Keith's August Newsletter

Hello All

I’m feeling memey today, so brace yourselves.

There’s going to be a lot of talk about plans and planning in this newsletter. I’m having a moment. Read more, worry less is a good start, but it’s not a long term solution.

Plan? There Ain’t No Plan!

To quote the dude from Flying Doctors when he was having a rough day,

I went to Altrincham recently. It’s a weird place, with a real mix of shops and people. I like going there because there’s lots of stuff I need in one place, but you always see more than one person sat on a bench on the high street for whom life has not gone according to plan. I thought that the other day when I was there, but then I realised, what’s my plan? Do I even have one? Is my life going according to plan? How can it when there’s no plan to go by? It was quite an eye opener.

So that’s what I’ve been doing over the past few weeks, trying to come up with some sort of plan for life not to go by, because no matter what happens you’re always happier if you tried to do something and failed than if you just accepted whatever came along. Trust me, I know.

Just accepting whatever comes along is how I’ve ended up in Manchester doing an ungodly amount of night shifts. Now don’t get me wrong, I actually like Manchester, and I really like having money, but it’s not my long term goal. The question is what is my long term goal, and how do I intend to achieve it? That’s where making plans comes in.

Right now I’m thinking, thinking, thinking. It’ll take time to figure out the shape and feel of what I want my future to be. In the mentime I’ll keep working, keep writing, and keep trying new things to see what I like best. That’s my plan for now, and whilst it’s not much of a one, it’s got me this far. 😉

News From The Steam Factory

Got my first rejection this month for Odds Bodkin and the Night Mayor of London. I only sent it to two agents and this was the one I’m least bothered about so whilst it stings it’s not so bad. Hopefully the other one will like it, then we’re in business!

I did rewrites on my solarpunk short Weather Station 451 in August and got that sent off. It’s now being considered. I liked the changes suggested in the end, it made the story more personal, although I did regret having to remove the suggestion that five billion people died during the climate crisis. Still, there’s plenty of scope for that kind of thing when/if I get round to writing my In The Valley Of The Wind prequel, Frieda’s Tale.

Speaking of In The Valley Of The Wind, I’m still waiting to hear if the small press I sent it to is interested. If I don’t hear from them I’ll be seeing them towards the end of the month at the Northern Publisher’s Fair, so maybe we can have an awkward conversation about it then, lol.

Other than all that I’m still trying to crack on with Attack Mars!! It’s hard with all the night shifts I’ve been doing, but the bits I’ve done I’ve (for the most part) liked, so I can’t complain. I mean I can, and I will, fuck night shifts I hate them, but hey ho what can you do. Until we get Universal Basic Income we’re stuck making the best of things eh?

When I’m Not Writing

I finished reading A Closed And Common Orbit by Becky Chambers, as mentioned in last month’s newsletter, and I’m still reading Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson, so there’s no new book recommendation this month. Instead I’ve been killing nazis.

I enjoy the Sniper Elite games. It suits my pace and style of game play, although I confess to having to play this one on Cadet setting because I was getting absolutely merked by the Third Reich. Still, once I got that sorted out I was fine.

If you like stealth games with a bit of strategy I suggest giving Sniper Elite a go. You can take your time, planning things out, or you can charge in all guns blazing and hope for the best. It really is up to you. I personally embody the ‘in quiet, out loud’ philosophy, where I start off sneaking about, inevitably cock it up, then have to shoot my way out of there.

It’s very much how I apporach life as well. Plans are all well and good, but eventually you have to throw down and improvise. As they say, if you want to make God laugh tell her your plans.

NB: My next read will probably be one of these. Which looks good to you?

And there you have it. That’s it from me this month. Some thing to think about maybe? I certainly hope so.

As mentioned, I’ll be at the Northern Publisher’s Fair on the 27th of September. I’ll just be there as a guest, not doing a reading or anything, but still it’ll be nice to meet and greet a few fellow bibliophiles. There are a number of people I only know online who will be there so it’ll be nice to meet them in person. Looking forward to it.

In the meantime let me end by showing off some of my cooking from this month. I’m doing keto so my sink is always full of washing up at the moment.

And one final meme to finish off. This one’s not spiritual or anything, it just made me laugh. 😂

Toodle-pip for now.

Keith