Vampires from Hell

Sunday, July 16, 2023

 I have felt very rushed with work and deadlines lately, both with my writing career and in my day job. To try and get at least a few of my evenings back, I devoted this past weekend to getting my novella completed, which I am happy to report has now been accomplished.  So, you may ask, what next?

Well, first of all, I am going to remove the deadline for Cold Comfort, which had been set for the end of 2023. Now, Cold Comfort has one hell of a long word count, and whilst it is true that the novel is on its final third edit, it still requires a fair bit of work. Expect to see that novel out sometime in 2024  now, along with another project that has been quite a while in the waiting - Pyewacket. I haven't written anything remotely to do with Pyewacket for a while now, but the plot of the book has been on my mind. I have high hopes for Pyewacket,  but don't hold your breath waiting to get your hands on a copy. Not just yet anyway...

In the meanwhile, look out for another fotozine on a topic close to my heart coming out sometime over the next few months. These are a lot easier to put together than novels or guidebooks. Plus I actually enjoy putting these together. So, whilst I am intending to go slow with my next couple of writing projects, I won't be lazy. So, watch this space...

The first writing Sesh of the year always feel good.

Well, I certainly didn't expect to be writing more of my Pyewacket novel on my first writing sesh of the year. But the idea for Chapter three buzzed in me yesterday evening whilst watching I-can't-remember-what. 

Click on the above photo and see if you can see fudjcat hidden in there somewhere lol.

Pyewacket

Tuesday, October 4, 2022

With the closing of Magickal Gardening until early 2023, and time off from my day job to recover from a suffocating cold virus, this morning gave me the opportunity of progressing my next book - The Curious Adventures of Mister Jonathon Pyewacket. 

This story is not my usual folk-horror fodder, though it is set in both the real and magickal world. It is, instead, a twisted children's story about a man borne from a love affair 'tween a human mother and an elf. Bored by the mundanity of the 'real' world, he nips in and out from the world of fae, to make his life more bearable.  Unfortunately, if this has whetted your appetite to read the tale, I am still progressing the storyline on its first draft so this won't be available for purchase just yet... 

Pyewacket

Sunday, September 18, 2022

Note Taking

 Thursday, September 15, 2022

Incy Wincy

Sunday, September 11, 2022 

Tomorrow I return to the job that pays my bills. I thought I'd make the most of my remaining free time with a little creative writing. As I opened my writing pad, a small spider scrambled across the page and lingered there. It was nice seeing him take such a keen interest in my work-in-progress 😀

Ironing Pyewacket

August 29, 2022

Managed to get my head around the first curious adventure of Mister Jonathan Pyewacket today. It's story has been coalescing for around a year now but today's stint of work in the garden has helped iron out the creased beast into something that will be far more presentable and should hopefully astonish the reader enough to make them anticipate any further magickal adventures Mister Pyewacket might stumble upon in the future.

My muse flutters its wings

August 15, 2022

For the first time in what seems like a very real age, I felt my creative muse make its presence known to me, fluttering its wings as it (hopefully) awakens and brings my creativity back to life...

 I have finally decided the narrative voice that will be used to tell the tale of Jonathan Pyewacket. Hopefully, this decision will give the unfurling story a decisive edge and clear the story of unnecessary 'clutters...

Strange Pyewacket

June 08, 2022

I think Pyewacket will be my strangest book of all. It's not folk-horror, not Folk of the Faraway Tree. But both are hinted at strongly in my new creation. I'm hoping to get this story published sometime in the Year New but can not promise anything firm on this just yet...

Suffolk (2)

June 07, 2022

I awoke in the Suffolk Shephard's hut to a beautiful sunny morning and wasted little time cracking on with my writing before the rest of the family awoke. Sat on the steps of the shepherd's hut, surrounded by wildflowers and fields and rabbits and an orchestra of birdsong felt like bliss - pure unadulterated heaven.

Later in the day, when the sun got too hot, I even managed to scratch my pen across a few further pages.  So far, the extraordinary adventures of Jonathan Pyewackett seems to be almost writing itself. 😃 

Suffolk (1)

 June 06, 2022

Had a much-needed getaway this past weekend. I didn't take many pictures as I am still out-of-sorts health-wise. I took the trip with my wife and son to meet up with my daughter (who lives too many miles away on the other side of the country) and her partner. They stayed in the house we had rented- my son on the first floor, my daughter and her partner on the self-contained second floor. My wife and I cwtched up in the nearby shepherd's hut. 

The weekend away was lovely, the peace and quiet of the Suffolk countryside providing medicine for the soul. Here are some pics from the trip. And yes, I did find time to do some writing on my next novel, Pyewacket. It was lovely writing by fire and candlelight.

Mister Jonathan Pyewacket Begins to Disappear

 Mister Jonathan Pyewacket beginning to disappear in the fog. From Chapter One of my current W.I.P. - The Peculiar Adventures of Mister Jonathan Pyewacket... 

The fruits of insomnia

Sunday, February 06, 2022

Insomnia dragged me down from my bed in the wee small hours of this morning. And, grabbing myself a hot water bottle and a mug of tea, I settled myself beneath a blanket on the living room settee to while away some time working on my Pyewacket storyline.

My writing proved quite fruitful, in more senses than one, and I came away from the session having moved the story on quite nicely. I also constructed a hopefully achieveable plan of action to make a December 01, 2022 publication date for the story 🙂

The book will introduce the protagonist Jonathan Pyewacket and follows his first bizarre  adventure when he inexplicably finds himself in a fairy tale world of spellcraft commerce. The book will feature four main characters and glimpses of further magical and eccentric people who could feature in further tales set in the world. I won't give away any more details right now, except to say that this first story in a possible series of escapades is going to be rather fruity.

I haven't been this excited with a writing project for quite a while 🙂

Pyewacket heads into town...

Pyewackett finds himself in a different world...

 

Writing by candlelight tonight

January 17, 2022

 I've been suffering from a second bout of the dreaded covids this past week. Whilst my current state of health was certainly not helped with this further attack upon it defences, the isolation forced upon me by this virus has allowed time for both physical and mental rest. And today, my convalescence finally brought my old muse back to life. 

Pyewacket turned out to be the writing project interesting enough to draw my pen back to the page, even though I know I had been neglecting my portmanteau novel, Solstice, for too long. But, for the time being, my health has to take priority over my creative projects and I am not going to force my writing direction. And although Pyewacket is a much later project, with a more distanced deadline, at the moment I am not going to force my hand. Right now, tonight, I am just happy to have found myself finally writing something again... :)

Hectic Times...

December 09, 2021

It's been a bit hectic these last few weeks. Started my new job (finally got my promotion) and there's a lot for me to learn during the 12 week's of training. Still, I finally managed to put pen to paper last night ans crack on with some creative work. Unfortunately, I jumped ahead and worked on a future novel, Pyewacket, instead of completing my current work-in-progress, Solstice. Still, it felt good to be writing again.

Writing in the late autumn gloom

Norfolk Holiday - pyewacket & pottery shards

Monday, September 27, 2021

Did a little more writing of my new project Pyewacket in bed this morning. With office comfort and scenery like this, such work is a real pleasure:

Later in the morning, I took a circular walk through the countryside lane that passes the front of our holiday let. 

Along the way, I found lots of old broken crockery that I took a fancy to:

A whimsy brought to life...

 I started a new writing project today- Pyewacket.  It's a strange little tale and I am currently thinking of writing it in a similar vein to one of my earlier novellas - Pixie-Led (i.e. written in a simple, innocent voice but dealing with strange events). I have been mulling the story over for quite a while now. And this morning, with a view like this, I really could not think of a better time to bring the beast to life :)