And so back to 2009...

Okay, that's done (climbs back out his DeLorean and resets clock to 2009) - previous entries from old blog successfully pulled over into this one. Just wish I was clever enough to get them in front of this year's - never mind!

NaNoWriMo completed - 'Open Wounds' being just over the required 50,000 words to ensure 'winner' status in the annual writing challenge.

The post 9/11 supernatural theme gave me a few restless nights, so will be unlikely to return to edit of redraft that one for a while - much tougher than the children's book I wrote last year, but still fairly rewarding, even if I can't read this one to the children.

So, what's next?

Well, currently a 2000 word entry to Stephen King's 'Under the Dome' themed short story contest and, when that's done, dusted and in the mail, it's on to this year's entry for the Crime Writers' Association Debut Dagger competition with 3000 word first section and synopsis of a crime novel - got till Feb '10 to finish that one.

Reading;

Just finished James Ellroy's 'Killer on the Road' aka 'Silent Terror', which was an amazing account of a serial killer and a novel that had escaped me until recently, after I saw the great man at the Royal Festival Hall and made note to track down all of his books.

John Harvey's 'Far Cry' lined up to read soon, but first a whole pile of John Connolly's fantastic Maine-set Charlie Parker novels to catch up on. On 'The Black Angel' now, then have got 'The Unquiet', 'The Reapers' and 'The Lovers' to get on to.

Listening to;

Richard Matheson's excellent 'Stir of Echos' on Radio 7 catch-up.

Looking forward to;

Christmas break - where I can catch up on all the movies, two seasons of The Wire and two seasons of Spiral, which are clogging up our freeview recorder.

So, who cares if Christmas schedule's not great?

Okay, back to the writing.....

NOT CRACKING UP! - honestly....

Just thought I ought to transfer my last blogging attempts across to here, so excuse 2005 leaping into halfway through 2009 entries.......normal service will be resumed soon....

saturday, september 10, 2005

A Bucket of Blood...

What an evening!

The children were driving me and Mrs W spare tonight! - So much so, that your's truly just had to walk away from it for a wee mo and trundle up to the little writing shack at the top of the garden and open a new page in a hardback book and start scribbling away - so now, I've got the children to thank for the fact that I've now started penning book 2, and book 1 isn't finished yet!

The idea that popped into my head had some connection with a suicide I heard about a few years back at a multi-storey car park in a town near to where I live.

I had to walk onto the roof level of the shopping centre with a customer I was selling some new signs to and he told me and my colleague that they'd had another "jumper" the day before, because it was such an easy position to get to.
Apparently it was a fairly regular thing.
Only this one wasn't so regular - he told me that when the police searched the dead guy's home, they found some weird stuff, not least of which was a bucket of blood - blood that wasn't his!

Oh how I love the way the old brain stores this stuff up and just chooses to let it out at the most unusual of times.

Only thing was, even at the end of the garden, through double-glazed windows, I could still hear my daughter's tantrum, so had to pause the writing to get back to settling the family down again.
From a bucket of blood to the Magic Faraway Tree in two easy steps!

And tomorrow?
Well, I've got some nice croissants for us to have for a nice Saturday am family breakie - then I'll try to get back to the bucket of blood writing for a bit, then maybe play on the swings!

Like many crime-writer's have said - on the whole we're a well-adjusted bunch.
Just need to make sure you get the nastier side of life on the page.
Sweet dreams...

thursday, september 08, 2005

Stuff this and next week!

Bit of quick newsie stuff here...

Tomorrow - Friday 11.30pm Radio 4 - Trailing Dashiell - Introduced by PD James.

Next Week:

Weds - 7pm - Waterstones - Piccadilly - Ian Rankin - 3.00 per ticket
Probably to tie in with release of all his Rebus books with new covers and introductions, plus release of THE FLOOD after all these years.
Best contact Waterstones to check ticket availablity etc.

Thurs - 12.30 - 1.30pm - Murder One - Charring Cross Road - Minette Walters signing of new book, The Devil's Feather.
She'll also be at Ottakars in Dorset on Saturday from 12-1pm - again, I'd recommend ringing the stores to check.

Enjoy!

wednesday, september 07, 2005

Harrogate 2006 - here we come!!!

Hey, hey, hey - gone and done it!

Gone and put the old cheqquey in the old postie and only got to wait until end of next July to be back in the great company and entertainment that will no doubt be Harrogate 2006!

Having just read up on Bouchercon on various peoples' blogs and webs and stuff, I'm really envious of what sounds like a great event there, but hey, Yorkshire's OK for me - and you wouldn't find the drink making facilities so close to the dunnie in Harrogate! - Check out pics on John Rickards' blog for more.

saturday, september 03, 2005

A Long December - CWA Debut Dagger entry

Job done - but with only 24 hours to spare!

Had to enter my piece for this year's Crime Writer's Association Debut Dagger competition via their website as no time left to catch the post - my life too damn busy right now!

That, and the fact that some seriously nasty insectoid bites from last weekend's gardening Ground-Force styley time in the garden has meant that my bloody legs aren't working too well at the moment - thank goodness for the joys of being able to send stuff out without removing butt from comfy chair!

So, it's just left - on it's way now through cyberspace to a printer in the offices of the CWA - my opening 3000-ish words of the beginning of my novel A Long December, plus about 600 words of a synopsis which hopefully gives some indication that I've at least considered where the story may go when it's all finished.

I don't know what minus number they started counting from this year, but I've been given number 160 - seems low considering they had about 800 entries last year.
Unless it's a totally random number - if I had another £12 to throw, I'd get another entry done quick to see if the numbers are sequential - but hey, whatever, it's just a numbers racket and even if there is only me and 159 others, I bet they're a bloody good 159.

Must close now to do some other writing - either that or crack open that plastic container of spare ribs left over from the chinese meal, as long as I don't get greasy fingers all over the Playstation of course - what am I saying?, I mean the laptop. I'm not going off to play games now, I'm gonna write.

Yeh, right!

Best wishes to any other CWA DD writers out there.

Keith

sunday, august 28, 2005

Messiah 4 and other stuff

Hey, hey, hey - Red Metcalfe is back and blimey is he having a bacd day again.
Everywhere he goes, death, death, death. You see him on the street - cross over pretty bloody quick!

The excellent Ken Stott (soon to be Rankin's Rebus) is back as of tonight in Messiah 4 or Messiah IV or Messiah The Harrowing or that really good show with good stories and lot's of inventive if ott ways for bumping off people.

SPOILER ALERT - tonight we had death by bees (seen Candyman anyone?), by jumping (?) from tall buildings in a single leap (didn't end well), by screwing up someone's IV drip (there's that 4 again!) and by presumably driving so chaotically in a transit van so as to mash up the people you've got tied and bound in the back - what's that? - Okay, maybe they were chopped up a bit in there before being hung out to dry in the park and as an extra obstacle for cross country mountain bike fanatics.

So far so good (or bad, depending on how you look at it), and there's two more parts to go - probably a few more "parts" than that if previous editions are anything to go by.

The character of Kate was missed from this latest installment, although the poor girl did go through hell in Messiah III-The Promise, so I guess she deserved a break. New girl Vicky looks like she'll do just fine though - as long as she's signed a contract for Messiah V - if she hasn't then we could see a member of the team start and stop within the space of three tv hours!

Away from TV, my bank holiday weekend is being spent, amongst other things, reading (the rather excellent so far) Cold Granite by Stuart MacBride. Check out his entertaining web-site and blog page - although, be warned, check on today's blog and you'll never get three bloody cartoon tunes out of your head again!

www.stuartmacbride.com

Prior to that, have recently read Alex Barclay's debut, Darkhouse - which I very much enjoyed and would recommend.

Must dash

saturday, august 27, 2005

For the hard of thinking - i.e. ME!

Just to let you know - not sure what I did - but, to get to RhianD's excellent Harrogate blog - click on the title of the blog below this one - that seems to work!

Will get better at this....

Now...that CWA entry!....

Night night!

RhianD's blogspot again - as I screwed it up!

Hopefully, here is the link I tried to give you earlier.
Now tell me to bugger off!

">Link

Only days away to complete for the CWA!

September 3rd is looming and I've yet to get off my backside (should that be get on my backside, since I rarely write standing-up?) and get the opening chapter and synopsis brushed up and in the mail for the CWA's Debut Dagger competition.

At this rate, it could be the modern equivalent of doing homework on the bus as they're allowing emailed submissions for just £2 more, thus giving some more precious time to the less organised amongst us.

I was, however, mighty chuffed to hear that my firm closes for two days this Bank Holiday weekend, meaning I don't need to go back till Wednesday.

Hey - 4 whole days of playing with the kids, laying-in, catching up on a couple of movies, watching the new Messiah on tv, reading a book or two, tidying the garden, rearranging the pen pots and stuff on my desk and, yes I think I'll be able to get a bit of time to pound the old qwerty (oo-er missus!).

Quick bit of news:

Yep - can of worms succesfully opened re: next year's Harrogate Crime Writing Festival Venue!
Have had email from their office yesterday saying that my booking form was despatched on 17th August - not received.
Second booking form would be mailed to me yesterday first class - not received as yet.
Asked the question of venue in my email and was told in reply that they had yet to review this year's event and no final decision had yet been made as to scheduling of events or venue and also they wanted to know from where I had heard the rumour...
...I cannot, I'm sure you will appreciate, reveal my source for not wanting to lower anyone into some smelly stuff.
More news as I get it - please let me know if anyone out there has any further news about next year.

Whilst on the subject of HCWF - check out RhianD's excellent features on this year's event on the following blogspot.







Hopefully, I've put the above info in correctly, or there's no telling where I may have just directed you.



Bouchercon - probably the biggest and most renown of the crime/mystery events - and no, I haven't been - is planning well in advance.
I tripped over a blog page for it's 2008 event today, which is being held in Baltimore.
Was very pleased to read that "Crime writing's new Mr Big" Mark Billingham is up for Toastmaster duties for that one.
For more info, check out:





And, with that, I'll be leaving you for a while.
If I return again with anything other than a report that I've completed my Chapter and synopsis for the CWA Debut Dagger and it's ready to send, then please tell me to bugger off and come back once I have.

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Keith

wednesday, august 24, 2005

Alexander McCall Smith - The Messiah?

Surrounded by his "legion" of, mainly female of a certain age, fans, I only managed this one photograph of Mr McCall Smith at the Harrogate Festival.

Ladies - is this the man you have been waiting for?

I personally thought the Jamoraquai (think that's spelt about right) headgear was a bit young for him!

Harrogate rumour control starts here

Well, I've maybe started something now.

Have just posted on the HCWF web-site that I've been told (and no, I won't reveal my source) that next year's festival is being held at a different venue.

There's been no official word on the web-site, so I may have just stuck a big sticky stick thing into a nest of things that go buzz, but what the hell!

Anyway, if anyone has news, please let me know.

You can check out the web-site at:

www.harrogate-festival.org.uk/crime

Please leave any info you may have on the message board section.

Cheers for now.

Let's do the show right here!

In the absence of many avenues for book/movie reviews (although I will still keep plugging away), I've decided to regularly post stuff here which may or may not be of interest to anyone who reads it.

From time to time I may read back over it and find it even interests me! - Who knows.

If, and when, I am clever enough, I'll start to set up links on this blog to other blogs of note or related sites I'd recommend a visit to.

Occassionally (probably more often than not) you'll just get a load of old waffle about nothing much in particular - tonight's being a prime example.

I've emailed the Harrogate festival office today to chase up the booking form for next year's Crime Writing Festival.
A little bird tells me that the venue is changing again next year - but will still be in Harrogate - so that may explain the delay in getting the form.

The Ilkley Festival booklet landed on the doormat this morning but, much as I'd like to hear PD James at the opening event, it's a bloody long way to go for a couple of hours, so will have to skip that one.

Picked up a very glossy, very nicely produced promo book for this year's Fright Fest film festival whilst in Murder One (Charing Cross Road) this week. The event takes place this weekend and very very good it looks too - even has a few movies which seem a bit more crime related than out-and-out horror.

For those who don't know, I used to edit several horror film/fiction fanzines before getting into the life of crime (writing), and I always used to attend the London-based events and festivals (Fantasm etc) when I could.
Back in the day, I would spend hours watching a real variety of horror movies - everything from Hammer Horror to Hellraiser and everything in between and then write up reviews and festival reports as well as interview people associated with the films (Doug Bradley - Pinhead for example) and interview authors (F.Paul Wilson, Stephen Laws etc) for features in my zines.

That was all back in the days when a whole community of fanzine editors would slave away on their photocopied labours of love, only to trade copies with each other and wonder if they would ever make any money at it!
Then came the wonders of the internet and nobody wanted our A4 efforts, with jagged stapling you could lacerate yourself on if you weren't careful, anymore. Ho-hum.

So now, with the exception of a few titles (Crime Time, Ellery Queen etc), pretty much everything for the crime genre as well is on-line and thriving - so, it's probably time I dragged my word-processing one-finger typing kicking and screaming into the 21st Century.