latest musings

you know someday, I'm gonna have to figure out how to put pictures and stuff on this thing!

Anyway, not much to report since my last missive, still struggling with the final chapter of my novella though I've managed another 2000 words (and I thought I only had 1k left to write!). that brings the total so far up to about 32K and still counting though I know that it's slowly drawing to a close. It's funny really, I never thought actually finishing this would be that hard, I always had such a clear idea of how it was supposed to go but almost as soon as I started, the damn thing took on a life of it's own! It started as merely a short story about a guy who dates a werewolf and now it's got a harpy, an immortal demonic entity hell bent on ruining everyone and anyone she meets and gender change, not to mention it's set itself up for a sequel! (oh, and no werewolf!) Funny how these things go!

Here's a short extract for anyone who fancies a read:

“I found her later that day, she wasn’t far but I was still so weak after the night that for most of the morning I just lay on my bed, to exhausted to move. When it got to midday and she still hadn’t come to find me I began to panic and hope that Anya had come for her during the night to keep her safe. I made myself get up and get dressed properly thinking I’d go to Anya’s room at the local inn to ask her but before I could, someone knocked at our door and started shouting. I knew it wasn’t Anya because it was a male voice and she’s never come to see me with someone else. Whoever they were, they’d heard screaming in the night and once decided to come and find out what it was. They broke down the door and almost caught me but I ran through the house and jumped out the kitchen window.” She paused for a moment, collecting her thoughts before taking a deep breath as if preparing herself for what came next. “I didn’t even have to break the glass because it was already broken” she continued. “It was broken because I’d thrown my daughter, my Elizabeth through it during the night while I wasn’t myself. I didn’t know that when I climbed through, I didn’t even stop to think why it was broken, all I could think about was getting away from the people coming to get me, that and getting to Anya and hopefully my Elizabeth. It was only when my feet hit the mud outside that I realised what I’d done.”

Talia raised her head and looked at me as she spoke and I could see the sadness in her eyes and the immense loneliness that consumed her. I looked in to those pale green orbs and saw the self loathing and self hate she felt in their depths and my heart melted. Though I still hated the part of her that could kill and main for pleasure, I found myself falling in love with her again as I had the first time I met her and worse still, I didn’t want to stop myself. She’d killed my wife and destroyed my life yet still I wanted to protect her and help to ease the pain and loneliness that blighted her life. Seeing the love in my eyes, she seemed to relax and her voice gained in strength and after a few halting sentences, she seemed to find a rhythm and told me the rest of her tale. She told me how she’d almost fallen on the cold, lifeless body of her child, torn and mangled by her own teeth and how her daughters face was a frozen mask of terror that even now, many years later haunts her almost daily. She told me of the flight across a city suddenly grown hostile and raised against her and of further promises extracted by Anya in exchange for safety. She told me of the years of misery spent as little more than Anya’s slave and plaything, forced to kill and demean herself to please her mistress and of a string of men ‘fed to her’ by Anya, men who’d managed to displeasure her keeper

Let me know what you think!

On a different note, I started looking on the net recently for advice on how to get an agent. (Seems they're quite useful for getting your work into print as a pose to just collecting refusal slips) but I found the whole thing quite confusing. Does anyone out there have any advice on how to go about this somewhat crucial but oh so difficult step?

On a final note, still no word on the attack on my girlfriend from the police despite the fact it was a month ago, kinda given up hope on that one. Makes you wonder why we pay council tax really!

Well, that's about it for today, time to go back to the keyboard I guess! Happy Ostara!