A glance at my writing space today

Here's my writing layout in Scrivener today:

Yes, I deliberately made the image small. No spoilers! If you could see the left hand pane you'd see my entire outline for most of Chapters 4-8 of Housesitting. With important key words like 'unmasks', 'fantasies', 'sex' and 'costume'. To pick them randomly.

The image reference is kind of obvious, though, even at this size. It's just one scene, but I strive for authenticity....

A pretty good morning

Small scene ended up being something a little more. This isn't core stuff for Housesitting, but still fun to write, and explores a bit more for Billy, the central character:

With a sweaty, sucking sound the mask came away. Billy moved it upwards just enough to expose Rich’s lips, stood on the tips of his heels to reach him, and allowed their lips to touch.

Oh, and that mask is not what you're thinking.

1,355 today so far.

Project target: Housesitting

This is a screenshot of today's project target for Housesitting:

Good day (well, morning) writing wise. I subscribe to the theory that when you sit down to write, it's a 'good session' if you manage to complete 1,000 words or more. That might sound like a lot, but when you're 'in the zone' it's pretty easy to churn them out. Today was one of those days, so that felt good.

You might have noticed something else: my deadline, as well as my projected word count. While it started as a short story, Housesitting has expanded, and about a month ago I decided to make it a full-fledged project - a novel, in the strictest definition of the term. I added a few plot twists and some other fun stuff to my overall plan, and now I feel pretty confident I can get to that word count without it feeling stretched. If I'm lucky, it'll go longer than that.

I share this with you because I've decided enough is enough. I'm fed up of my inner critic preventing me from finishing stuff and I'm fed up of complaining about it. So this is what I'm pledging to myself and also to you, as a potential consumer: Housesitting will be complete (at least in first draft) by March 1st, 2013. It'll be available to buy (yes, buy - it will not be free) sometime shortly after that.

More soon.

A rare jawdropper moment

The best moments when writing are the flashes of inspiration that come mid-writing - where a character does something you didn't expect ("Of course she should kiss him here").

The better moments are when that inspiration suddenly coalesces into a future plot event... and your jaw drops open at the sheer audacity and excitement of it.

(And as a bonus, when that moment actually wraps up your story in a climax that is completely perfect for what you had planned.)

Just had one of those moments while working on Housesitting. Wow oh wow.

Let's hope I get to write it....

New release: Spider-Girl, issue #24

Working with Quentin Beck, AKA Mysterio, Liz Allen impersonated Spider-Girl in an attempt to catch the eye of Liz’s on-and-off boyfriend, Flash Thompson. Meanwhile Beck discovers Spider-Girl’s true identity as Betty Brant after discovering an accidental photo of her changing. After being caught and exposed by the real Spider-Girl, Liz swears to Beck that she will never impersonate Spider-Girl again... but Beck has other plans.

Issue #24: The Coming of Captain Spider

Download from Maskingwriter (Yahoo! Group)
Read it online on Google Drive (no login required)

Yep, I promised to get this out earlier but real life got in the way. No promises on when issue 25 will come around, but when it does, that'll be it for the current storyline.

Thanks for those who reached out privately about the last issue - as I got zero comments in public, as usual, I guess it was a smash hit. Bitter, me? Nah, just honest.

New release: Spider-Girl, issue #23

A case of mistaken identity has become a deliberate plan to deceive, as after school girl Liz Allen was kidnapped by Hollywood reject Quentin Beck, AKA Mysterio, together they hatch a plan for Liz to become Spider-Girl. Both of them have quite different agendas, however, and Betty Brant - newly employed as an investigative reporter for the Daily Bugle - is about to get caught in the middle....

Issue #23: The Girl Who Would Be Spider-Girl

Download from Maskingwriter (Yahoo! Group)
Read it online on Google Drive (no login required)

Yep, it's here. Just over two years since the last issue. Not much more to say, really; read the previous blog post if you have the time.

Issue #24 and #25 to follow in the next few weeks when I have time. I forgot what a pain in the ass it was to get these from my word processor to the wider world.

PS: Yep, I'm 'sharing' these on Google Drive (AKA Google Docs). I am not publishing them as web pages - yet. I may do in the near future. Let me know if you like/prefer that option.

PPS: I've finally disabled anonymous comments. Getting a Gmail account or OpenID that's anonymous is stupidly easy. If you want to comment, please do so in a way that helps me track who said what.

The real reason for a four month gap

Yep, still haven't released the 'missing' SG issues I mentioned last time. I have a pretty good excuse. Excuses, actually.

First the big one. Some time after I wrote the last post, I was laid off from my job. Unexpectedly, as tends to be the case with layoffs. It's not a good feeling and it tends to throw your life into disarray. I was lucky to find another job not too long afterwards, but that came with a lot of life changes. Needless to say I didn't want to sit in front of the keyboard much after that.

Second. The truth is when I dashed off that post in May I wasn't actually done with 25. I was really close. In fact I'm still not done; there's one last scene. It's probably 30 minutes of work. I also need to edit and rewrite 23, 24 and 25 itself, although I'm almost done with that process. So, bit of work still to be done. But why haven't I done it in the last few months?

Ah, excuse the third. Truth is, I have no damn idea what I'm doing any more, and not much of a clue why I'm doing it, either.

The series could run indefinitely. I know that now. I have plotlines that could run forever. I have major arcs, minor arcs and all sorts of crazy ideas. I have long term plans. I could even throw in a 'Brand New Day' or a 'Marvel Knights' style reboot (or even, as I contemplated a while back, a MAX version of the series - AKA 'all the sex, swearing and violence I want').

Here's the problem: right now, I gain nothing from this. Absolutely zero. Allow me to get very 'real' for the rest of this post.

Only took six months or so

Issue 25 is finished. The arc is done, finally. I have no excuses for how long it's taken, but it's done.

I may even release it at some point.

Cracked it... I think

The reason you haven't seen the remaining issues of Spider-Girl? Well it's because my plot tied itself in knots.

I think I just figured it out. That said, I've thought I've had it figured out before. Let's hope.

Time flies

Holy cow - almost a year without a post. Apologies, although I've been busy elsewhere, that's for sure.

The truth is I'm actually writing. In fact, been writing today. Three things are on the go, on and off: the Babysitter (which will definitely not be called that), Housesitting and occasionally Spider-Girl. Don't expect any of them soon, but with patience they'll eventually turn up.

I actually log in to Tumblr more than I do here - I even posted a short piece of fiction, but don't expect that to become a habit.


(Edit - I moved that short piece to the Maskingwriter group, as generally that's where I throw stories.)

Well, not much else to say, I do like to ensure I post on occasion here so people know I'm alive. Watch my Tumblr for, well, usually photos of ladies in fun outfits...!