Writalin

I've been reading a lot lately and writing not at all. I'm brimming with ideas, but this week has been a mess for a lot of reasons. I'm a fan of routines, but I also self-diagnosed myself with ADD. I get bored really easily and hate going back and re-doing things.

Going to avoid Ritalin though. Have a busy weekend planned with two dinner parties (was going to be three) one we are hosting, and a lunch date with family from out of town.

I find myself reassured by a lot of what I am reading. Most of it is well written. But it's not that kind of well-written that makes me wonder why I'm bothering. It's small arrogances like this that keep me going

Canty Quake

So on Saturday morning at 0435 local time we had a 7.1 RS earthquake.

Lots of damage around Christchurch, but no one killed directly (one person died of a heart attack suffered during the quake the next day though).

Big clean up going on around the city. Lots of aftershocks - some over 5 RS.


Not a good week for creative thought so far. But tomorrow I'm back on schedule.

Two Trains One Station

At Au Contraire Sean Williams talked about writing multiple books at once, usually due to contractual deadlines.
Marianne de Pierres has also said she works on more than one novel project at a time.

So I feel less guilty about entertaining ideas for a novel length manuscript of a short story (10,000 words) that I wrote earlier this year called 'Engines of Empathy.' It's as far removed from the horror of Tankbread as you can get. A decidedly more whimsical tale of a world similar to our own, where all machines and technology run on 'Empathic Energy' rather than electricity. This gives them an almost anthropomorphic state, without actually being alive or sentient.

Of course I also have the opening chapters for 'Kermadec' a grim crime novel set in Kaikoura (renamed as Kaimoana) and the very dark comedy that I've done about 20K of 'Angry Man.'

And let's not forget the remaining episodes of Doctor Who that need to be written, the casting calls I need to complete and the mixing I need to do. All of which is due nowish.

Tankbread

I'm currently 40,000 words into my first serious attempt at writing a novel since I was 16 years old. It's a post apocalyptic zombie tale with a few twists. Set in Australia because it's a bigger market than New Zealand.

The Asian across from me is tearing great gobs of bloody flesh from his girlfriends neck. Tendon and tissue hang from his mouth in bloody spaghetti strands while his jaw works tirelessly to consume. He chews her like gum.

The skull of the small dog cooked and served on the plate between us has me thinking he is Korean, the crisped flesh with the dark ginger sauce and the crusty roasted eyes are probably a delicacy, I could be wrong. He might not be Korean, and the cooked eyes might be garbage.

I look away from the dog head, it’s making me salivate in a way that I’m not comfortable with. The Asian casually pushes the girl away. She hasn’t resisted him, cried out or shown fear. She’s Tankbread.

The plan is to have this finished in draft form by the end of the month, so I have about 40,000 words to go. I start my new job on the 27th September so that's my deadline.

Statement of Porpoise

Setting up this blog to have a place for both my own writing and guest blogs from BrokenSea Audio Productions people.

Look for new and information on Paul Mannering's writing and BrokenSea Audio Productions news and updates as well.

Check out:
www.brokensea.com
www.grindhouseaudio.com