Non-writing

It’s been a busy two weeks balancing web design with managing my writing, but here it is. The website is finished.

Kind of.

There’ll be more improvements and updates. Some entries could use expansion. I haven’t uploaded all the samples I’m planning to share. In terms of static content, we’re completely done. It’s only up from here!

Alongside polishing pages for films that have already been released, this latest round of website work also included creating pages for The Cost of the Crown and Silas Marner. I’ve also added an entry for a new short story – Chosen – which has been submitted for publication elsewhere.

Chosen is a dystopian sci-fi, set in the near future and dealing with themes of masculinity, technology and privacy. It follows a ruthless but fragile solider who falls victim of the system when he’s found to have thought an illegal thought.

From here on out, I’m hoping to deliver a short a week. There’s certainly the material for it. But it will depend on my writing schedule – the next novel will always come first.

Writing is usually a lonely, anonymous job. If I’d spent the last week working on the next novel, I’d have six or seven thousand words locked in a Word file, only me able to see the progress. This time, though, the updates are out in public.

That includes two major things. One of them is obvious: the website has had a redesign. I have rewritten everything, restructured everything. There’s more information on important projects (or there will be…) and this news/blog section means I can offer updates as necessary. I’ll add news about prose and scripts, as well as the occasional blog post about stories I’ve enjoyed or respected. I see this as a good old-fashioned blog – where I’ll share some of the bumps and warts of writing. I don’t plan to expand my social media footprint – social media sucks.

And the second major update: I’ve been polishing some of my older writing:

• Til Death Do Us Part has an update on the Film page, with information and a PDF for download.
• I will polish Childbirth (For Men) and release at a later date.
• I’m planning release for a couple of other scripts too.

One script in particular – The Legacy of Noah Nelson – is very good, and I entered it into the Soho International CINEVERSE Screenplay Awards instead of publishing here. I’m excited to see how it does.

Submission of two short stories – The Caretaker and One Step Ahead – has begun, and we’re in the horrible waiting part. Over the coming weeks I’ll be continuing work on the website, polishing work for here or for submission, and then working on the next book.