Luxembourg

I am writing/editing most days. Some days I ignore the book and play guitar. Other times I am drawn to adding details. I have a 15,000 word goal in my mind - the three chapter completion bit. That is when I may send what I have written to the odd publisher - test the water of rejection. I am finding it difficult delving into my past. One pretty unsavoury episode I am currently dredging back up involves a violent incident in a pub in Luxembourg. Well, it remains violent in my mind because it came out of nowhere and involved a nice Irish chap pinning my throat against the wall with a silver candlestick. It was over in a few minutes and acted as a warning to me to avoid this particular character but I have managed to weave the experience into my writing. It has also helped me to analyse why someone would act in such a way. The characters I am introducing - are overlapping with each other - and now seem very real - I can picture them being part of my past - or many pasts if you like. And that was what living abroad enabled so many ex-pats to do - re-invent themselves, leave behind a shabby past and re-glaze it. Polish it with lies. If I carried anything away from the many years I lived abroad it was that most people were running from something - consciously or not. Luxembourg to me was a magical place and that is why I chose it as a location for my writing - it stirred my imagination at a very young age and lots of changing incidents occurred during those strange years. I think I am going to unearth many emotions as I venture to complete this book and the skill will be channelling them into attractive ideas. Here's hoping it is not an utter waste of time.

Gasoline Souls and Short Stories from Issigeac

Today - after chainsawing wood and firing up the Aga as winter finally arrives in January - I spend time attempting to promote my two publications on 'Smashwords' - only time will tell if anyone will pick up on my skilled wordage and start stuffing dollars into my macbook. 'Gasoline Souls' is a set of poems that cover pretty much 20 years of my life. There is a 'truth' in each poem and that is how I try to write - always inserting an event that has happened to me - and this remains the same for my short story writing. I have met some pretty amazing people throughout my life and elements of them survive through my writing. Over the next few weeks I will attempt to portray what it is like to write a full length novel as I embark on the third chapter of my up and coming offering and where many ghosts of my past have become solid, laughing, fighting and crying people - human almost....


'Short Stories from Issigeac'

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/122349