Tara.
Reg :-)

Dienstag, 7. Juli 2009

Friday is THE day.
On Friday the Tenth of July, me, myself and my little tribe of Jones family credit crunch survivors will be flying to Majorca for two weeks of sun, beer, sand, beer, laziness and more beer with a couple of John Collins thrown in for good measures.
To say that I can't wait is an understatement of biblical proportions, bested only by Marshall Petain's claim that Verdun was, "a bit of a pickle". (OK, OK he didn't actually say that but I haven't any ready quotes to hand. However, I'm sure you get my meaning.)

Anyway, while I'm basting myself under the Iberian sun, (well all but Iberian) like a beer-bellied, oven-ready chicken, I'm hoping to be able to splat down a couple of lines of my new project.
Not only that, dear jealous reader, but I am also hoping to meddle a bit with Division of the Dammed part II, GULAG!!
Gasp, shock, horror…

Hey, why not, eh?
You only live once and I seem to have run aground already with the new thing. Only temporarily of course, I'll be back up and swinging like a punch drunk heavyweight before the bell goes for last orders, but I have taken a tasty right cross on it at the moment.
However, this is the plan.
What happens if I'm marooned Writer's Block island with only the one project? I feel like a fraud using that term but there's no other phrase for it, anyway, Writer's Block bowls me a googly and I'm run out on the crease…What then?!?!
Disaster, Catastrophe, Four Editors of the Apocalypse, Extinction Level Event, Day of Judgement??

No my slippery fish-brained, deluded friend, all is well.
Plan B simply sets itself in motion and I slide neatly back on the trail with Von Struck and the chaps before you can say, "Howzat!"
Now don't be such a nay-saying sissy and start preaching about getting confused with the two plots, the characters, the research, the facts and the many types of Gin blah blah blah…
Because I won't, you see (?), you great, big dollop of school custard, give me credit for at least half a brain cell wontcha?
I'll have everything to hand, except for t'internet, and I'll go from that; making corrections on my return Sausage-side. The plot, my Wikipedia notes, I have it all on the laptop.
It's a great plan, nothing can go wrong and I CAN'T WAIT to put it in motion.

If I don't write before, I'll see you when I get back.
Reg :-)

PS. Honestly, I'm so hyper right now, does it tell?

Donnerstag, 2. Juli 2009

Once more the soiled curse of rejection smears my literary track record.
I received the email only yesterday and this is how it went.

"Thanks but no thanks. In fact, we'd rather slip a couple of rabid ferrets down our collective grollies than print anything your talent-deprived fingers could ever push out. All the best with your next project, loser."

I think that's how it went; well that's how it's stuck in my memory anyway.

"Harumph" was my response.

Well, I've still another three short stories out there, and my MS, so all is not lost dear reader.
Nil Desperandum, right?
(How often have I written those words over the three years I've been doing this Blog?" Too many, thinks I.)

Only one week and one day until I go on holiday.
I'm taking the laptop and hope to be punching the keyboard with Anthophiliatic diligence the whole time I'm there. Fourteen days of all the sun induced creativity I can fit in.
It'll all end in tears at the bar, (it is all inclusive so I have to get my money back somewhere, right?) but who cares?
The will is there, the story is thrumming along nicely and I cannot wait.

Right, I'm off to do some stuff in the garden.
Have a nice day.
Reg :-)

Freitag, 26. Juni 2009

Has it been a week already?
I have nothing to write I'm afraid.
So I'll leave it, shall I?
Yeah...
Tara.
Reg :-)

Samstag, 20. Juni 2009

Once, long ago, before I woke up and screwed my head on properly, I contacted an agent here in Germany.
At that time I was convinced I needed a representative to sell my tome to the great wide world and so make my millions. This lunacy all stemmed from those bloody forums that are full of people who haven't really a clue about the industry themselves, but insist on dishing out bad advice as if it were from Dan Brown, Ken Follet or J.K.Rowlings personally.
Anyway, as I wrote, I thought I needed an agent.
I sent my manuscript off to several agencies around Britain and America, all to no avail.
I was simply too unknown to be interesting and my book was crap as well, I guess. ;-)
Whatever, one day, whilst licking my spiritual wounds from yet another rejection, I came across an agent in the Writers and Artists Yearbook who was based in Hanover, not fifty minutes drive by car!!
Hurrah and hussar I thought as I happily punched in the telephone number, this could be my lucky break, (which sadly it never is, no matter how often I think it will be.)
I was put straight through and spoke to a very nice chap who said to me that if I write the manuscript in German, he'll take me on.
Now, needless to say I was a bit flummoxed; smugly pleased with my marketing skills but still flummoxed.
Why would any agent say that without even seeing my MS???
So I asked him and the answer is amazing. The thing is you see, according to the agent, Germany, that great land of scholars and poets, is suffering a drought in the creative writing game. There are loads of books on the market but the majority of them are translations from foreign authors.
Gasp!
Of course he could have just been pulling my leg, or perhaps he was a madman or whatever reason you can find to not believe him. However, it's still amazing to me that so many German language prints are translations, especially when you consider the population count of the German speaking lands. A good measure of this is the fact that I have never once read a book translated into English by a German author. Not one. Well not intentionally, lol.

So why is that?
Why is a land like Germany a poverty stricken desert when it comes to authors? Is it because German is such a hard language to translate?
I think any translation work is hard and very often a lot of the original magic of a story is diluted by the act of the conversion itself. However, if that were the case, why do the translated novels by English speaking authors do so well in Germany?
It's all very strange.

Whatever, I didn't try to translate my book and now it's at a publishing house in London somewhere been given a critical once-over… hopefully a not too critical once over, mind.

Have a good one.
Reg :-)

Montag, 15. Juni 2009

11 pages down and I'm finding my flow, slowly.
I'll finish the first chapter and then go over it again, refining and tweeking where needed.

I would have achieved more this weekend were it not for my extremely frantic social life. Friday was a party for a workmate who's leaving the firm, Saturday was a birthday party. So Sunday I managed nothing, sadly.
Drums tonight so the next session will be Tuesday at the earliest.
A weekend wasted but it was fun. :-)
Productivity shouldn't be measured in word counts, well that's my take on the problem, lol.
Have a good one.
Reg :-)

Donnerstag, 11. Juni 2009

Well, eight pages down and it's going well…
OK, it's not going well at all, actually.
When I fall out of writing practise I find it hard to rediscover how to make a page flow. Reading back on what I've written up to now, it all seems so stilted, jerky even.
I'm not happy with it and I'm only on the eighth page… BAH!!!

Whatever, practise makes perfect so I'll do what I always do when the going is hard, head down and plough through.
Luckily I'm not afraid to bin things so when I find my rhythm again I'll simply replace the old passages.
The story is in my head so there's no danger of losing any important parts, well I hope there isn't anyway.

The research for the story is an ongoing thing. I think to myself that I've found the perfect beast to use in the story, for example, and then I'll stumble on something that fits the role even better and decide to look it up on the web.
Then, like an epileptic convulsion, the Wikipedia frenzy takes over.

That's the thing with Wikipedia; you start off innocently enough on one page and then get caught up in a blackhole of information links that devours you into itself.
I have quite happily spent whole afternoons skipping from one link to the next, sucking up useless information that has nothing to do with the original line of query that took me to Wikipedia in the first place.

I hear you, "Focus, Reggie, focus".
Easier said than done, my fine learned friend, easier said than done.

Have a good one.
Reg :-)

Montag, 8. Juni 2009

I've sorted the plot out, researched my characters and surroundings and have started to write.
Perhaps I should start a new Blog page?
The thing is, this Blog was meant to deal solely with "Division". Now it wouldn't be too bad if I was in the process of writing a part 2 to "Division", but I'm not.
This new project involves dinosaurs, megafauna and a Europe ruled by Napoleon, (that's got you thinking Tee…) and has obviously nothing in common with, "The Division of the Damned", i.e. Vampires working for the Third Reich..
Whatever, let's see how it all pans out, shall we?

It's strange writing with a long term goal in mind again. I'm back to thinking about the characters and their situation 90% of the day, pondering their interaction with the whole plot in general. I must look like a right nutter to my workmates, sitting on my own, mumbling incoherently to myself about Indricotheriums or Sauroposeidens, Latin phrases, musket ranges and the iron rule of Emperor Napoleon 1st.
Ah well, they still talk to me so it can't be all that bad, lol.

Have a good one.
Reg. :-)

Mittwoch, 3. Juni 2009

Well I'm back.
Did you miss me?
Didn't think so, lol.
The four day tour of the pubs of Cambridge went amazingly well. I stuck to Real Ale, so I wasn't poisoned by the chemicals they use in beer brewing nowadays, and had a great, if expensive, time.

Unfortunately, my plan to take a notebook and pen for ideas didn't quite pan out as I thought, but never the less, I've taken on board a whole rook of plans for a new book.
I'm done with short stories for now. They're all sent off and I await only the rejections.
I need something grittier, something I can live in when I have time to think to myself or I'm bored. I need to create my own world with its own laws, physics, timeline and life.
So that's what I'm going to do.

Wish me luck.
Reg J

Mittwoch, 27. Mai 2009

So, I'm off to Blighty tomorrow.
Haven't been there for about a year.
I know it sounds strange to anyone living in Britain but it really is like a familiar foreign country to me now.
It's hard, for example, to come to terms with people speaking English to me in a shop, say, or a pub.
It's not like I've gone native over here, in Jolly Old Germany; the majority of my friends are Brits.
But, that said, the preponderance of people with whom I have contact with, (workmates, business people, shopkeepers, the public in general) are all German and therefore German speakers.
The area where I live is VERY German. I have friends who live in Paderborn who only speak English to their workmates and friends. They work for the British Army and they drink in British style pubs. They watch English speaking television and enjoy a lot of things that my small sphere of Brit mates would give their right hand for.
Conversely, the area I live in is situated not far from the old Inner German border and a lot of the population are of Eastern European descent, so German obviously is the lingua franca. My workmates come from Russia, (and by Russia I mean what was once the collection of lands that constituted the USSR.), Romania, Poland, Croatia and Serbia and though they may try a couple of English phrases with me, we communicate in German.

To some Brits, who think the world speaks English; this may come as a shock. I know a lot of soldiers come to Germany with the impression that everybody speaks English; I know I did. My sister in law was somewhat taken aback to find that nobody in the shops could understand her when she spoke English.
"Well how do they sell anything then?" was her indignant reaction.
Which leads me nicely on to a subject close to my heart, namely The Division of the Damned.
You see, the problem I have is twofold. It's not only my massive lack of literary talent that sits in my way to being published, there's also the language barrier.
There are no agents or publishers in Germany that take on English manuscripts. None. Not one. Keine.
It's a given, really; which agent wants to travel to Britain or America to try and sell a book to a publisher from an unknown, inexperienced author?
Which publisher wants to print a book in a foreign language from an unproven, unheard of author for a reading circle that doesn't cover 0.1% of the population?
No one in their right mind, that's who.
The internet has made the situation tenable but that barrier between myself and publication just seems that little bit higher from my point of view. Not much, but enough to be telling.

"Why all the self pity, Reg?" I hear you ask.
No self pity, I just wanted to write something about my book or the situation in regards to that mighty tome I penned, rather than about my hopes that Barcelona smash Manchester United tonight.
That's all.

See you in about a week or so.
Reg
PS. I'm looking forward to being a rich man in Britain. The Euro is amazingly strong against the pound right now, almost one to one, so I'll be buying pints of good British ale for about three Euros a throw… nice.
PPS. Manchester will win. I'm not happy about it, but I am happy that it'll be one in the eye for Sepp Blatter and one in the eye for Michel Platini's UEFA; who definitely would not have been happy if two English teams had made the Champions league final again, for a second year running.

Montag, 25. Mai 2009

I follow a Blog by a Mrs. Jane Smith, " How Publishing Really Works " and it had another interesting article in it the other day.
It was about an independent publishing house that's experiencing some hard times at the moment.
The gist of the thing was that everyone, well all those who want to, should buy a book, just one, from this impoverished publisher.

Hey, you know what?
I'll put the link down then you can see for yourself. Go to:

http://howpublishingreallyworks.blogspot.com/2009/05/save-salt-publishing-one-book-at-time.html


And have a read.
Then, when you've finished reading, and maybe bought a book, have a look at the comments.
In the long list of good wishes and support for the idea, some crabby old has-been has written, "A fool and his money are soon parted." Or something along those lines.

Firstly Jane Smith puts him right on the quote, which was news to me because my Gran used to say it to me all the time, and then she asks him what his problem is?
The dude, who didn't even have the cojonas to use his own name, started on a rant that I thought was completely uncalled for, and totally out of place in the comments section of a public blog.
No bad words were used, just snide insinuations and odious remarks.
Now, I bring this up because I'm completely baffled as to how an appeal to help a struggling printing house could stir up so much bile and malice.
It's beyond me, it really is.
Why are some people such haters?
Well anyway, it backfired on lily-livered Mr. Anonymous I'm afraid, because I wasn't going to buy a book from Salt Publishing at all, but I will now.
One in the eye for Mr. Anonymous and a new customer for Salt publishing, now that's what I call the Free market, baby!!

Have a good one, buy a book and spit on the name Anonymous, which stands for all that's cowardly and churlish in this world.

Reg :-)
PS. I know this is not really about my MS or writing but I've nothing on the go at the moment.
I will soon though, I promise.

Montag, 18. Mai 2009

Just read a very good post on one of my fave Blogs.
Go to:

http://howpublishingreallyworks.blogspot.com/2009/05/guest-post-implications-of-second-hand.html

…and read what it say's.
It tackles a situation that I've never even thought about in regards to second hand books.

Now I, the cheapskate that I am, buy second hand books all the time.
When I go home, I spend at least one full day trawling the many charity shops that pepper my lovely home town, (Colwyn Bay), often flying back to Jolly Old Germany with a suitcase packed full of wholesome reading… packed full of wholesome, second hand reading, I might add.

"So what?", I hear you screech in abject frustration at my inability to get to the point.
Well, the thing is…
(Yes?)
The thing is, everytime I buy a second hand book, I'm helping to nail the lid shut on the Great British Printing and Publication Industry!!!
(Gasp, shock, horror!)
No, seriously, it's not good.

It all goes down to who receives what in relation to a sold second hand book. If an artist has one of his pieces resold at an auction, he/she is entitled to some sort of second royalty on the work. A very fair and fulfilling situation, thinks I.
However, what recompense does the poor literary artist look forward to on the sale of a second hand book of his scribblings?
None. Nada. Nichts. Nothing.

Is that fair? Is that really in the spirit of the free market?
Well, yes actually it is in the spirit of the free market. However, fair it is not.
If you read my comment, I state clearly for the whole world to see that I do buy cheap, delicious, irresistible, second hand books, for a whole menagerie of reasons. I was forthright and proud in my statement.

However, I must confess to a slight twinge of, well, conscience now, actually.
Mmmmmmm.
Damn, I hate my conscience. Why can't I be evil?
Ok, ok…
You know what; I'll go halfway on it. I'll boycott the one penny books on Amazon, and only buy new ones online. How's that?
However, I'm not sure if I can live without my second hand book day when I go home. It's a part of my holiday, the only day I have for me, (without going to a pub, that is.)
It's a tradition!!
I mean, let's not flaunt tradition, right kids?
Right Reg.

Cheers.
Reg

Mittwoch, 13. Mai 2009

Kid's birthday today, they're both 12.
So it's presents and good moods all round, lots of sweets, ice cream, jelly, sugar tantrums, tears, thrown teddies and a round of vomit to finish off the day… and that's just me!

This fathering lark is harder than you think.
Whatever, like Gloria said,
"First I was afraid, I was petrified. Kept thinking I could never live without you by my side. But I spent so many nights, thinking how you did me wrong, I grew strong, I learned how to carry on. And so you're back from outer space. I just walked in to find you here with that sad look upon your face. I should have changed my stupid lock, I should have made you leave your key. If I had known for just one second you'd be back to bother me! Go on now go, walk out the door. Just turn around now, 'cause you're not welcome anymore. Weren't you the one who tried to hurt me with goodbye; you think I'd crumble, you think I'd lay down and die. Oh no, not I, I will survive, as long as i know how to love I know I will stay alive. I've got all my life to live, I've got all my love to give and I'll survive, I will survive. It took all the strength I had not to fall apart, kept trying hard to mend the pieces of my broken heart. And I spent oh so many nights just feeling sorry for myself, I used to cry. Now I hold my head up high and you see me, somebody new. I'm not that chained up little person still in love with you, and so you felt like dropping in and just expect me to be free now. I'm saving all my lovingfor someone who's loving me."

Deep lyrics… very deep… Not sure what it's got to do with being a Dad but, hey, it's my Blog, right?
I can do what I want, right?

Yeah...

Don't ask me why but I'm in a bloody great mood.

Have a good one,
Reg :-)

Montag, 11. Mai 2009

Spent the whole weekend laying the slabs for the patio wood to rest on.
I used three spirit levels, string, cement and a lot of cursing; my wife has learnt quite a few new words over the last couple of days.

Then this morning was early shift. Alarm set for 0430 and then off to work with a song on my lips and a whistle in my heart… really must see the doctor about that.

Now I'm about to spend the next couple of hours with mister Spirit level and friends… My life is such a joy., I'm so happy we built a house and didn't buy ready-made…
Yeah, and that's it.
So bring on the back ache, it's mix that cement time again…
No writing done but plenty, and I mean PLENTY of ideas.
I've had a great idea for a new book too, but it'll have to wait.
Whatever, where's that spade...
Reg :-(

Donnerstag, 7. Mai 2009

… and it didn't stop there!
The next day I received an email from the (very nice) lady who answered my call, to tell me where my MS actually was in the great scheme of things.
Now you could say I'm being overly grateful, maybe even to the point of stomach churning obsequiousness?
However, I think not; for my experience of the literary world is one of, not dog eat dog, but blue whale swallows plankton.
So this email was like a civility bolt out of an endlessly unavailable blue, an experience sadly lacking in my catalogue of agent/publisher communication. Hence my good humour today. :-))
I even saw the word, "Thanks" in there somewhere!!!
Sheesh…

Well, whatever, I thought it was nice.
'Nuff said.

I seem to have struck an iceberg.
I've had some great ideas for short stories; and I mean ideas that have had me sit up in bed in the wee silent hours, noiselessly mouthing the word, "Wow" to myself.
But I just don't seem to have had the time recently to sit down and work them out.
This situation sucks, to be honest.
However, I've set myself a deadline. I'm to be rid of all my household jobs and projects by a certain date, so as to then spend a couple of months getting back into the swing of things.

"H" Hour is midnight, on January the first, 2015.
Then watch out Short Story City, I'm coming to getchya !

Just joshing, have a nice day.
Reg :-)

Montag, 4. Mai 2009

I just spent the weekend in Paderborn.
The band I write lyrics for held a listening session at the studio where they recorded their CD.
The press were invited and certain close friends of the band. Drinks and food were laid on and all in all it was a very nice day.
The evening was taken up by a gig, which entailed lots of free beer, loud music and slurred speach, lol.
I spent the night at my mate's Irish pub, Limerick's in Paderborn; more free booze, loud music and slurred speach. I've turned into such a freeloading lush... I hate myself, I really do. :-)
The CD has turned out spectacularly well and I'm very proud to be associated with it, very proud indeed. The band won't be playing Top of the Pops in the near future, but they will enjoy a measure of success with it that I could only dream about when I was beating the skins in a band… all those many years ago, lol.

Then, today, I did the unthinkable.
I phoned up the publishers and asked them if they actually send rejections out or if there's some kind of time limit as to when I should consider my manuscript unwanted.
Well, the lady on the other end was very nice and told me that they haven't actually started reading the December manuscripts.
So basically I'll just have to wait. Fair one.
They must really read everything, which is a good sign in itself, thinketh I.
Mmmm, I seem to be reading portends and promises into everything nowadays.
You know what? I think I'll pop out to slay a goat and check its innards for any more signs and augurs…

Have a good one.
Reg :-)

Montag, 27. April 2009

Four months and a couple of weeks and I still haven't heard from them!!

Is this good?
Is this bad?
Why don't they get in contact with me, to allay my fears and sooth my shattered nerves?????
I lie awake at night, rehearsing my acceptance speech for the Nobel Literary prize or, more darkly, wording my suicide note after the fall of rejection… AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAArgh !!!

Please, put me out of my misery!!!
But do it nicely with an email to say you like my work and want to publish it.
Thank you.
Reg :-0 !!

PS. Only joshing about the suicide thing, I'll probably just turn to some form of mild self-mutilation; along the lines of spoiling my strict calorie controlled diet plan with 15 pints of Guinness… or something like that.
You know the form.
Actually, I could murder a beer right now... ... ... Mmmmmmm.

Samstag, 25. April 2009

Oscar, Mike, Golf…
OMG, is it really that long since I made my last entry???

Shameful.

The problem is I have nothing to report.
I'm still working in the garden, I haven't heard anything from the publisher I sent my MS to and I've had no rejections or acceptances for my short stories. I haven't written anything either, which makes it doubly shameful… tsk tsk.

I have one piece of news actually. The band I write the lyrics for are finished in the studio. Next week is the big, "Meet the band" day with the press. However, obviously I won't be there because I can't get the time off at work; which is a bit of a kick in the conkers considering we're on short time at the moment.
Once again, Fate vomits in my porridge...
Bah.
Ah well.
I'm off now so have a good one.

Reg. :-)
PS. Wanna see a great drummer? Check out this link:

http://www.godswillbedone.de/index.php?a=164

Click on the vids of the guy at the drums, he's very good believe me.
Even I can't do what he's doing… not that that means much but you know where I'm coming from, right kids?
Right Reg.

Donnerstag, 16. April 2009

So many things happening this week and not one of them to do with my literary aspirations…

Liverpool are out of Europe, after a game that would have reduced Arnold Schwarzenegger to a dribbling wreck. Eight goals fell in one game, the final result being 4-4; it was one of the best games I've seen in ages.

I'm still busy with the brickwork. The thing is, when you're on your own everything takes longer. And then I had to wait for sand, which didn't come until Tuesday because of the Easter Bank holidays. Whatever, it's coming slowly.

So where does that leave me in regards to writing?
Well, I haven't written a thing.

Speaking of lyrics, (which we weren't), the band that I write the lyrics for is in the studio. The drums and one rhythm guitar are already down, after two days, (which is exceedingly quick for twelve songs) and all seems to be going well.

Right, that's it.

Tara peeps. I'm on nightshift tonight and then I'm off all weekend.
Nice that, innit?
Reg :-)

Montag, 13. April 2009

Easter Monday.
I have been so busy recently, the time has flown by.
Still plodding on with the bricklaying for the patio. It all goes so slowly when you're on your own but that also gives you time to work things out.
I just put some music on, mix that cement and do my thing, it's quite therapeutic actually.

The kids are all chocko-ed out now, from the mountain of chocolate they were given yesterday. The Easters of my youth were limited to three Easter eggs, (from Mam and Dad and the grandparents) that were eaten over a period of four to five days, meals permitting.
My kids demolished the same amount in one afternoon orgy of sweetie excess that would have put the Cookie monster to shame.
You turn your back on them for ten minutes and they're off, noshing on everything sweet and brown.
So today is no sweets day, by order of strict parent Reggie. :-/.
That's the type of guy I am.

Right, I'm off back to the brickwork.

Have a good one.
Reg

Sonntag, 5. April 2009

Sunday already.
Where do the weekends go, I ask myself?
Yesterday was a big day at the Fire Brigade. It was the handover of their new Fire Engine and it went down swimmingly well.
It started at 1430 hrs. and as of 1800 hrs. it was free beer all round.
I worked a bit behind the bar and helped out in general, (mainly because there was a small radio behind the counter and I could listen to the footy scores as they came in).
All in all it was a great day/night.
And, well, that's about it actually.
I haven't managed any writing and the only creative output I achieved was laying the brickwork for the wood patio I'm building next week.
So, on that happy note I'll bid you a fond fondue.
Fondue.
Reg :-)

Freitag, 3. April 2009

April.
I sent my manuscript away in December, (the twelfth actually) and I still haven't had a rejection.
Going by my track record, this is a record.
I just hope my aspirations and desires are realised. (Which they won't because fortune likes to see me cry, but I'll deal with that when I get there.)

I had my first practise with the band on Wednesday. It went really well and it was a great feeling playing the music that I love in a room of like-minded individuals. We played the three songs that I'd learnt and Marius, the rhythm guitarist, said that one of the songs, ("Time will tell" by Pro Pain. Look it up on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo-omHMUzqs ) was the best they'd ever played.
Which was very satisfying, I can tell you. :-)

I also spent 1500€ on wood and bricks the other day, which is why I haven't written anything for a while. I've been preoccupied with preparing the ground for my projects, which was harder than it sounds.
Murky Depths rejected my short story the other day. Which is a shame because I wrote it especially for them but that's the way the ketchup squirts, I guess.
Whatever, have a good weekend.

Reg :-)

Dienstag, 31. März 2009

Now if there's one thing I do like, it's a party.
On Saturday a friend of mine turned thirty, and in the true German tradition he had a shindig.
However, there's a slight twist in the German observance of this very special day.
The custom is that any male who isn't married by the age of thirty must, on his thirtieth birthday, sweep the steps of the (aptly named) Rathaus, which is the town hall in English.
The ladies don't get away with it either; they have to clean the brasses on the town hall doors, but that's nearly always a more low key affair.
Anyway, I digress...
So, where this was once seen as a mark of shame by the older generation, it has now turned into a celebration of bachelorhood and freedom. While the newly turned thirty year old sweeps the steps, sometimes dressed in a suitable fancy dress, (on Saturday he was dressed in an inflatable Sumo wrestler suit), his friends and family drink beer and schnapps, laugh at him and in general have a good time.
Some carry on drinking throughout the day and up to the evening "do", which is a tremendous feat of alcoholic endurance I can tell you.
Because all parties in Germany are paid for by the host, the party on Saturday was all free; I just had to turn up. There was beer on tap, more spirits than a Customs and Excise Christmas party and a LOT of drunken Germans.
It was a great night which ended around six the next morning.

So why am I telling you all about this?
What has this to do with my writing? Has it any literary connection what so ever?
Well, the Rathaus is next to the public library, and I went there on Saturday to change my books.
Tenuous?
Yes, but a great day.

Reg :-) (hic!)

Montag, 30. März 2009

Just knocked off.
I'm cream crackered now. Nightshift does tend to take it out of you.
Right I'm off to bed now, I'll tell you about my weekend another time, it was WILD !!!

OK, maybe not wild, but it was good.

Night night.
Reg :-)

Dienstag, 24. März 2009

Well I received an answer for my query as to whether I leave a space after a full stop, comma or question mark; and boy do I feel stoopid.
They replied,
"There is always a space after a full stop, just not two, as some people use."

Aha… I see now, though I wonder who would want to put two spaces after a full stop?
Where's the sense in that?

Whatever, I'll rewrite it all, WITH a space after every punctuation mark, and just hope rejections-ville ain't the next stop.
What is a bit unsettling is the fact that I had already sent them a short story, with this strange punctuation spacing that I'd picked up on incorporated into it. However, they were gracious enough to reject me without mentioning my faux pas.
They probably thought, "What a divvy".
And they'd be right.

Tee is getting to grips with Frank Delaney now. We had a brief email flurry and then it was all quiet on the western front, so I take it she's going for gold on it.

It's my first practise with "The Band" tonight, which will be interesting because the chap who has my drums at the moment is in Hamburg all week.
At the moment I'm a drummer, sans drums… so I'm not expecting a very productive evening. However, it's better if I turn up to tell them personally what has happened, instead of just not going which would send the wrong message, thinks I.

And with that, I bid you all a fond fondue.
…Fondue.
Reg :-)

Samstag, 21. März 2009

At the moment I'm waiting for a reply from a magazine about their formatting requirements.
They specifically put down that under no circumstances should I put a space behind a full stop.
It looks weird, but they want it like that so that's how I've done it.
However, they then write to reiterate that they want no unnecessary spacing after punctuation marks, so does that mean after a comma or question mark too? Or after closing a bracket or inverted commas? Am I being dull here?
Anyway, I decided to ask and I now await eagerly their answer.

It sounds silly and to my untrained, amateurish eye it looks off, somehow.
However, they require that the script be in Courier, and so it doesn't look THAT odd after a while.

Anyway, Liverpool meets Chelski again! For the fifth year in a row we battle it out with Abramovitch's boys in blue in the Champion's League.
My German mates are gutted because Bayern have to face up to the mighty Barcelona, which in one foul swoop puts an end to Bayern's run of luck in regards to facing weaker opponents. A fact that I took great relish in conveying to my downhearted German buddies… he he he.

Anyway, gonna take a wall apart now and build it up again…why is my spare time plagued with such unnecessary Sisyphean-like jobs?

Well, life's like that I guess…

Reg :-)

Donnerstag, 19. März 2009

When I said the, "Hello Johnny" story was experimental, I didn't expect it to be so experimental that my mate Ads couldn't understand it!!
DOH !!!
He read it, said it was a good read and that it kept him glued to the pages, but he couldn't understand why a doctor in the story was calling him Johnny when the hero/victim's name was Gary… which meant he completely missed the point.
Ah well, he said it was a good read… just a pity the point didn't get across.
Whatever, I changed it, sent it to Badger-Bonce Winterbottom to read and he understood it straight away.
Thank Tarby for that.

So…
What else is happening in my little world?
Nothing.
I'm still on short time, achieving nothing at home besides writing short stories that nobody understands and getting successfully on my wife's wick.

So with that happy thought, I'll leave you to it.
Oh, I've joined a band. Just for fun, defo no serious musical aspirations here; I just want to play the drums again.
Let's see where that all ends, eh?
Hopefully not in tears…
Adieu,
Reg :-)

Montag, 16. März 2009

"Hello Johnny" is finished.
It's a bit experimental but I'm happy with it.
It's most definitely a step up in my capabilities and I feel it's taken me to a different plane of consciousness and thought progression, man... cosmic baby, cosmic. :-)
Seriously, I'm really happy with it, just hope it makes sense to other people.

Tee is busy with Frank Delaney right now so I might start on Gulag again.
There's already a storyline down and I've written about 7000 words. Not much but I haven't started it properly yet.
The thing is, I need a religious angle on it, if it's to fit in with part one… or do I?
Mmm, decisions decisions.

Whatever, did I mention that Liverpool rogered Man United all over Old Trafford the other day?
Oh I did , did I?

Good, eh?
Reg :-)

Donnerstag, 12. März 2009

Well, it's been three months to the day since I sent the MS off, and with every tick of the clock my expectations and doubts grow fatter.
However there's nothing I can do to change the situation so I'll just have to remain cool and aloof from all those alternating misgivings and hopes… somehow… must be cool, must be cool…
The problem is that cool is not an asset I can count on in my arsenal of behavioural qualities.
Damn, I wish I was, "The Fonz" sometimes…

I haven't written anything for a couple of days either, even though I've had a brain-ache of an idea for my "Hello Johnny" story… which I haven't mentioned to you yet but I was getting around to, honest.
Basically the story starts with a dude answering his phone only to hear an old woman say two words to him; "Hello Johnny" (hence the title, subtle, eh?).
This line follows him through the story, popping up in his email in-tray, his handy blah blah fishcakes, you get the idea. I was all fire and flame when I started it, whizzing down the first thousand words in a jiffy. However, I seemed to have slowed down in productivity these last couple of days.
So I'm going to give it a bash again today, see where it goes.

Tee had some bad luck with Frank Delaney. She lost all that she'd put down on a corrupted disk.
I lost the first six months of my book to a virus when I first started it. I couldn't even use the disk I'd stored it all on because the virus was apparently on that too.
"Stoopid computers" as Homer would say.
You love 'em, you hate 'em but you can't live without 'em, right kids?
Right Reg.

Whatever…Reg

Mittwoch, 11. März 2009

4-0.
Just let that scoreline roll around your tongue like a melting chocolate Maltezer, spreading that sweet, malty satisfaction in its wake....
4-0.
It's almost sexual.
4-0.
That's what Liverpool did to Real Madrid last night.
I know it's not anything to do with my book but hey, it's my Blog, right?
Right Reg.
Nice...
4-0.

Mmmmmm, I feel all warm and toasty now.
Time for bed.

Reg :-)

Freitag, 6. März 2009

On March the 12th it will be three months since I sent my MS off. I wonder if that means anything?
Granted, the people I sent it off to read the whole manuscript, which is a bonus in my view, but still… three months… come on. It just HAS to be positive, hasn't it?
Eh?

Whatever, I went through the Vampire 300 story again, changed it a little and now it's gone, into the great wide cyber-world. The story itself was over the word count limit and the guidelines for submission clearly stated that anything over 10K had to be queried first, which I duly did because I'm a good boy, I am.
I received a very nice email back thanking me for sticking to the guidelines and saying that they would keep an eye out for my piece.
The thing that flummoxed me was that they thanked me for sticking to the guidelines. Why wouldn't I?
My word count was 10431 words, the limit was 10000, and they'd know if I'd gone over because it was on a Word document which has a word count installed. Who would be so obtuse as to think that they wouldn't check?
I wonder at the mindset of these people who think along the lines of, "Oh, they'll never know it's over the limit. We'll keep quiet and blag it…"
Bloody Chavs.
Anyway, it's gone now.

I'm tired, irritated and work is getting me down. On top of that my bed is calling me… must sleep…must slee….zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Dienstag, 3. März 2009

Well that was quick.
I sent it off on Thursday and received the rejection yesterday.
Can't fault 'em for the swift answer, just the content could have been a bit more positive.

Ah well, I wasn't sure it was the right sort of publication anyway. The name alone, (Extreme Horror Anthology) arose my doubts as to its suitability.

So why did you send it then? (I hear you ask.)
Well, it was the first one on the list that didn't have a ridiculous amount of formatting to do. I think it must be some kind of test of willingness with these publications. Everything has to be "just so". The spacing, the margins, the type set, the size, indent or not indent on a new paragraph, put three asterixes, (or should that be asterii in the plural?) after a change of scene, every tenth letter must be a capital, translate the whole story into Hindustani... the list is as varied as it's ridiculous, especially when you're sending a twenty thousand word novella.
Each publisher has their own "needs" and I've no idea why, it's not like their going to print it blind. Why can't they read it through, send it back and then say how they want it?

No way Reg, that's far too much like hard work. These guys work a twenty five hour day and have no time to do that if they want to read everything.
Are you kidding me? Half of the slush pile gets binned after the first paragraph.
Ok, (I hear you say again) that's a fair point, but it's you who wants them to print your work, not the other way around.
True, but it's not like they're paying me, is it? At most it's a cent a word, an American cent that is. Or a voucher at Amazon or an Oxfam christmas card, whatever. The market out there is geared to the muck-eater (the writer) being kept in his bottom-dwelling place. You only have to read the comments on some of the other blogs by agents or editors to know who's at the top of the superiority tree and who eats what in the big scheme of things. I don't blame them, I'm as arrogant as the next one if I'm feeling superior. The thing is, I haven't been feeling very superior since I started sending my work off, to be honest.

That's because it's crap, Reg.
Thanks for that.

Actually, I must add that some of the blogs I've read from people in "The Biz" are very good; the ones I follow are excellent.
However, there are those that smack of self-love so much, I feel like I'm intruding on a
solitary sexual act everytime I read their splurge. Ew...

Well, that's it for now.
Needless to say, I found a different publisher of short stories, formatted the text to their expectations and sent it off.
Now where's that muck, I'm starving.

Reg :-)

Donnerstag, 26. Februar 2009

"The Hot Gates", my short story/novelette of 10,401 words, has been sent off to a publisher advertising for stories for a horror anthology.
This was the vampired-up version of "300", with Leonidas being a vampire and Xerxes the good guy. Apparently they would prefer period horror, that being horror stories set in the past.
I think "The Hot Gates" fits perfectly and I'm expecting them to take it without delay… but then again, pessimism and reality were never my forte. ;-)
It'll probably make a lot of Greeks angry if it does reach publication though. However, cleverly, Leonidas does turn out to be the good guy at the end. So that should mollify my Grecian friends, especially Jenny who's parents come from Thermopylae and are rampantly proud of their heritage.… confused?
Then buy the anthology if my story's in it and all will be revealed.

I wrote a bit on Frank Delaney as well, and sent it off to Tee and George.
Tee, so she could continue the story and George to make sense of it all, lol.
No, it's not that convoluted, but a fresh pair of eyes never hurt anybody.
That said, when the manuscript is down we'll probably be fighting like cat and dog over the changes. But I suppose a bit of artistic tension adds a tot of spice to life.

Anyway, so now you know.
Tara,
Reg. :-)

Montag, 23. Februar 2009

Today, at work, I was told that we could be on short time for the whole year. Then I was told we're not on short time until April. Why can't they just be straight with us?
How I hate their blackened, twisted, calculating, cold-hearted ways…
I know you're not interested but it's my Blog, damn it, and this is affecting my world. :-)

Anyway, I had a look at Frank Delaney again last night. There's so much to correct on it but I like it so I'm back on his case.
Tee, it'll be with you inside of this week babes, ok?

I've sent a couple of short stories off over the weekend, the Caesar (note the spelling Tee) is a vampire one and the war criminal in London. See if I hear anything.
Nothing from the publishers I sent my MS off to yet, but I can wait. Hell, it's not like I've any choice on the matter, is it?

Mmmmm, that's about it for now.
Oh, I read a great post on the "How Publishing Really Works" Blog, (should there be so many capital letters in that title? I don't think so).
It was about personalised rejections. You can find it at this link; it's quite interesting getting a view of things from the other end of the literary scope.

http://howpublishingreallyworks.blogspot.com/2009/02/personalised-rejections.html

I left a comment on it too, but hey, that's the type of guy I am.
Right kids?
Right Reg.
Take care
Reg :-)

Freitag, 20. Februar 2009

Right, I'm back on track now.
The Apocalypse story is history.
I wasn't too keen on it anyway, it was trying to be too Blackadder-esque for my liking, with silly metaphors and obscure similes and the like.

The next one is in the New Weird genre, whatever that might be, lol.

New Weird is inserting the strange and phantastical into everyday situations, but with a disturbing undertone.
So no cuddly dogs telling jokes, more like angry Rottweilers exacting revenge on their master because they fancy his wife… or something like that.
Disquieting and bizarre would be a good way of describing it.
Anyway, that's what I'm going to do, take it or leave it.

It's not really my jig, to be honest, but what the hell, eh?
Who knows, I might get into it and do more than one?

Whatever, I'll let you know how it goes.
Have a nice weekend.
Reg
As if the week wasn't already sodden enough with Madame Fate's cruellest bile and spite…

I've just read the Australian Webzine thing that I was planning to send my (almost binned) apocalypse story to has had a change of heart.
Well, what I mean is that they've moved the goal posts on the criteria of the story they were advertising for, which promptly made my approach to the subject redundant.
I mean, lawks a lordy, it doesn't rain, it tsunamis.

This then, on top of the news that I'm on 3 months short time as of March and that it may go on through the summer, has somewhat poured a large amount of cold porridge into my favourite Y fronts, I'm afraid…
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!!
GIVE ME A BREAK!!!




I'm sorry if you feel like I'm over reacting on the short story thing, but the short time has bummed me out a bit and I'm feeling a little fragile.

I don't know if you noticed.

Just ignore me, I'll be alright in a minute…

Donnerstag, 19. Februar 2009

Well I didn't bin it after all.
George told me I'm only allowed to bin it after he's read it so I wrote a bit more.
It's ok actually, not my usual style but still readable.

I've just come off nights so I'm pretty tired. I hear my bed calling me so I'll leave you to it.
Night night.
Reg :-)

Montag, 16. Februar 2009

So I'm back.
No news though.
I had a great week with my family, which was spoilt only by their departure.
I spent far too much money and drank an inordinate amount of booze which I'm sure I'll pay the price for later on in life, but all in all we had a very nice time.

I still haven't heard anything from the publisher I sent my manuscript to. It was sent on the eleventh of december so an answer should be forthcoming in the near future... I hope.
Well, patience is a virtue not often practised, right kids?
Right Reg.

I'll get back to my short story tonight as well. I haven't touched it for a week and the idea I had has somewhat lost its shine.
I might scrap it and start again.
Not sure yet.

Ah well, that's it for now.
Reg :-)

Samstag, 7. Februar 2009

Nothing going to be happening in the next seven days as my parents and youngest brother are visiting.
So, until they go it'll be a closed shop.
See you one the other side of next Sunday.
Reg :-)

Dienstag, 3. Februar 2009

Saturday was nice.
We held a reunion of the chaps who were once in QDG (my old regiment) and then stayed on in Germany after their time was up.
We were seventeen present, two AWOL and one left early due to sickness.
I can't tell a lie, it was far better than I thought it would be.
Unfortunately, due to the early start and the late finish, (first beers down the range at 1400 hrs, Steve kicked us out of the bar around 0500) I was rather under the weather on Sunday.
Yesterday too actually.
I'm not too perky today either.
So, needless to say I've done nothing on the End of the World story.

However, that all stops right here and now.
I am about to embark on another literary foray but this time into the world of Mayan mythology, Biblical apocalypse and seedy reporters who find the scoop of a life time only to end up dead with the rest of us.
That's not the story actually but it's along those lines.
Tara.
Reg :-)

Freitag, 30. Januar 2009

The world is going to end on December the 21st, 2012… or so the Mayans would have us believe anyway.
The Mayan calendar only actually goes up to that date, marking the end of an epoch and the beginning of another, or giving the date for the Apocalypse.
Nobody really knows.
I've read quite a lot on the subject and the evidence to support the "it's-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it" speculation is extraordinarily weighty. In fact, to the man on the street who doesn't know a solar flare to a case of sunburn, it's all too convincing.
The theory goes that the alignment of the planets in our solar system and the position of our solar system in relation to the Milky Way on that day, will leave us open to a massive drenching of solar energy (i.e. radiation).
Now I've just encapsulated the whole theory in one neat little paragraph but it'd take a whole book to put it across properly, so I'll stop right there.
What I want to tell you about is an Anthology of short stories about the End of the World according to the Mayan Calendar thingy-majig. Severed press want short stories based around AD2012; which, incidentally, is what it's called.
I'm interested.
I've got till April to sort a story out, (plenty of time), and to do all my research, (what research? I know the subject backwards).
So I think I'll make the deadline.
Right, the story…
Well I had a think about it last night.
My story development process normally revolves around the beginning, then the end, the characters and then the bit in the middle.
So my beginning will start off with the hero, or maybe the villain… yes, he'll be a villain, watching the world through lead lined glass as the first invisible spears of radiation hit the world. (Invisible spears of radiation… I like that one, it stays).
The ending of any short story must have a twist. I hate short stories that dwindle off into an artistic nothingness leaving the reader to guess at what happened.
Realisation of a definite point is far better than aimlessly contemplating on what the writer might have meant, is my school of thought on an ending.
As it happens, I have an ending already so I'm one sixteenth of the way there already.
Easy.
April, watch out Severed press, I'm gonna knock your socks off, lol.

Take care.
Reg :-)

Montag, 26. Januar 2009

Finished the "Hot-Gates-into-a-comic" thing.
I'm going to leave it for the day and then look at it again tomorrow, just to make sure the story flows nicely and that it makes sense.
I'm really excited about it actually.

Still heard nothing from the Snowbooks peeps.
Is that a good sign?
Knowing my luck, no.
Whatever, at least they want to see the whole MS and not just the first six chapters and a synopsis. It makes you feel like they're giving you a fighting chance, (until that rejection slip just wafts through the intray and destroys my day...Doh!)

So, that's it dear reader.
Take care and have a good one.
Reg :-)