Stats Update

Stats are pretty poor for the last few months. I started out this year with some pretty good intentions but things got in the way. I still keep my daily stats and monthly totals. So far, they're not very impressive: (note that these figure are for new fiction only, and don't include editing, which is a pretty lame excuse, but here we go...)

Jan: 17,795
Feb: 11,500
March: 1,800 (oh dear - editing Shingle)
April: 6,000 (a little better, but still low)
May: 0 - nothing - ziltch (I blame my laptop breaking!!!)
June: 4,300 (no excuse)

Actually, I do have a bit of an excuse for June. With two manuscripts out there I wanted to rest for a bit and decide what to do next. I've been toying with ideas for adult fiction for a while, probably because I read a lot of adult fiction and my first novel, The Devil's Prayer, kind of hovers between YA and Adult.

However, to give me a break from the moody subjects of DP and Shingle, I started something earlier in the year based on a sketch. Morbello is about a thief who kidnaps a human kid in order to sell him to clear his debts. He just doesn't count that the kid is just as sly and as clever as he is.

What's nice about this project is that I have absolutely no idea where it is going. With Shingle I spent weeks on plot alone. Writing without a clue is uncharted territory for me and so far, quite surprising and fun.

I'm hoping this will improve my stats for July. Over the past four days I've averaged 1,000 words per day. If I keep it up, even though we're in the middle of the month, I might hit my monthly target for the first time since January.

School's Out

I always thought of that Alice Cooper song as an anthem for freedom, but today I've seen the other side of the coin.

It's been a double-whammy of a sad day. On one hand, I had to go my son's leavers' assembly and say goodbye to his teachers. Then I had to go to back to work - at another school - and say goodbye to the year six pupils that I have worked with for the past year.

It's strange really, because I originally approached the school, offering to help out because I thought it might help me write better fiction for children. I soon got hooked though, and now I think it's fair to say the school is more important than writing.

Not much more to add to this, just that I'm going to miss a lot of those kids, and I know my son is going to really, really miss his old school.

Bit of a Change

I'm closing my website down some time in the next few weeks. The blog will still run, so if you are reading this through the website, try opening it in a new window and bookmark the address. Having a website is fun, but I rarely update it, and I don't really think it helps or hinders submissions to publishers. If an editor likes a manuscript, it will go to the next stage, if the editor doesn't, then all the bells and whistles in the world won't make much difference.

Unless your name is Katie Price. :o)