Keith's April Newsletter

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Hello all you Lovely People!

I know it's April the 1st but I promise no tricks in this newsletter, only treats. Well, maybe not treats, that's probably overselling it, but factual information at least, which is the next best thing.

So here we go with much that is new - a new job and a new flat for me, and a new series and a new way of looking at things for you.

Enjoy!

Change Is A-Comin'

As mentioned in my last newsletter I had a job interview last month. Well, I got the job. It's TV work again, which isn't the best because it involves night shifts, but the money is good, and with everything that's going on in the world right now a bit of stability is not going to be a bad thing.

It'll be weird though, going back to full time employment. I've been on furlough for a year now. I imagine it's going to be tough physically. I know I've been doing yoga every day - 230 days in a row and counting - but I'll have to work myself up to doing regular twelve hour days again. I hope I don't fall asleep at the desk (side note: I

will

fall asleep at the desk).

Speaking of yoga, for some insane reason I have decided that I'd like to be able to do the splits.

Now this is a big challenge for me, because my hips / hamstrings / lower back have never been the most flexible, but you can't do anything about where you start out in life, you can only deal with what you've got and move on from there.

Wish me luck as I torture myself over the next God knows how long. If I do manage to be able to do them properly you'll be the first to know.

News from the Steam Factory

All kinds of stuff is happening here at the Steam Factory at the moment. The word count for book two is up to 52,000 words for a start, and I have just entered into the third act of the story. I'm on course for a good 65-70,000 words, which is shorter than book one, but since book one was a little long anyway that's probably not a bad thing. Speaking of which...

Had a lovely chat this week with a guy called Mike in Nashville, who's going to do an illustration for the cover of an abridged version of book one. It'll be a more steampunk version of Dexter which I hope to also make available as an enamel badge. The abridged book and badge will then serve as likely reward tiers for a Kickstarter for book two. This is all a long way in the future, but I thought it best to get the ball rolling, because if you sit around thinking about things all day that's all you'll end up with; thoughts.

Something I am just thinking about at the moment though is being part of The Asylum festival this year. With everything that's going on I don't know if I could, would, or should. If I'm going to do an abridged version of book one does it make sense to go there and push the old version? I could go and be part of the festival, doing something other than just having a table, but what? A reading? Do I have anything ready for that? Honestly, there's so much planning involved in trying to do something creative like this it's hard to know where to start sometimes.

When I'm Not Writing

Started watching a new series on Netflix that I think you might like. It's called

The Irregulars

, and it follows the exploits of the Baker Street Irregulars, the rag-tag bunch of street kids made famous in the Sherlock Holmes novels.

It's not steampunk, but don't let that put you off. Instead there are psychic powers and other spooky stuff, along with a very alt history vibe. The "spooky" does lean more towards horror at times though, so be warned. If you're not a fan of the gruesome it might not be for you. And for some reason they've turned Dr Watson into a bit of a dick, which I don't like very much either. But apart from that it's a lot of fun to watch.

I'd say that if you liked my previous recommendation of

Enola Holmes

, and you don't mind a bit of icky now and then, then you'll like this. Or at the very least you should give it a go.

If you haven't heard of Derren Brown do check him out. He's a very clever man who does very clever things, mostly involving tricking people's brains into doing what he wants them to do. I used one of his tricks in Dexter & Sinister to make my lead character, John Sinister, appear really smart, so it's safe to say I'm a bit of a fan.

Derren Brown is very smart, especially when it comes to the psychology of human nature, so it was fascinating to read his book,

Happy

. It offers insights into the way we are taught to think, how damaging it can be sometimes, and how best to change our way of thinking so that we eventually realise that "more or less everything is absolutely fine."

It's definitely worth a read if you're searching for a more constructive way of looking at the world, and if you'd like to know more I've done a quick

blog post

outlining one of the basic principles he suggests you can use to help deal with life, the universe and everything, that of

Stoicism

.

And that's it from me. If it feels like I've got a lot of balls in the air that's because I have, but after the year we've all had being locked away indoors waiting for the pandemic to subside change is good. I'm looking forward to see what is coming next.

Toodle-pip for now.

Keith