Summary:

An unexpectedly productive week, which became more so as the days went by. I was especially pleased by a publication acceptance I received on Friday and the fact that I wrote a whole story in one day.

 

Monday:

I recorded another interim podcast and then edited it. My recording is already improving and it took about half the time to edit compared to the previous one, so I think I’ve levelled up on that skill too!

 

Tuesday:

I wrote and submitted an entry for this month’s Press 53 competition.

Then I wrote part of the script for the next interim podcast episode.

Later, I wrote a review of an audiobook.

 

Thursday:

I finished a very interesting book and wrote my review.

 

Friday:

I discovered that Black Hare Press has an open submission for dark speculative novellas (20-40k words) and I had an epiphany that I could develop the short story I’ve been trying to write for about three years. I think the problem I’ve been having is that it has too much to it for a short story, but it’s not really deep enough for a novel, so this seems like a perfect opportunity. I also had the idea of changing the POV character, which instantly made it feel a lot more interesting, so I made some notes and planned to work on it during my upcoming holiday.

I also got an email from the editor of Writing Magazine, saying they now have space for the article I submitted at the start of the year and that it will appear in the November issue, which is very exciting indeed!

I wrote and submitted an entry for Fandom Weekly.

Lastly, I checked for the release of the criteria for the Toasted Cheese Three Cheers and a Tiger short story competition, which requires a sci-fi or fantasy story of under 5000 words on a specified theme, to be written in less than 48 hours. I set my subconscious crew the task of coming up with an idea overnight.

 

Saturday:

The subconscious crew outdid themselves. At 7am, my brain presented me with the start of a story to fit the TCAAT requirements so I got up to write it down before I forgot it. I would perhaps have preferred a bit more sleep on the first night of my holiday, but I’m not really complaining. By the end of the afternoon, I had completed a first draft of the whole story.

 

Sunday:

I worked on my third interim podcast episode script.

I edited the TCAAT story, with help from Dave’s feedback, and submitted it.

I also finished another book and wrote my review.