As we slowly roll towards the end of the year it often comes to us to start looking towards the things we might want to achieve in the coming year. It’s a time for making plans, dreaming, wondering how we can shape the future; it’s time to spring clean the mind.

I’ve always found the best place to start with that is to take stock and look back at the year thats just passed. What plans did I have in place? Did I achieve them? What went wrong? What went well? What impacted those plans and skewed them off course? What could I have done better. It’s a time of reflection.

So, with that in mind, it’s time to roll out my GDRs (Goals, Dreams & Resolutions) review for 2018 and check out the stats. I already knew before I did this, they weren’t going to make for pretty reading:

• Of 9 Goals: 2 were completed
• Of 3 Dreams: 1 was completed; 1 partially completed
• Of 3 Resolutions: 1 was completed

Not great. Not great for a full year of work.

It’s pretty much taken as red that the goals you set out will be, with a bit of hard work and application, achievable. So to complete only two is really quite poor on reflection. After what was a great start to the year, everything just changed from the end of June onwards. I’d published a new chapbook as Chas Stramash (DIGITAL PENETRATION OF A TICKET MACHINE), published a new thriller novel (HUNTING JACK), and taken the first draft of a new novel through to completion. Things were looking good.

Then I received an opportunity within the sphere of my day job (linked to one of my dreams) and I simply had to take it. It would mean (hopefully) a happy and rewarding working life and so far this has proved to be the case. It has also meant fully committing myself to the my new career, which in turn has meant taking on a lot of new things, learning as I go, and a lot of days packed with hard work. Fulfilling, yes. Conducive to writing novels, absolutely not.

Dreams are tasks one would complete towards turning life dreams into actual achievable goals, so to complete one and move to forward partially, is something to be applauded. I’ve got to be happy with that no matter what else has or hasn’t happened to plan.

The failure of my Resolutions — which were mostly life improvement resolutions — was mostly down to my own laziness, pure and simple. The best it got was when I almost achieved one then more or less gave up after I’d got it into a good place, so this was particularly galling. The one I achieved is, however, very significant so I’m delighted with that.

One year ago when I wrote my GDRs for 2018, I had no idea what was in store in the coming months. I was also coming off the back of an extremely successful 2017 and maybe I got a bit carried away with what I imagined to be achievable. Maybe I was already biting off more than I could chew, or maybe I just hadn’t considered things might come together in the way they did. Either way, going into 2019 I realise I have to be much more realistic in what I can achieve, and more importantly, can’t. I am going to have to fight to find a balance between my work life and writing life, that has swayed back and forward to both extremes in the last two years.

It is time to balance the boat and ride the waves.

And to finish up, here’s my BEST OF 2018:

MUSIC
Best Album Bought: Call the Comet, Johnny Marr
Best Live Gig: Mogwai at Leith Theatre
Best Musical Discovery: Willie Nelson

FILM
Best Film (cinema): Solo
Best Film (TV/DVD): Roller Dreams
Best Series (TV/DVD): The Sinner (Netflix)

LITERATURE
Best Fiction Book Read: A Day at the Office, Matt Dunn
Best Crime Fiction Book Read: Follow You Home, Mark Edwards
Best Non-Fiction Book Read: Fire and Fury, Michael Wolff
Best Poetry Book Read: N/A
Best Author Discovery: Mark Edwards

OTHER
Best Meal: Amanda Galbraith’s Summer Tasting Meal
Best Sesh: Diners Xmas Day Out in Paisley
Best Celebrity Encounter: When the Group Captain won a St Mirren signed football from Saints Club Captain, Stephen McGinn
Single Most Embarrassing Moment: Fake fall in the packed lobby of the Holiday Inn Express, Washington, Tyne & Wear
Saddest Moment: Death of our wee Crumble in my arms
Single Most Memorable Moment: Success of new career gamble

My new novel, a tense thriller set in Glasgow and Edinburgh in 1995, was released yesterday by Blue Sea Publishing.

HUNTING JACK is the story of a young Scottish lad brought up in London by his Aunt and Uncle after his parents were both killed in a car crash. On finding a hidden letter from them, he runs away to Scotland to try and find them, only ending up in a world of gangsters and a history embedded in the infamous Glasgow Ice-Cream Wars of 1984.

I originally wrote this story back in 2004 and it appeared as an internet serial, being delivered twice-weekly to subscribers email inboxes. Now, after a re-write and tidy, it can be yours as a single one-off novel – how I always wanted it.

Here’s the official blurb:

It’s midnight in London during the summer of 1995 and JACKIE McCANN is on the run.

With only the clothes on his back and a letter from Scotland, he is determined to make his way north to find his true identity. Behind him, he leaves his Aunt and Uncle, who for years told him he was the sole survivor of the car crash that had wiped out his biological family. But now his life has turned upside down upon finding a letter from his father — hidden by his new family.

In Glasgow things aren’t what they seem. Jackie discovers the infamous Ice-Cream Wars of 1984 provide the violent backdrop to his family history, and a mysterious man in black makes his bloody presence felt.

On the run and with his options slowly running out, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival opens up more links to his past and options for his future.

Does Jackie find his true identity?

Will he be reunited with his family?

Will he wish he’d never found that letter in the first place?

Some secrets are best left buried.

And here’s the pretty cool trailer for it:

Happy reading, and if you DO decide to buy the book (available at the special eBook launch price of 99p until this Sunday), don’t forget to leave a review on Amazon.

Finally, here’s where you can buy the Kindle, eBook and Paperback formats of HUNTING JACK:

• Kindle (uk)
• Kindle (us)
• Smashwords
• Apple iBooks
• B&N (Nook)

Oh, before I go, I have a mailing list now. This will be THE place for the latest book news, special offers, freebies, and basically all the juicy stuff that I won’t be putting on Twitter or Facebook.

Just click here to be taken to the sign-up form: http://eepurl.com/dkIVBD

Enjoy!

Col

It’s not been the best start to the year, in fact this posting is already around two weeks late, but I’m back up and running and in the midst of kicking off my GDRs (Goals, Dreams & Resolutions) for the new year. I’m not taking things easy and I’m not going hell-for-leather, but I’ve laid out a plan for 2018 that if executed in the correct order, could prove to be fruitful — more-so than 2017.

I remember saying the same last thing last year: “I’ll never get through all of this,” and “there’s no way I’ll find the time to do all of this as well as live a life.” But then I bit off the easy bits first, chewed them up and devoured them, which took care of a large chuck of my plan all before the first quarter of the year was over. Suddenly, by mid-March, everything looked easier and much more do-able. So that’s my plan again this year.

Here’s what I‘ve come up with. Not that two of the Dreams and two of the Resolutions have been redacted — they’re not for public consumption. In fact, this may be the last year I actually publish this on the blog. While I love — daresay need — to tick off lists in order to get things done, the way I approach my work these days is much more relaxed and depended on how I feel at the time. So applying too rigorous a framework around it is not having the desired effect as it once did. Nevertheless, here’s the 2018 GDR list:

GOALS

“Tangible actions with deadlines that get me further down the path.”

• Complete and Publish Sri Lanka Chapbook
• Write and Prepare Bob Lennox Prequel Novella
• Write 1st draft of Bridge of Weir Novel
• Complete and Publish On the Rocks: Bob Lennox #1
• Write NaNoWriMo Novel (1st Draft of Bob Lennox #2)
• Complete and Publish Rhodes Chapbook
• Complete and Publish London Chapbook
• A Ditty A Day Project
• Read 30 Novels

DREAMS

“Fantasies about the future I plan to build, with an action plan to turn them into reality.”

• XXXX
• XXXX
• Be Regularly Selling ‘00s Books Per Month

RESOLUTIONS

“Bigger, more life-changing commitments that build on the goals and work toward the dreams.”

• XXXX
• XXXX
• Learn Basic French (carried over)

All in all, this gives me a total of 15 specific GDRs that I am aiming to hit to some degree. You can begin to see where the demands on my time are going to impact.

Of the Goals listed, there is a lot of interesting work listed here that I am hoping to see through. Namely, three new chapbooks, which are all already in different stages of production already and may see the light of day very soon.

There is also the intended publication of the first full-length Bob Lennox novel, a prequel giveaway, and a second novel in the series.

And the more keen-eyed among you will have spotted the “A Ditty A Day” project, more details for which will come soon.

Attention! Here’s the new cover of my next novel, HUNTING JACK, out in February next year with the terrific Blue Sea Publishing. It’s a tense crime/thriller/gangster story set in Glasgow and Edinburgh and based on the Ice-Cream Wars of 1984. Right up your street, basically.

Col

Did I meet my goals? What were the highlights and lowlights? What went wrong and what went well? And in what direction am I going to take things next year? All of these questions and more are what I ask myself as part of my annual Goals, Dreams, and Resolutions (GDRs) wrap-up for 2017.

These GDRs are nothing new; I’ve been working this process for years now. It helps me focus my mind on what I’ve been doing and where I’m going. They are based on an original idea by Devon Ellington who runs the Goals, Dreams, and Resolutions website, and they are all prepared and committed to at the start of each year in order that they act as a guide for the coming year.

So here’s my 2017.

GOALS

1. Complete and Publish GATECRASH
   • Gatecrash has so far blown all of my expectations out of the water in terms of sales and reader response. It is my biggest success so far.
2. Re-write and Publish HUNTING JACK as a Novel
   • Marked as complete as it is now pending publication, a decision made late in 2017.
3. Re-Publish STELLA Through Smashing Press
   • Publishing rights were returned from the previous publisher, allowing it to be re-published with a new cover by Smashing Press.
   • Also re-published as a 2-in-1 combo purchase for e-readers.
4. Publish One New Chapbook
   • Poolside Poetry 2 made it to publication under my pseudonym, Chas Stramash
5. Read 40 Books X
   • Made it to 31 books as this blog post is published. It’s a fine balance between reading and writing one’s own novels.

Midway through the year I also decided to partake in NaNoWriMo, which led to the penning of a new novel with DI Lennox as the protagonist. This novel has now gone through its first draft and will hopefully be published next year.

As you can see, meeting almost all of my goals and managing to include a full unforeseen novel writing project into the bargain, means 2017 has been a huge success for me. 2018 will be tough to match.

I don’t publish my Dreams or Resolutions as they are usually too personal, but I’ve summarised them regardless.

DREAMS

There were two.
One is still on target and one has not been achieved down to alterations in personal circumstances. They both still remain valid, and indeed one of them is being carried over to next year. The other may not.

RESOLUTIONS

There were four.
Two were achieved and this indicates a marked success given they have been on the list for a couple of years now! One is still in progress and on target to be met in 2018 so is being carried forward. The final one was nearly complete then turned around and was never achieved. This has been a huge disappointment, and so it is being made a top priority for next year.

2017 REVIEW

MUSIC
Best Album Bought: Mogwai, Every Country’s Sun
Best Live Gig: Porgy & Bess, Sketches of Spain, Usher Hall
Best Musical Discovery: R.L. Burnside

FILM
Best Film (cinema): Star Wars, The Last Jedi
Best Film (TV/DVD): The Lady in the Van, BBC2
Best Series (TV/DVD): Liar, BBC1

LITERATURE
Best Fiction Book Read: The Thread, Victoria Hislop
Best Crime/Thriller Book Read: Tombstoning, Doug Johnstone
Best Author Discovery: Kamel Daoud (The Mersault Investigation)

OTHER
Best Meal: Melenos, Lindos, for my birthday meal
Best Sesh: The Diners in Queensferry & Leith, May
Best Celebrity Encounter: Andy Hamilton, Kings Theatre
Single Most Embarrassing Moment: Going topless on a tram in Edinburgh city centre
Saddest Moment: Death of Lulu
Single Most Memorable Moment: Finally getting to meet Paul Auster at the Edinburgh Book Festival

In the next blog post, I’ll be looking forward to 2018 through a new set of GDRs. These are still being worked on; I keep finding myself getting carried away after the success of this year. It’s a hard task forcing myself not to bite off more than I can chew and to be realistic about the amount of work I think I can actually get through and keep developing in the right direction.

But then, that’s what the GDRs are for.

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

It’s all over!

NaNoWriMo is complete, at an end, finished, over, caput, at an end, over and done with. It is no more. Fin.

And I completed the challenge!

Tired and just a little surprised with the monumental effort it took to get myself over the 50k line, I’ve found that I still have the burning desire to get to the end of the story that often dissipates once the ultimate goal of NaNo disappears. I was worried that without the drive that comes from Nano, I might struggle to get over the end-of-story line but that’s proved not to be the case.

NaNoWriMo can do that to you. You spend so much time and effort working towards to the goal of 50k by Nov 30th it’s easy to lose sight of the real goal which is the end of the actual novel you’re writing — assuming your novel doesn’t end at 50k words. The way I’m going just now, I expect the first draft of ON THE ROCKS to be complete in the next 10 to 14 days.

How did I get there this year given such a terrible first two weeks? It was a basic strategy really. I obviously had to increase my daily minimum target and force a few 5k days into the equation over a couple of weekends. Not easy going, but the closer I got to the end of this story, the easier it seemed to become. Quite often I hit a middle sag or struggle towards the end but in the case of this particular novel, it was a real slow burner that has spread like a bush fire in July.

In the end, the last Sunday of November saw me write almost 7k in a single day, which for me is a big day and pulled me so far up toward the goal line that I actually made the 50k mark two days early. Nov 28th saw me cross the line when all along I thought I’d be struggling to make it at all by the 30th.

It just goes to show what hard work and determination can do.

Did I enjoy it? Aye, without a doubt. This was a real challenge this year and despite the bad start, I came racing through. I’ve found there’s actually been a little bit of regret now it’s all over and that I’m missing it. I guess I’ll just have to keep on churning out the novels then.

But is the story any good? It’s only a first draft but it has real potential. I know where it has to change, which characters need to be moulded further, where the plot needs to be tightened, where the holes are, etc. The bottom line is, look out for DI Lennox’s first full novel with him as the main character later in 2018.

So what next now that December is here?

As I already mentioned, the first half is to be dedicated to actually completing this first draft of ON THE ROCKS. If you’re interested, the wee tracker on the top right of this page will continue to be updated with my progress as I strive for what I’ve estimated to be a first draft target of 80,000 words.

Then it’s into analysis mode as I look back and compare all my 2017 goals with what I ended up achieving. Then I can build a plan for next year, which based on this year’s successes, I already know is going to be busy and very exciting.

Onwards and upwards.

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

It’s half way through November and NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is at its outward most point. We’ve reached the turn and already I’m heading back to the clubhouse with only one aim in mind: to reach the 50,000 word mark.

By this point I should be on 25k or more, averaging just under 2k per day and be sailing through my manuscript. Not so, for it has not been quite so easy as I’d first hoped. Not yet, anyway.

To date, my stats make for some pretty miserable reading. Although progress has been made, and what is down on paper is not altogether a total pile of shite, as of last night (15th) I have only managed to get down 10,468 words, which is approximately 15k short of where I should be. It also means I’ll only be at around 34k by the time midnight on November 30th arrives if I keep going at this rate. Since the kick-off, there’s only been 3 days that I breached the daily minimum required, 7 days when I fell short, and a full 5 days when absolutely zilch got written.

How has this happened with a plot that was devised well in advance and a healthy pattern of working?

Two things have hampered my progress:

1. The main reason is that my working pattern was forced into an unforeseen change. I’m a morning writer – always have been, always will be – I’m more creative nearer dawn, clear in my mind, and as a result, the prose I write is concise, natural and offers the story in the right way. Thanks to over-zealous project managers in my day job, however, I suddenly had to start attending regular early meetings. This meant my working day was brought forward an hour and thus encroached on my writing time. I struggle to write at night because I’m tired and nowhere near as motivated to be creative as in those crucial early hours, so it was a real hit to my schedule.
2. The second reason has had far less a bearing because it only involved having to re-think things in the story. As is normally the case when you set out on a new novel, things happen during the writing that you simply did not plan for. Maybe a character does or says something unexpected; perhaps a new character bursts onto the scene; or maybe holes in the plot are discovered that require a re-think in the direction of the story. It could be anything, and basically, in my case, this is what’s happened. A new character arrived at the front door (literally) that then required a total re-think of most of the story. This knocked me back because it would have been stupid to continue without considering the implications, but as I already mentioned, it wasn’t too big a thing to happen. The net effect was that I lost a couple of days writing entirely due to the mind mess it created, but on the up-side, the book will have ore depth and be more multi-dimentional because of it. If I’d been winging it from the start, it wouldn’t have been a problem, but seeing as I’d decided to plan ahead this year, it was a pain.

So that’s my half-time report. Progress made but the play has gone against me resulting in a couple of dodgy decisions and a change in my game plan. I’m down, but definitely not out. In my opinion, 40k in 15 days is still achievable if I can get some dedicated writing time and stick to it.

That’s why this weekend I intend to take part in a writing sprint. If I can somehow make up the missing 15k between now and the end of the weekend I will be back on track, but if I can do it AND get a few more words down too, then I’ll suddenly be ahead of the game.

This has the potential to be a game of two halves and the whole thing could change with the kick of a ball. Okay, so enough puns, but you get the drift.

Back to the page. See you in two weeks.

This November will see the 19th annual National Novel Writing Month take place. Otherwise known as NaNoWriMo, the basic idea — if you haven’t heard of it — is to write 50,000 words of a novel in the 30 days of November.

It sounds easier than it is, and in fact, requires a fair amount of commitment to hit the 50k in the space of one month. You need to write a very basic minimum of 1700 words each day, which when you balance everything up against all of life’s other commitments — a day job, kids, family, social time, etc. — you can start to get an idea of the amount of time that’s required.

My good pal Devon Ellington wrote an interesting blog a few days ago called Reasons I Should Not Do Nano, about her internal debate on whether or not to take part in NaNoWriMo this year. In it, she balances up all of her life and work commitments against the pros for taking part, and her article made me think about my own situation.

The pros for taking part are strong. You kick off on day one with an idea for a grand new novel — it may be plotted out or you may decide to wing it — but the goal is to start a fresh and exciting new project, and push through it until you have 50k words down on paper. It’s hard work and it can be a lot of fun.

I first took part in 2006, armed with only a basic idea for a story, a laptop and no planning whatsoever. I started writing at 5am on the 1st November, and by the end of the month, I had 70,000 words and the core of a decent novel. Months later the book was completed, edited and produced, and it hit the shelves known as Slick.

The following year was pretty much the same (basic idea, no planning), except this time I only just crawled across the line. And because I hadn’t planned for it and struggled to make it to the 50k, I let the novel go, only picking it up sporadically in several half-hearted attempts to complete it. That novel never saw the light of day until July this year and it was called Gatecrash.

Back in 2006/07 though, I was working full-time both in my day job and as a freelance writer and website designer. My time was fully occupied and I had begun to lose sight of the writing priorities that meant more to me. Since then, there has been a five-year spell where I never wrote a single word and used much of the time to re-evaluate what I wanted to do. The end result was to focus on thriller fiction as well as punk poetry under a pseudonym; two work-streams instead of the multiples I had running all at once ten years previous.

So this year I approach November in a good place and with a good life balance already in existence, and this includes plenty of time to commit to writing new novels. Moving into late September, my plan had been to take a pause in the novel planning that was already underway for my holiday in Greece, and use that two weeks to work on a new chapbook. This would then give me two weeks to finish up the new novel planning when I returned home in October, and I would use NaNoWriMo as the spur to write it.

What I hadn’t counted on was the sudden flash of inspiration I had for another novel I never saw coming, which has since taken over everything. It’s to be my first novel with Bob Lennox as the protagonist as opposed to the supporting role he played in Slick, and it’s actually pissing me off having to wait until 1st November before starting to write it.

But that’s the whole point. I’m excited about it and itching to get underway. I’ve got a burning idea with some great characters in a great location with some great thrilling twist points. In short, it is perfect for NaNoWriMo and will be the next novel to come after the next one already lined up to be published around the turn of the year. So you can probably expect to see it sometime in 2018.

Some people use NaNoWriMo to finish existing projects, some to continue other forms of manuscript, and others to test out other writing forms as an alternative. But I believe the spirit of the whole thing is what gives it the biggest pull of all, and that is that you start a new novel on day one and see it through to the end. It means all other projects sit aside (possible in my case; not if you’re a working writer for example) leaving you to focus solely on that one story.

For me, NaNoWriMo gives me the chance to fully dedicate to a novel and this year the timing is simply perfect. I’d be writing the new Lennox novel regardless, but with NaNoWriMo being just around the corner, I have the chance to be involved and give it a really good shot at completing it.

Of course, NaNoWriMo isn’t just an online project, it has a physical form too. There’s a community of writers all over the world taking part, and in cafes and bookshops and other spaces, local writers come together and support each other in their individual projects, all in the name of the 50k goal. I’ve met a lot of people through NaNoWriMo, and some I still know to this day, but I’m not sure if I’ll actually be as involved this year as much as I was ten years ago.

If you’re interested in tracking my progress, I’ll likely post a few blog posts as the journey progresses (time allowing). I’ve also added a wee word tracker to the blog (top-right menu) and there’s always Twitter and Facebook too.

So here we go. The novel is plotted (to an extent), the laptop is charged, I’m in first gear and the engine is revving waiting for the green light on 1st November. Bring it on!

SaveSaveSaveSave

I find this to be of extreme frustration.

Among the first questions people always ask me when they discover I’m a writer is:

• “how many books have you sold?”
• “do you make a lot of money?”

They don’t actually get that I don’t write to make serious amounts of money (and by that I mean tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds). Sure, I make money from all my books; I make enough to put back into promoting my work or a damn good meal in a nice restaurant. I don’t make enough to buy Lamborghinis or yachts and nor am I trying to.

The reason I write is simple, unbelievable and unremarkable: I enjoy it. I don’t consider it a hobby. For me, it’s a second career (the one I really enjoy) sustained by the earning of money from another source. Going fishing is a hobby; writing is a serious compulsion.

In an ideal world, yes, I would be a full-time writer. I would be sat by my private pool somewhere sunny, churning out thrillers and travelling the world while raking in royalties and selling my book rights to Hollywood. But that’s not realistic because if I wasn’t enjoying it, it would just become another crappy job and therefore a chore I would rather avoid. The only way, therefore, is to continue writing while I do enjoy it; anything that happens thereafter is merely by chance.

Ian Rankin once told me over coffee that the only difference between me and him was that he’d been writing longer, had gotten good at it, and had sold more books than me. He didn’t set out to be a world-famous writer; he just wrote. And that’s why every book he writes must be better than the last, at least in his eyes, for when that burn to create disappears, so too will the book sales and so too will the royalties.

It’s the same for me. Each novel I put out simply has to be better than the one before. I have a desire to learn from each book and develop as a writer. It’s something I take so seriously, I’m actually prepared to devote months of time and effort into learning my craft and improving how I construct a story, then writing it down.

When people don’t see this because they think it’s a game I play in my spare time and not something to be taken seriously, or assume that I simply fart around with all those words and therefore cannot possibly be any good at writing, the frustration grows further and further.

So I’ll keep writing while that creative fire is there. For it’s not being a good writer that makes you rich it is merely luck. To be truly rich one must be true to oneself, and for that to remain true I must do one thing: write the books I want to write and appreciate those moments when some unknown person approaches me and says: “hey, I really liked your last book…”

It’s not a game, it’s quite serious. And with each book I write, I get better and better which results in more and more enjoyment. Whether I get “lucky” by other peoples’ perceptions is not up to me — in my opinion, I already am.

The plan for the holiday was simple: chill out and get some serious sun and relaxation. This was achieved to a great level of success as we enjoyed an average daily temperature of 29 C (84 F) along with unbroken blue skies, a high sun, and an ever higher moon. The full moon on the 5th turned out to be a Harvest Moon, and the sight of it hanging large and golden above the bay outside our balcony was a true sight to behold.

We hired a car and toured the island in depth, covering all corners of the island from medieval Rhodes Town to the windy west coast where I revisited the sight of my first ‘lads holiday’ back in 1992, the easy-going east coast with its luscious beaches and fishing coastline, and the beach at Prasonisi where the two seas (Aegean and Mediterranean) meet for some serious surfing.

To cover the inaccessible areas inland, we took a safari trip through the hills and valleys, followed dried out river beds and experienced all kinds of honey delights, strawberry liqueur, and firewater. We experienced the hard-worn areas of the island; Greece at its rawest under the blazing sun.

The food was amazing. The hotel we’d booked threw up some great stuff including fruits of all kind, fresh fish including sea bass, Greek salads, tzatziki, souvlaki, moussaka, the smoothest feta, and the freshest olives grown on the grounds of the hotel itself.

The food in the small cafes and restaurants that we stopped on our travels topped the lot though. I had the most amazing grilled octopus in a food hut on Prasonisi beach. It was also my birthday while we were away, and to celebrate it, my wife had booked a meal for us in one of the top restaurants on the island: Melenos. The food combined with the views across Lindos bay made it an amazing experience — the grilled Sea Bream providing the exquisite taste to go with the memory. This restaurant was so good in fact, we returned on the final night of the holiday to have another go at the menu, and noted just how good it was when noted Rick Stein and his wife walked in to dine at the next table — kudos enough for me!

But it was on the creative writing front that Rhodes yet again proved to be as unexpected as it always has been inspirational. In the past, it has provided the inspiration for some of the poems in Poolside Poetry 2, and of course, Greener is the Grass was written as a direct result of experiences I had when I last visited in 2011.

My plan had been to put the planning of my next novel to one side and pick it up again during the two of weeks prior to NaNoWriMo in November. I would then use the two weeks on holiday to write a new chapbook on Rhodes going back over my visits there spanning the last 25 years. This was largely accomplished, and I returned home with a notebook of new poems and ideas for work a new chapbook, Rhodes: Then and Now to be published under my poetry pseudonym, Chas Stramash.

However, on the 1st day of October, the very day after my birthday, while sleeping off a hangover on the beach, an idea — or rather a character and an idea — popped into my head and would not clear out to give me peace. The idea was too strong, the visualizations too clear, and the desire to write it down too powerful. Around three hours later I had the outline of a new novel down in my notepad. It was as simple as that: all the characters, the high-level synopsis, the twists, the themes, and the title. All done.

This new novel will now be the one I shall write for NaNoWriMo, and I’ll put back the one I was already working one until this one is completed — it really is a must-write story.

The character that has caused so much unrest in my mind and that demanded the new story takes precedence, is DI Bobby Lennox, a supporting character from my first novel, Slick, who received a lot of good feedback. I’ve often thought about doing a new novel with him as the main character but wasn’t sure the direction I was going to take it. For some reason, while lying on Vlycha Beach, he barged his way into my mind and threw a story at me set in Rhodes that I just could not resist.

Planning shall continue, therefore, until the end of the month, and the writing will commence on 1st November. I’m aching to begin…

If you’ve read the biography page on my website, you’ll have come across the mention of a writer called Paul Auster.

And if you’ve known me long enough, you’ll recognise that same writer as one who is regularly mentioned or highlighted as being a great source of inspiration for me. In fact, if it weren’t for the influence of his writing, in particular the impact his book, Hand To Mouth, had on me when I read it in the 90s, then I simply would not be where I am today.

To put it simply, if it weren’t for Paul Auster, I wouldn’t be a writer.

When I read that book back in the late 90s, it made me realise that I could actually do it. I could (and would need) to have a regular job to pay bills etc., but it was that book and the words in it that opened the door to the realisation that I could also be a writer, and follow the long-forgotten desires I’d held to be a writer.

With that renewed self belief, I began down that very road. I enrolled in a creative writing course, joined forums, and started to write. I wrote a lot of things in a wide variety of form, eventually finding my voice (years later) and deciding where I wanted to focus my energies.

I have also met a lot of great people, whom I would not have if — and I’m aware I’m repeating myself here — if it weren’t for that book and Paul Auster.

Why am I telling you this? Because tonight, Monday 14th August 2017, I will finally be in the same room as Paul Auster.

He is due to give the first of two talks in Edinburgh, the first a keynote event as part of the Edinburgh International Festival’s 70th Anniversary, Spirit of ’47, at the Kings Theatre (Paul was 70 in February this year). The second a more traditional book festival event in Charlotte Square as part of the Edinburgh Book Festival itself.

To say I’m excited is an understatement. I’ve often wondered what it would take to get this man over to Scotland for the book festival, and on more than one occasion I’ve pitched the idea to the organisers. Thankfully, this dream is about to become true.

With my last novel receiving the best feedback of all my produced work, I’m already on a little bit of a high. By the time tonight and this week is over, I expected to be motivated and packed with self-belief and awe to a height never felt. That’s what I’m hoping for anyway. At the very least, I can say I met him (hopefully).

They say one should never meet their heroes as they will always let you down. That didn’t happen when I met the band Madness and it sure didn’t happen when I met William McIlvanney.

I’m hoping for nice neat run of three and that tonight, a dream will come true.

I’m delighted to be able to say that my new thriller novel, GATECRASH, will be published on 1st July 2017. It will be available through all the usual online outlets, including Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple iBooks, OverDrive, Scribd, cloudLibrary, Yuzu, Tolino, Odilo and Gardners Library.

The new book is being published by Smashing Press and distributed by Amazon and Smashwords. Here’s the blurby bit:

Matt Sloan is an average student. He shares a flat in Edinburgh, attends lectures and seminars, and at the weekends he parties to excess. Without any responsibilities, Matt’s life is free and a whole lot of fun.

That is until one Monday morning when he wakes up after a particularly heavy weekend and can’t remember who he is. He doesn’t know where he is, he doesn’t recognise anyone, his best friend has disappeared, and he’s now sporting a six-inch scar on his back.

As Matt recuperates he tries to remember what happened but his life begins to unravel and fall apart around him. Out of control and out of luck, Matt starts to learn that some stories and people from his past are best left there. But Matt keeps digging and ends up embroiled in a deadly game of cat and mouse.

When you can’t remember who you are, how do you know who you can trust?
—
Pre-order link for Kindle (UK): https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B072VMNW7D
Pre-order link for Kindle (US): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072VMNW7D
A pre-order and download link for all other e-readers and formats will be available at: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/colingalbraith

I’m aware I never published a GDR (Goals, Dreams & Resolutions) list this year, but I can assure you there is one in existence. I designed my list with the express purpose of setting realistic challenges across the board, getting me back on track with my writing, but not placing too much pressure on what order or when these actually got done. In other words, I would just work at getting back to work.

The results are better than I expected after the first three and a half months.

Gatecrash On the Way

GATECRASH has been (heavily) re-worked, re-plotted and is currently being re-written. I went through some major creative trauma getting it to this stage; there were culls, reality checks, tough decisions and inevitably not all of these went where I historically felt they should. This is what’s made the difference: I’ve stopped trying to force this book where I thought it should go, and let it go where it wanted to go. It’s a basic rule of writing that I learnt long ago and obviously forgot, but it’s all lined up correctly now and the reason I know this is simple: I can’t stop writing or thinking about it. I’ve not felt this good about a book since SLICK in 2006, and in my opinion (despite only being two thirds complete) GATECRASH is a far superior novel. There’s even a front cover for it already – long story and I’ll publish it soon – but GATECRASH will definitely be published later this year.

Stella Back Under Control

After a couple of years in the wilderness, I finally managed to get the rights back for STELLA, my first published paranormal book.  This meant the book has had to change significantly as far as design and layout goes. It’s also meant a new front cover! I rather like it. I kept it simple and straightforward and then repackaged and repriced it to make it affordable after the previous publisher had it so over-priced it was out the market before it even got going. Nothing I could do about that at the time though – but I can now.

Double-Book Download

You can now purchase STELLA and its sequel, BACCARA BURNING, in the form of a double-book download. I took the opportunity when relaunching STELLA to bundle it with its successor — It made sense and it was something I always felt should be the case, but alas could do nothing about due to the non-supportive nature of the publisher. It’s normal price will be £4.99 for both books, but for a limited time beginning tomorrow 25 April, you can get it for free. Here’s the link to grab a FREE copy of the STELLA & BACCARA BURNING 2-in-1 Ebook.

New Chapbook

Tentative work has begun on a new chapbook. I’m hoping it will incorporate poems from many of my past visits to one of my favourite cities, but I’ve yet to come to any solid conclusions about its format, content, style, the lot. But just being in the pipeline and active is a good thing.

Next Up

Plans for the next quarter remain on course. I aim to have GATECRASH completed, rested, beta-read, copy edited, and have the marketing prepared by the end of the summer. I also hope to have the new chapbook ready to launch. I’m not short of poems for it, I just need to do some heavy editing on them and spend some dedicated time on it. And I also want to have begun work on turning my debut novel, HUNTING JACK into novel format. It was originally an e-serial but with a whole new audience out there now after SLICK and GREENER IS THE GRASS, I think this is a book that will fit nicely into my back catalogue. There has been some interest already but it’s a case of completing my other commitments first.

And if I can get all of this done, I want to do NaNoWriMo this year. This will hopefully mean a new novel towards the start of next year and then I can start work on a new book afterwards. This is a hopeful though, and not a definite.

Away from the Page

Of the two Dreams on my GDR list, one is to start learning French. My wife and I love going to France and have picked up quite a few conversational phrases, but with plans to visit more of the country, being able to speak the language certainly won’t hurt. Not exactly sure when I’ll start this but it’s sooner rather than later as I sit today.

I have three Resolutions on my list, two of which I am happy to publicly mention. The first is to lose 1.5 stones — I’m 1 stone down from the end of February so only a few pounds to go! By the end of the year I may well have beaten it by more than I envisaged. This had become a priority resolution actually because after returning from Paris, New York and Las Vegas, then of course it was the Christmas and New Year holidays, I’d eaten and drank more then my fair share. What can I say, I’ve become a sucker for a Philly Cheesesteak!

The other Resolution I had was to lessen my social media presence, which by that I meant Facebook. It was a major distraction for me and I knew my writing continuity would suffer so I deleted all the apps and decided to only use it at weekends. In the end, it fell away almost completely and I’m now hardly ever on it. I do visit from time to time and check in on friends and family but that’s all. I can’t say I miss the whining, political spouting about the SNP and the Tories and all the other utter garbage that people post sometimes. I’ll likely only post through my author page when there’s something worthy of being mentioned. I just feel the platform has become too much of a vehicle for people screaming their opinion without any form of reasoned argument and I’d had enough.

Removing distractions has become a priority if the truth be told. All those wee notifications were managing to do was to distract me from what I actually should be doing. So as well as Facebook I’ve cut out other stuff that was getting in the way: I watch less television, write less blogs, do much less procrastinating, etc. and it’s working so far.

The remaining Resolution I’ve not mentioned relates directly to attaining the Dream I also never mentioned. One is reliant on the other and the whole project is private I’m afraid, so I’ll only be publishing news of it if I actually achieve it. It won’t be any time soon though as it’s a a long-term plan so don’t hold your breath.

So all in all, on the writing front and on the life front, it’s looking like being a great 2017!

The past couple of weeks have been particularly intense as bit by bit I’ve picked away at what this novel actually is. I’ve had to be harsh and realistic with a lot of things; many of the things that drove me to writing this book have had to be chopped or changed in order to make it work.

In particular this involves the locations that, while they were perfect for individual sections of the story, were really acting as inhibiters to what the story wanted to do. In other words, the locations and some of the characters were holding the story’s development back without me even knowing it.

One of the most important things I realized was that the book doesn’t start at the beginning of the story; it starts two thirds of the way through. So where before I thought I only had some editing and tidying up to do to bring it all into shape, it turns out I’ve still got quite a lot to write.

It also turns out that I had to map out and write an entire back story in order to fully understand why the book starts where it does, how the characters all got there, and what their motivations were that led to them arriving at the book’s opening scene. That was an interesting process, which served to highlight all the holes and problems as as well as how much more complicated the story is to what I initially thought.

It’s been a fascinating journey that has led to me altering my entire book writing process. Compared to all my previous books, this will be the first novel I’ve written that has had full and proper outlining and preparation applied to it before getting a finished draft down.

There were around 62,000 words when I picked up Gatecrash as an “unfinished project” last month, so I now reckon there is another 20-30,000 still to go before I have it down. And it is this that excites me most. The fact that I now know what happens and am not writing blindly into the scent of a good idea is helping, and the fact that I know why and where all the little hints and twists are to go is extra helpful.

Best get back to it.

So what first?

I’ve two pretty large projects neither of which I feel as though I’m ready to just dive into, not so soon after not having written anything of substance over the past couple of years. That’s not to say the ideas aren’t there – they are – I just haven’t acted on them yet.

The completion of GATECRASH in particular requires a proper look, in particular second half of the book needs given a new direction and a total overhaul. The first half works well I feel, but the second is just a mess; thrown together in order to get over the finish line of a NaNoWriMo a few years ago. It needs some serious work. But I’ll come to that.

The obvious thing to do then is get my mind back into the right state of mind. The STELLA re-issue should help with that then, because although it’s not writing as such, it’s in that bubble and will help to motivate in the right direction.

I also have it on my GDR list to publish a new chapbook. There are several ways to go with this and it also means having to write, to think about writing actual words in a certain order. I guess what I’m saying is, it means I will actually have to switch on the parts of my brain that have lain dormant; the creative parts; the parts that went into all my other books.

Best get on.

2016 was a monumental year.

I married my soulmate, had the honeymoon of a lifetime in Paris and New York, bought a new home in a lovely part of Scotland, and moved in just in time for Christmas.

All in all, probably the best year of my life.

And although this blog (at certain points last year) was used as a means by which to focalize where I am, where I’ve been, my ups and downs, all that guff, everything has now settled; I feel happy, supported, balanced. In short, I’m burning to do some work.

Now, I’m aware I’ve had time off before and that I’ve used the phrase “I’m back” on a couple of occasions, but now really is the time for me. It’s been a long road I’ve trekked and everything in my life is now as it should be (and how I want it), and with the purchase this week of a new writing desk for a brand new writing room, I really have run out of excuses.

I’m at the brink; I simply must finish what I started.

In my new home, one of the spare bedrooms is being turned into something else, something beautiful; I’m aiming to create a space for creativity, reflection, idea development, and of course, writing. That won’t be the room’s only purpose, mind you, but for me it will. The new desk will sit at a window looking out over my new hometown, and is south facing so I can get a tan as I write!

By the end of the week the desk will be built and installed, my Mac set up, and everything should be ready to go. In fact, I’m hoping to do my first proper work in a verrrry long time this weekend.

GDRs

With all of this coming to fruition, I spent the Christmas holidays developing a new set of GDRs (Goals, Dreams & Resolutions) for the coming year. They’re different from previous years, in that they take into account my long lay-off but try to press the right buttons to motivate me in the right direction with the right pieces of work. It took me a while – I had to be mega-realistic with myself with what I believe I can actually achieve.

There are two things I’m going to be working on in particular this January.

The first is the continuation of my work on my greatest unfinished novel to date, GATECRASH. I need to sit down and seriously think about where this book is going and what it is trying to achieve before I just dive back in, which is where I’ve gone wrong already with it. The goal is to complete the first draft by end of February.

The second is to repackage and republish STELLA and to include it in a double-publication issue with BACCARA BURNING. It took me a long time to get the book rights back off the publisher, and now I have them, I’m going to do with it what should have been done in the first place: make it work. I’m aiming to have this back on the market in the Spring.

Blogging won’t be as frequent as it used to be. Once upon a time I blogged religiously every day but I can’t see me going back to that, mainly because of my day job commitments (I leave the house at 6:30am and don’t get home until 7:30pm) but also because it will detract from the writing time that I have left.

I’ll think about publishing my GDRs this week. I still think I need to shape them a bit but when they’re done, I’ll consider putting them up to make them public. 

That way, it’s harder to deny they ever existed.

I went to see Colonel Chris Hadfield, the Canadian astronaut of some considerable fame, speaking at the Usher Hall last week. Talk about inspirational! His 90-minute presentation with videos, sound, imagery and even song, was as enlightening as it was gripping, as humorous as it was humbling, and as inspirational as it was joyous.

The whole evening wasn’t what one might have expected, i.e., a review of what we already knew through previous interviews and social media posts. It was a journey through the emotions, thoughts and idiosyncrasies of an astronaut waking up on the day he was to “leave Earth” and what then followed.

It was fascinating stuff, truly amazing to listen to him describe the sensations and thoughts while walking up to the space shuttle: “I’ll either be floating around by the end of the day or dead.” And it was the wee things, like how all the astronauts jumped into the air at once when the lift taking them to the Shuttle entrance got to the top of the lift shaft. Silly stuff, but gave the impression of a bunch of excited people finally fulfilling years of training and dreaming.

And the training! Is there anything the guy can’t do? Absolutely everything is covered and trained for in minute detail, every eventuality in order to be able to cope with the most constantly asked question throughout his journey: “what could kill us next?”

For me, hearing him talk about looking back on a planet with no borders and a human race as one, was quite remarkable. It left me feeling very small and insignificant but at the same time part of something great and wonderful.

Writing Progress

Good progress is being made on my next novel, GATECRASH. Work has been moving relatively smoothly – a fresh set of eyes on a story has definitely helped – but the last couple of chapters have been very sticky. I remember the original versions of both chapters and neither of them were easy to
produce in the first place. Hindsight, and a new perspective, has meant I’ve been able to approach the problems differently, allowing myself not to feel disappointed with having to bin both chapters and re-write them from scratch. As a result, they both flow better and work as a much slicker link to the next part of the novel.

I’ve recently noticed feeling this way about a lot of my writing since I came back to it. It’s almost as though not thinking about it for so long and diverting my creative energies elsewhere, has helped to clear my mind and remove the cobwebs; scrape away the dead moss, so to speak. Suddenly, I feel that all those difficult editorial decisions that need to be made are clear as to what needs to be done, when in the past I might have been struggling to see the woods for the trees.

I’m aiming to be done with this version of the manuscript – I think t’s now the fourth – before it goes to its firsts beta reader. And it’s been a few years now since I was able to say that!

Rather sadly (to some), I’ve now seen Star Wars: the Force Awakens a grand total of six (6) times. I suppose one might argue I’m a little bit obsessed, but actually that’s quite wide of the mark. It’s more a case that the removal of all barriers leading to my creative energy and my raw imagination have all run amok!

Put more simply, it’s not just the continuation of the story from my childhood I find fascinating, it’s the whole creative process behind creating it – the attention to detail, the gay abandon, the wildly fascinating characters, the humour, the drama, the new worlds beyond worlds (metaphor?) – to be stimulating to the point of salivatory excitement. Well, not THAT stimulating, but it gets my creative juices flowing every time I watch it.

And of course, having grown up with the films, role-played the movies with my pals, and even once written the entire script of Star Wars: A New Hope from memory while in primary school, you can begin to see the effect it’s had on me since I was a wee person.

For me, it paralleled the cult computer game of the 1980s called ELITE, where one had to choose between conforming to the galactic rules or living a life in the shady underworld of space. I preferred to roam the galaxy visiting planets to trade with in order to scramble a living, while also trying to steer clear of trouble from other pirates, bandits and mercenaries. Cue Han Solo… you see where this is going, right?

Now, as a 42 year old man, it’s my passion for writing that the continuation of Star Wars has shone a heat lamp on, by re-lighting the desire to create and evolve my own worlds in the same spirit and creative energies that Star Wars came to life through.

Death

It’s been a hell of a few weeks where death is concerned; an outstanding start to 2016. Quite clearly, Mr G. Reaper has had his holidays and has got back to work with vigour and energy, killing off a whole host of famous and not famous names, some of whom meant more to me than others.

First up early in December, literary legend and old friend, William McIlvanney passed away aged 79. It came as a great shock to me given our history and I will miss his influence immensely. I kind of assumed he would live forever – he will through his work, that’s for sure – but it’s the direct influence he had on me when we spoke and finally met that will stay with me forever.

Then came a boyhood hero of mine, The Specials drummer John ‘Brad’ Bradbury, who just last week suddenly and out of the blue aged only 62. He was the man who gave The Specials their distinct sound, with his unique playing style in songs that meant to so much to me growing up. I’m privileged to have seen him play a number of times.

Brad’s funeral was overshadowed yesterday by the sudden death of David Bowie from cancer at 69. The world rocked to the news he had kept his terminal illness hidden, and while I wasn’t a fan of his work, I appreciated what he did and why he meant so much to others.

And finally, just last week while browsing through Facebook, I came across the news that an old friend of mine had also died suddenly. Duncan Robertson was an old pal of mine in the 90s who I enjoyed many nights out in Glasgow with. I’m remembering O’Henry’s, Rock Garden, and Fury Murry’s, and I’m also remembering when he opened the massively successful Candy Bar in Glasgow and then later in Edinburgh, as well as some of his many other business ventures. I last saw him in Charing Cross in Glasgow a couple of years ago while I was working there, and it’ll be his cheery smile that he met me with, that I’ll remember most.

Reading takes care of itself. I’ve always been good at mining out slots to read during the day and the Kindle is a major advantage to getting through more books. I remember when I got my first Kindle my reading increased dramatically, and able to synchronise what I’m reading across my iPhone and iPad has only served to increase the amount of opportunities to squeeze in as much reading as possible.

As for poetry, you may remember I take care of all of this under the pseudonym, Chas Stramash, but that doesn’t mean I have extra time in the day to write or publish poetry. As things stand, I have a half-written chapbook that was scribbled roughly into a notebook while on location in Sri Lanka last year. It’s a book that’s written itself more or less, and setting aside dedicated days to work on it – using poetry writing as a break from fiction – will ensure I get this goal completed easily and enjoyably enough.

But it’s within the fiction realm that I’m demanding most from myself over the course of the next year. I’m planning to complete three outstanding projects, two of which are more outstanding than the third!

So which one first?

I began work aimed at completing GATECRASH during the summer last year, and because it’s still fresh in my mind, and because I know where it’s going and where I want it to go, I’m going to continue with it first. It makes most sense.

It’s also the first book I’ve worked on using Scrivener, so importing it all back into a single document would not only be difficult, it would also mess up my research and planning that I’ve set up within the tool. I’ll be leaving all that as it is. Given that Scrivener isn’t available for the iPad yet, I can’t work on it in the mornings, which means I can fill that particular time a lot with other work… a new chapbook, for example.

There is one important thing that needs changed in this particular book, however, and I think it’s the reason the book has faltered on so many occasions. I am now, in the light of reflection, positive it is why I have been unable to finish it to any form of satisfactory level.

Most of the main characters have the wrong names. Only the lead female and one of the male characters have the correct name.

Changing the names of multiple characters is not something I’ve ever contemplated doing before. I’ve always felt that when a character is named – given birth to in my mind – he or she stays with that name for eternity. The same goes with how they look and behave (in my mind). But thinking about this with an open and clear mind, removing all prejudices and blaming mechanisms, I’m sure the wrong names are what is proving to be the fly in the ointment of this particular novel. They just aren’t sitting well despite being good characters. They have flaws and bags of personality, loud voices, the will of life and they hold the story up in a strong way. But there’s just something not right about them; they have the wrong names.

I’m terribly Sorry Matthew, but you’re just not a Matt!