Grans & Ammo

Very excited to be Sanitarium Magazine's first chapbook publication!

The story's about Doris and Mavis -- a pair of batty old ladies who find themselves caught up in the zombie apocalypse.

Here's an excerpt:

Mavis trundled a few laps around the living room but Doris refused to take any interest and at last Mavis gave up and parked the Zimmer frame out of sight behind the sofa. Two cups of tea later, Doris stopped sulking and the two women spent a very pleasant morning together, discussing their respective crafts. Doris was an expert at cross-stitch and lace-making, and Mavis would have been world-famous had the Olympic Committee ever been sensible enough to introduce knitting as a competitive sport.

They discussed knitting patterns.

They ate biscuits.

They drank copious amounts of tea.

All in all, it was turning out to be a thoroughly enjoyable day.

And then the screaming began.

Lots of useful links:

Amazon US:   http://amzn.com/B016F3C55S

Paperback US:  http://amzn.com/1517681952

Amazon UK:   http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B016F3C55S

Paperback UK:  http://www.amzn.co.uk/dp/1517681952/

Pocketmags: http://pocketmags.com/viewmagazine.aspx?titleid=1675&title=Sanitarium

Also available via the Sanitarium app (which comes with 30 free short story magazines!)

Apple Newsstand Edition: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/sanitarium-magazine/id627912543?mt=8

Google Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.magazinecloner.sanitarium

NaNoWriMo book cover

A scary, scary, scary lady

I found a placeholder cover for my ‪NaNoWriMo‬ attempt!

Until December there will be be no more happy little dragons sitting on shoulders!

This book is going to be freaky and (hopefully) a bit scary!

The image is just grabbed off the web. I can't find the source, and so certainly can't use it for a proper book cover... but it's nice to have it in mind as it should help keep me motivated!

The Biology Lesson

Nebula Rift accepted my second sci-fi story! It's called "The Biology Lesson" and is available to buy from their site here: Nebula Rift Volume 3, No. 8 (and it's also available on Amazon).

NaNoWriMo, here I come!

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is an annual international event. The idea is to write 50,000 words in the 30 days of November, which gives an average daily aim of 1,667 words per day.

To help me focus, I've signed up for a couple of support groups:

The first is a class run by the talented Jill Sharp at Swindon's Richard Jefferies Museum. There we'll be talking about novel plans (character profiles, outlines - that sort of thing) while also supporting each other as we attempt to make writing a priority throughout the whole of November.

Secondly, I've joined the local NaNoWriMo gang who consist of randoms (like me) along with lots of members of Swindon Free Writers (who are a writing group in Swindon that I've been meaning to join for some time). This group will be meeting in Swindon Central Library throughout November for useful things like writing sessions, mutual support and jelly babies.

I think I'll be okay for word count (I once tried the "write during every spare possible minute" game, and managed to produce 87,923 words in 17 days - go me!) but the main thing for me is going to be trying to write every single day. I often hear of this mystical "writing habit" that apparently every other writer has... and I've yet to achieve it!