The big freeze.

Want to know why we're freezing our arses off in the UK despite global warming, and are due to continue to do so for the next 27 years approx?

Read CHILL by Peter Taylor, ISBN 978-1-905570-19-5

It's all about climate change, and how the 30 year oceanic cycles (plus solar cycles, cloud pattern cycles, etc) completely dwarf any CO2 warming that is occurring.

We've just finished a 30 year warm cycle, and are now moving into a 30 year cooling cycle. So get that triple glazing in!

Controversial? Maybe. But I think he might be right.
He also mentions very briefly in passing that we still need to live in an environmentally friendly way [my interpretation:] stop polluting, farm in an environmentally friendly way, and quit trying to consume more than the Earth is capable of providing each year if we hope to survive as a species.

It's a complex book, but it's worth a look-see.

2009, what happened...?

Well, that year just flew by!

Didn't get a lot done that I wanted to do. But got a lot of other things done, and things that are in the process of doing, instead.
I'm up to my eyeballs in ongoing stuff at the moment - which makes it a bit difficult to comment on 2009 properly, and specifically so with regard to a certain project I'm involved with that just keeps dragging on and on. *gnashing of teeth*

HOPE! - - dashed - - HOPE! - - dashed - - HOPE(kinda).... and on, and on, and on.
It's getting annoying now. GRRR!

My goals for 2009 were to:
* Find a new job
* Complete the American Collaboration Rewrite for Producer no#2
* Finalise the sale/option of the supernatural horror screenplay
* Complete at least one more spec and get a producer seriously interested/sold
* Earn some money from my writing
I said, "F*ck it! This is the year I make it happen!"

Did I? Jury is still out.

* I did get the new job.
* Producer no#2 rewrite is ... well ... stay tuned in 2010!
* Finalise sale/option ... Producer no#1 was last seen stalking funding, stay tuned.
* Complete at least one more spec ... erm ... Got interrupted. (which is no excuse! ARGH!)
* Earn some money ... 2010 may be the year for that?
I made some things happen. - - On the one hand, meh; and on the other hand, I did a shit load of work (during the few moments when my brain was functioning), which was mainly rewriting (including the tarot books), and which is in the process of building a partial foundation for the future.


Okay, so 2009 ...

January. My day job notified me of potential redundancy from my work as a telephone monkey, but then said they would retrain me to work as a telephone technical monkey, and teach me about how (not) to blow up computers, which incidentally came with a minuscule pay rise, so hooray!
I also casually toyed with the idea of investigating e-publishing for my tarot books....

I spent February doing computer homework, surrounded by men (hee!). Got a bit stressed about living in chaos, and by my car threatening to fall apart. Writing didn't really happen this month. Blech.

March, I bought a new car ... well a secondhand runabout that was as cheap as chips, but it gets the job done. :) Bargain. ....Was that it? Blogged about villains - - oh yes, I was intermittently rewriting the fantasy. But didn't have the proper time to devote myself to it, what with the day job. (Brain power exhausted by the end of the day... *shakes head at self* Light weight!)

In April I tried to boost my self confidence by bragging. Never works. *rolls eyes*
The NEED to write started hitting home big time - that itch at the back of your brain that tells you insanity beckons if the writing can't get out! - and realised I'd already lost 1/3rd of the year to other distractions. Grr.
Also failed basic math. ;)

May was a month of "No." LOL. Producer no#3 liked The Grim (A.K.A. The Legend Of The Beast) a lot, but not enough to option it. And yet another publishing company turned down the tarot book (the one that came within a whisker of being published in 2008).

June was spent concentrating on horror - both watching it, and rewriting story for The American Collaboration. I also experienced a weird combination of insecurity and "Ha! Ha! I'm a genius!" this month. Conflicted? Yep. Looking for reasons to worry? Yep. Pointless? Yep. Effectively told myself to "Get on with it!"

July was a month of plague. I caught Swine Flu. Blech. Still, I lived. But the after effects dragged on and on. Grr.

August - my body tried to kill me. On my birthday, no less! I had a full bore asthma attack. First properly serious one ever. If my inhaler hadn't been nearby I might have died. - Terrified my sister, who was on the verge of calling an ambulance when the inhaler started working its magic and I began to actually be able to take in air again. The landlord had the builder putting in double glazing, I went to offer him a drink, and the dust from the work nearly took me out for good. Very, very blech.
If you have asthma, even if you think it's only mild, please for goodness sake carry your inhaler. Asthma is an allergic reaction to a factor in the environment that your body doesn't like - and is liable to zap you when you least expect it. (Like on your birthday. Grr.) Asthma may only be a mild annoyance usually, but it can turn around and whack you for six at a moments notice.
CARRY YOUR INHALER!
What else happened? Philip Morton updated his blog, briefly. I spent half the month doing social type things, away from the cave. Writing didn't really get a chance to happen, I may have mulled a bit, and jotted down some new story ideas, but no actual typing as such.

September ... another month of plague.
Early in the month, my Step-Mother's body decided to try to kill her: she was diagnosed with grade 3 breast cancer (she's receiving treatment and seems to be doing well).
And later in the month, not yet fully recovered from the dreaded Swine Flu, I came down with a temperature for two days and ended up mostly dead for the rest of the year. I'm still mostly dead now. *sigh* Combination of stress and fatigue, and generally feeling totally crap. I have more bad days than good days, but it's beginning to even out. ... I think part of it may be 2008 finally catching up with me? Grr. Anyhow, it ain't fun.

October ... there must have been an October...?
Oh yes! In between being mostly dead, I decided to self-publish my tarot book and finish writing my other tarot book. So I was finishing the second book and sorting out the self-publishing thing with Authors OnLine for all of October.

November, pretty much a page-one rewrite of the first tarot book at speed. Followed by sorting out artwork for the covers, and starting to edit both books....
Producer no#2 also circled back and made very encouraging noises (my co-writer is no longer on the job, and he wants me to rewrite it solo. Okay, can do.) - so I started some serious work on planning the rewrite, as well as putting an initial pen to paper - - And then put it on hold when promises were not fulfilled.
I also touched base with Producer no#1, who is actively tracking down funding (*fingers crossed*) for a couple of projects including The Grim.
And I discovered one of my favourite bands has got back together and started touring again. - - And I couldn't go see them because of me being mostly dead. *SOB!*
Busy month, November.

December, continued the edit (panicked when I discovered there were some gaps in the first half of the second book - from way back when - that needed sorting; sorted them), final approval on artwork for second book.
Producer no#2 discovered I wasn't going to cave, and sent a Deal Memo proposal which we are currently negotiating over....


Which brings us in to 2010.


And it's part way through January already!

And it's snowing.

And I'm still mostly dead.

Theoretically, later this month, both tarot books should finally be approved for publication. Probably some time in the next two weeks - if the weather doesn't delay things.

And screenplay negotiations continue....

Things are looking up! ... Or it could all just be smoke and mirrors ... or a hallucination from my lurgified brain.

Goals for 2010.
* get well again before too much more time passes!
* nail down the contract for the American Collaboration Rewrite, and then get the script finished so that Producer no#2 can go work some writer-producery magic.
* finish writing the science fiction screenplay.
* finish the fantasy screenplay rewrite.
* try to earn enough money from the two tarot books to cover the cost of getting them published. Or any money at all, really.
* take a look at some of my old story ideas to see if anything jumps out, or get at least one other project written (or mostly written) ... I want to keep this one a bit loose, I think things may stir later in the year, but I'm not sure in what way....

Onwards! *whip-crack!*

Need a stunt man?

Check out Vinnie Wilson's showreel.

He's looking for more hours on film to go towards his quota for joining the guild. So if you need someone to: set on fire, or throw off a building, drag behind a car, or just kick the crap out of Jackie Chan style, Vince is your man!

Enjoy the showreel!
(The 2008 showreel and the Year In China showreel are also worth a look see.)

You can also visit his website to find out more. www.VinnieWilson.com

Self-publishing - Part I

I've just received the finished artwork for the second of my two tarot books, THE YES / NO TAROT ORACLE, and I am extremely happy with it. Jo Spaul is a very accomplished illustrator, you can look at examples of her work on her website, here.

And I thought some of you might be interested in my experiences so far while trying to get published.

Basically, I've written two books on the Tarot* and have been unable to secure a publisher for either of them, so in the end I decided to do it myself.

Initially I was going to use LULU, but after some quick research decided against it (the new owners had increased postage rates to non-competetive levels, and some authors claimed they were having trouble getting their work taken off the site when they wanted to go elsewhere [I haven't checked them out since. So whether this is still the case, I don't know.]) - and in amongst the complaints thread someone recommended another self-publishing company, Authors OnLine. To cut a long story short, I decided to go with them.

Their fees are reasonable, with a low annual fee for remaining in publication, and the books are Print On Demand - so someone places an order, the book gets printed and shipped out. Quick, easy, no need to store quantities of books. Also a PDF version of each book will be available for those who prefer electronic media.
Best yet, the books they sell are available to all the usual book retailers - so whether you prefer to buy via Amazon, or via your local bookshop, or direct from them, you can!
As the author it is up to you to advertise your book. Just because it's published, doesn't mean it will necessarily sell any copies.

So far I have found the process pain-free, which is always good. Although they tell me that it does generally take about 2 months to get into publication from the date you sign the contracts.
The Christmas rush (which starts in August!) combined with a flu outbreak has delayed things slightly, but I am expecting both books to be available from January 2010.

I am using the delay to do a final edit on THE YES / NO TAROT ORACLE, while I await confirmation of the ISBNs.

I'm providing the text PDF files, they are doing the covers (under my direction) - Which makes my 'Control Freak Self' very happy.

They do various different packages to suit your needs, and they are very friendly, very helpful, and very busy (at the moment).

If everything continues according to plan I expect to be a very happy customer.


... Should you plan to use them, they are quite happy to vanity publish for you (for example, if you want that green crayon text, unspell-checked book of "My Favourite Moles in Dresses" that you wrote when you were six, published to show your friends), but if you are looking for a more professional publication that will be available in the shops, they do require a basic level of competence from their authors.


So far, so good. If things change, I'll let you know.


*THE LOVERS' SPREAD: A TAROT GUIDE TO RELATIONSHIP COMPATIBILY
and THE YES / NO TAROT ORACLE

Read Self-publishing - Part II here

Impatience.

As a writer, you will be feted and courted and asked to achieve the impossible ... the person asking this will promise various things.

The question is, if they then delay implementing those promises
(for example providing a contract for work they want you to do by such and such a date, on a deferred payment basis - - and then don't even send you the draft version of that contract for discussion / haggling / wrangling over until well after the date they really, really, really needed the script by - How long are you supposed to wait? Are you supposed to wait? At what stage are you allowed to disembowel them?)
... do you:

A) Throw a fit, then write the screenplay anyway, and then refuse to hand over the finished document until the contract is finalized, signed, and delivered?

B) Throw a fit and refuse to put pen to paper until they come forth with the contract - even though this will mean definitely missing the deadline?

C) Roll over and wipe yourself off, hand them the script without the contract in place, and then go and cry behind the rock you normally hide under?

D) None of the above.

E) GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



*sigh*
I'll just go put pen to paper then.

Any grinding of teeth, or swearing, you hear over the next few weeks will be me. After that, if you hear a large explosion (as of a bomb, or a fire, or high velocity ammunition being fired) - It wasn't me! ... You are such a lovely, supportive person. Will you be my alibi? Pretty please?
*grinding of teeth* *muttering punctuated by prolific swearing*

Where's the alcohol?


UPDATE: 26 November 2009, I've just emailed the producer the soft version of the riot act. We'll see what happens. He may have a completely legitimate excuse?
... Yeah.

UPDATE: 29 November 2009. Hmm. Apparently the project is not a priority, he'll get back to me about contracts next year.
Well, that's that one shelved for now, then.
(If you're keeping score, the answer was option B.)
It's good to get these things clarified. I shall concentrate on one of my other projects instead.
*gentle simmer*
... and moving on.

MISFITS on E4

Misfits 4oD has previous episodes available on catchup here

It's dark and brilliant. If you are unaware of it, go check it out.