July - September 2018: Life on the Edge

The third quarter of this year was revolutionary. It kicked off with my first ever attendance at a national literary festival, the highly-popular Edge-Lit, and ended with plenty more words stored safely on my Dropbox. I also returned to the Birmingham Writers' Group after a six-month absence with fresh stories in hand.

Highlight
Edge-Lit! It was the happiest day of my life. Talking to writers about other writers and writing in general, all with a fantasy, sci-fi and horror focus... bliss! There were so many things I learnt at Edge-Lit which will help me become a better writer. I left energised, motivated and a tiny bit drunk.

Lowlight
It looks like I won't complete Nephos 3 before the end of the year. It's 80% finished but I ran out of steam, so I'm taking another break. Still, more time to spend on short stories.

I have read...

• The Tethered Mage by Melissa Caruso
• The End of the World Running Club by Adrian Walker
• The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay
• Ravencry by Ed McDonald
• King of Assassins by RJ Barker
• Darksoul by Anna Stephens

I have blogged...

• 18 Things I Learnt at Edge-Lit 2018
• My Edge-Lit Photo Album​
• The Virtual Reality Book Trailer

I have written...

• Another 20,372 words towards Nephos 3, meaning the total word count is now 197,266 words.
• A short story called Once in a Blue Moon about the University of Birmingham's iconic clock tower, Old Joe.
• A poem called The Pen and the Sword, inspired by my visit to Man Mo Temple.

Biggest excuses for not writing...

• Work trip to Hong Kong.
• Work trip to Switzerland.

I have submitted...

• Two entries to The Emma Press in response to their call for night-time stories.
• Two entries to The Emma Press in response to their call for children's insect poems.

Out and about

• I attended Edge-Lit 2018, as mentioned above.
• I also returned to the Birmingham Writers' Group after missing many months of meetings. I submitted an extract from Nephos 3 which was met with positive comments.

Dates to remember

• 9 September - the two-year anniversary of Festive Treats, a festive anthology in which I feature.
• 27 September - the two-year anniversary of my story being performed on the Tall Tales radio show.

AOB

• Book To The Future is back! This October marks the fifth year of the University of Birmingham's literary festival.
• Edge-Lit's winter spin-off, Sledge-Lit, is taking place in November. See you there!

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