Keith's December Newsletter

Hello Friends

Well, we made it through 2023. I’ll be honest, I’ve had easier years, and 2024 looks like it’s setting up to be just as challenging. I’ve also had less successful years, so it’s not all bad. Let’s have a look at what I got up to.

Stability? What’s That?

2023 was definitely the year when everything changed. First I had to move house, which was a nightmare. I spent several weeks in youth hostels and B&Bs until I found a somewhat shabby, somewhat cold house to live in. I can’t say I’m happy here, but at least it’s quiet and safe. Not that I’ll have to live here much longer it seems, as another move is on the cards.

Middle of the year I got told I was at risk of redundancy. The company I work for is moving their entire operation from Leeds to Manchester. Cue many months of me looking for work whilst also contemplating a career change. I even did a short copywriting course for all the good it did me. Eventually though I ended up applying for my current job (which is a shitty thing for a company to do to people) the upshot of which being that I have been offered a position in Manchester starting some time in 2024. I don’t know when, as the deadline keeps slipping, but if all goes as expected I’ll be living in or near to Manchester this time next year.

I’ll be honest, I don’t really want to move to Manchester, and I kind of resent a company deciding where I should live, so I’m going to keep looking for alternatives. I recently realised that a lot of my friends now live in and around the Bristol/south Wales area, and think it would be nice to live near them. I haven’t made any friends since I moved to Leeds, not one, and it’s kinda lonely. Making friends as an adult is hard, especially when you move somewhere during a pandemic and fall into a lot of habits that revolve around not going out. It’d be nice to have people to go do things with, and it might increase my chances of having someone to share my life with, which at the moemnt are slim to non-existent.

News From The Steam Factory

Work wise (my proper work that is) it’s been a busy year. I submitted The Journeyman to a bunch of agents, only a handful of which have bothered to get back to me about it. Most don’t even acknoledge receipt of your submission, which I find disrespectful, but there you go. It’s not like setting up an auto response to a submissions@… email is easy to do. Oh wait, yes it is.

Anyway, I’m thinking of rewriting the subs package and sending it out again, as even I have to admit it’s a bit of a hot mess, and the book is so good it deserves a decent submissions package. I’m also thinking about changing the title to In The Valley Of The Wind, but only if I feel like it won’t get too confused with Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.

I also published my first novella this year, Glunda The Veg Witch. I even had an in-person launch and everything. That was fun to do, but also a little bit weird lol. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to a book launch in an empty shop in a shopping centre but it’s an experience.

Response to Glunda has been very positive, with lots of people saying nice things. Hopefully that will continue, and I’ll get a few more reviews on Amazon. So far I just have five, for a total of 4.7 stars. I’d like more but getting reviews is hard. People promise they’ll do one then never do. And I don’t think I’ve had any from any of the book bloggers/reviewers I sent a copy to. Such is the way of things I guess.

I rounded 2023 off by submitting The Cunning Cogitations Of Monsieur Leclair for the Criminal Lines competition. You only needed the first three chapters and a synopsis to enter, which I was able to knock out in a few days. I’ve since done a detailed twenty page outline, so if I do win I know where I’m going with it, but for now I can put it aside to work on something else. I won’t think about it until I hear back from them, which will be some time next year, if at all.

The something else I’m working on is the third book in the Hammersmyth Tales; Attack Mars!! I started work again on that yesterday and it’s going okay so far. With any luck I’ll be able to release it next August… maybe. That’s what I’m aiming for anyway, so I can do a launch at the Asylum Festival in Lincoln, but that’s a tight turnaround, even if everything goes smoothly (which it seldom does).

When I’m Not Writing

This being an end of year wrap up I should probably do a Top Ten list here or something, but I honestly don’t think I’ve done ten of anything this year, so instead I’m just going to mention the book, game, and TV show that are keeping me entertained as 2024 hoves into view.

Book: I’m currently reading Red Darkling by LA Guettler. It’s a fun bit of sci-fi with strong Cowboy Bebop vibes. Spacer thief gets into and out of trouble whilst having sexy times and all whilst something sinister goes on in the background. Check it out if you like that kind of thing.

Game: Working my way through Dishonoured 2 on my computer at the moment, which is a challenge as I can’t get my head around mouse and keyboard, so I’m having to use my PS4 controller (which the game is not set up for). It’s fine, but my runs are getting slightly chaotic, and I’m certainly killing a lot more than I intend to. I just can’t see where people are, so my sneaking turns into not sneaking very quickly. You shall know me by my trail of corpses. Huzzah!

TV show: I recently got five months of free Apple TV so last night I checked out Foundation.

I read the books with mixed feelings, so had mixed feelings going into this. I liked the books to begin with, but then they went away from what I thought was the core of the story so I kind of lost interest. I still finished them, but my enjoyment was somewhat diminished. It’ll be interesting to see if I feel the same way about the TV show. So far it’s good, well paced, and beautifully shot, but whether I care enough about any of the characters yet I don’t know. I’ve watched three episodes, and will watch more, but the real test is when I get to the end of season one. Then I’ll know how I feel about going on.

And finally…

Dexter & Sinister was featured recently on Elise Carlson’s end of year showcase, which was nice. Thank you to Elise for that.

Next year I’ll be turning fifty, which is freaking me out a bit. This is usually the point where I do something outlandish in reaction to the direction in which my life is going. And with the added pressure of all the recent change it could be something truly nuts. We’ll just have to wait and see. For now I’m merely contemplating shaving off my beard, and, because I like to do something special for landmark birthdays — for my 30th I booked out a Soho screening room and had a showing of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and for my 40th I went to Iceland to see the Northern Lights — I’ll be going to Bristol in February to do the Wallace & Gromit Escape Room they have there, with a bunch of my friends. It’s not quite up to the standards of the Northern Lights but you work with what you have, and what I have is a lot of uncertainty and not a lot of cash, lol.

Anyway, that’s it from me for 2023. Thanks for sticking with me through this lengthy newsletter and through this lengthy year. My best to you for 2024. I hope to bring you more stories, more writing, more recommendations, and more low-key lunacy over the coming year. Who knows, maybe this will be the year I do something truly daft/entertaining/inspiring/idiotic. You’ll have to stick around to find out.

Toodle-pip for now.

Keith