Keith's December Newsletter

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Happy New Year Everyone!

A day early I know (unless you're in Australia) but I'm sure you won't mind.

It's been a hell of a year eh? Plenty to be getting on with, and all sorts of trials and tribulations to overcome. And it ain't over yet, not by a long shot.

I won't do an end of year wrap up, because life is an ongoing evolution. Instead here's what's been going on in December.

Live To Work, Work To Live

Been doing a lot of overtime this month. The opportunity came my way and I took it. But it hasn't left me much time to look for a new place to live. I've got to be out in 17 days and I still haven't found anywhere. Not gonna lie, starting to feel the worry now.

Christmas hasn't helped. A whole week and a bit wasted through no fault of my own. But I reckon I can pull off finding somewhere. Saw one place that was just okay, which I can take if I have to, and have another lined up for the 4th to view, which I will take if it's not unexpectedly terrible. My big problem is going to be finding a man and van to help me move. Not sure how they will feel about short notice bookings? They might all be free, or they might all be booked up.

Life sure keeps you on your toes eh?

News From The Steam Factory

December has been a busy month for writing. I finished the second draft of The Journeyman a few days ago. Got it up to just under 51k words. Not the 57k+ that I was hoping for, but there's still a complete rewrite to do. Everything needs punching up a bit, so I should be able to squeeze out a few more words before it's done. As long as I can get it into the late 50s I will feel okay about subbing it to agents after that.

I wrote a short story whilst on the train to visit my parents that I've entered for a competition being run by the University of Maryland. They're having a Steampunk/Quantum Mechanics competition, with a $1000 first prize, so I wrote them 'Professor Schrodinger's Time Machine', which I'm pretty pleased with. I don't know if it will win, as it might not be the sort of "serious writing" they are after, but I should at least get shortlisted. My thanks to Annalisa for proof reading it for me, and helping me make it better. Much appreciated.

And I'm ending the year with a fantastic review of The Dragonfly Delivery Company which really made my day/week/month/year. They really got what I was going for, and it is jam packed with quotes to go on the back of book three (when I eventually write the bloody thing). Check it out via the link below!

https://www.sffworld.com/2022/12/the-dragonfly-delivery-company-by-keith-w-dickinson/

When I'm Not Writing

It has not been a very wordy month for me. Lots of work means lots of watching things when I get home. Very little brain engagement at all. I've been enjoying a rewatch of

, which is superb, and I finally finished

Horizon:Forbidden West

, which has been waiting for me to get to it for weeks, so it's been a month of stuff I've done before, for the most part, with one exception.

Willow

on Disney+ is a series based on the movie that has surprised me with how good it is. In fact surprise has been the important factor in my enjoyment of it. A few times I've thought I knew what was going to happen only for something else to, and for a jaded old writer like myself that's really important. Without surprise there is no enjoyment. Just look at my aborted attempt to watch Rings Of Power on Prime. Nothing unexpected happened it that. In fact it relied on a number of tired old cliches. I was bored within minutes, and by the end of the first episode I was glad it was over.

By contrast Willow has been fun, funny, unexpected, and enjoyable to watch. The writing is excellent, and there's even a few belly laughs in there to keep you going. It expands on the world of the film really well, and though I don't know how it ultimately ends, I hope there will be a series two already.

And there you have it. December in a nutshell.

I know I said I wasn't going to do an end of year wrap up, but I did want to share this one image, which is a screen grab of the number of page reads I've had in December, my best month yet (I think).

Since I put my books on KDP Select I've had a total of over 25k page reads, which I think is pretty good. It's enough to buy me a handful of Freddos a month, although not always enough to buy the coffee to go with them, lol. But it's great to see so many people enjoying my books. Really makes you feel like you're doing something when you know they're being read. Now I just need to publish a few more, and then one day Rodders, I'll be a millionaire!

Thanks for sticking with me over this past year. I appreciate the support and interest more than you can know. Wishing you all the very best for 2023 and beyond. Here's hoping for a knockout year for everyone!

Toodle-pip for now.

Keith