Keith's April Newsletter

Hi Folks

Welcome to the end of April, and welcome to a bit of sunshine finally. I seems sometimes that the world is becoming an increasingly dark place, especially when you look at the news, so it’s nice to be able to step out into the sun for once and get some much needed vitamin D. It doesn’t fix everything, but it does go some way towards making things just that little bit better.

Do Something. Anything.

There has been much thinking and planning going on at the Steam Factory this month. We had a meeting in work about the new build and the move to Manchester (which did not inspire confidence) and I have widened my search to find a new job to include work that is outside of TV. I don’t have a proper plan yet but I do have an intention that I am acting upon which is half the battle.

Unfortunately I’m not acting on it enough which means I missed out on an opportunity recently. Bit annoyed about that, but it has helped me elevate my thinking a little to focus on what I want AND doing something about it. One must take action if one is to succeed at anything.

Speaking of taking action, I got out of the house the other week and went somewhere.

When I was in Bristol in February I saw/heard an ad for Brighde Chaimbeul, a Scottish small pipes player, which blew me away. It made me want to learn a musical instrument, so when I saw she was playing in Hebden Bridge I had to go along to see her.

I’ve been to Hebden Bridge before (at one time I was thinking about moving there). It’s very picturesque, so I decided to combine my visit with a bit of a walk. I went up to Hardcastle Crags which took about three hours there and back, had some flapjack, got a blister on my foot, and was so knackered when I got back I was glad of a sit down. It is safe to say that after a sedentary winter I am not used to being outside.

The gig was good, I got to hear the song I most wanted to hear (linked above), and even though she played a ten minute long experiemntal Philip Glass piece that kind of left me on the island I’m glad I went. I got to meet some nice people and even learned a little bit about Manchester and where to live (potentially).

I’m also glad I got to see Hebden Bridge after dark which made me feel better about not moving there. From the drunk bloke blaring out Tina Turner by the canal to the (I think) deaf woman (also drunk) who tried to stare me down on the way to the station, it had far more antisocial behaviour than you’d expect from such a small town. Not the place for me really.

News From The Steam Factory

I totted up the other day how many books I have started work on or would like to start work on and it came to eleven. Eleven books I want to write, and the ideas just keep coming. It’s hard trying to decide what to work on, but this is the plan so far.

Yestrday I finished rewrites on In The Valley Of The Wind. As you can see from the image above it’s been an extensive process. For the curious the yellow highlights were hard cuts I intended to make and the pink was a potential cut I was thinking about. I highlight the text so I can read through whilst skipping those sections to see how it sounds. In the example above I ended up cutting all of it, the yellow because the subject occurs later in the book so it doesn’t need to be here, and the pink because it changes the tone of the conversation and I wanted to keep it a little somber, but also because it keeps the focus on the Before Times and not the merchanting life, making it more of a history lesson which is what I wanted.

The book is now at 61,000 words with no more to add or take away. It just needs a good polish and then I’ll be sending it off to agents. I had a revelation this month when chatting with a UK agent that it’s not a rule that agents only work with writers within their own country. For some reason I thought it was, so I’ve only ever subbed agents in the UK. Now I know what a fool I’ve been I’m going to sub agents in America now too. This opens up a whole new world of people to approach. Let’s hope it opens up more opportunities for me too.

Now that that’s more or less done I’m going to work on Attack Mars!! next. It’s time I brought the next one in my steampunk series out. Then I might do The Cunning Cogitations Of Monsieur LeClair as that is my most commercial idea (and it’s heavily outlined already). Then I can go on sub with that as well. I need to keep working toward that big pay day whilst working on my own stuff, even if the big pay day might be a bit of a fantasy these days.

Traditional publishing has changed a lot. The chances of an author making a full time living just from their writing are the lowest they have ever been. Cost cutting and commercialisation mean publishers aren’t paying big advances anymore, and they’re not supporting their books in terms of marketing either. More and more it’s up to the author to get the word out, and since most don’t know how their books fail no matter how well written they are. It’s sad but true. The days of someone paying you a lot of money to champion your book are pretty much done and dusted. One might hit every now and then but for most of us the best we can expect from trad publishing is maybe some shelf space in a bookshop and some column inches in a newspaper nobody reads anymore.

When I’m Not Writing

Not much reading for me this month. Instead I’ve been playing video games.

Sable is a lovely game if you just want to chill out for a while. An open world game with no fighting, simple puzzles, and an easy to follow storyline, you play a character on a journey to find out who they want to be, to learn what kind of (literal) mask they want to wear in their adult life. It’s gentle and easy to play, and I had a great time with it.

It was also interesting for me in that the vibe/storyline is similar to that In The Valley Of The Wind. I intend to use it as a comp title when I sub my book, along with Terra Nil, A Psalm For The Wild Built and Whisper Of The Heart. I think between all that it should give an idea of what I’m going for, and the potential audience. Only one of them is a book but that’s fine. As long as there’s one in there I should be okay.

Lots of words in the newsletter this month. I hope it wasn’t too much for you.

Over the coming month I expect to be trying not to think about my BBNYA entry, as well as maybe working on a steampunk short story collection to bring out on International Steampunk Day (Friday 14th June). I just have one story left to write and a cover to commission and we’re pretty much good to go. NB: All of the short stories that will be in it can be found here.

There’s also a card game I might be working on but that’s still an idea so far. Whether it happens will depend entirely on cost and if I can find the right illustrator. More news on that when I have some. In the meantime have a good May and I’ll see you at the other end.

Toodle-pip for now.

Keith