I've spent much of this week so far outside my comfort zone that I haven't even been able see where it is–not that I should complain, because it's all been prompted by some rather nice things. I've had a poem commended in a competition and another shortlisted, but what really got me moving was when someone contacted me to ask where they could find my short stories.
I've been planning to put a themed anthology online for some while and this seemed like the ideal prompt. As The Grid has a couple of events scheduled in the next few months, I decided on an anthology of stories with an art connection. I then started grappling with Smashwords' 94-page style guide (it isn't as complicated as it looks, just fiddly). While I was still up to my elbows in embedded fonts and hidden bookmarks, I was contacted by someone from a local radio station asking if I would like to go along and talk about Discord's Child and its sequel. Would I like to? You bet, but I realised the potential for making an idiot of myself as soon as I put the phone down. As work on the next novel in The Exiles of Ondd series is still in progress, I thought I would have more to talk about if I got on with another project I've long had in mind, namely a print on demand edition of Discord's Child. Consequently, I abandoned the anthology temporarily and started grappling with Create Space's formatting guide instead, so I can be ready if and when the radio station arranges a date. I didn't have long to worry about that though, because I then received an email from an editor about an article I had pitched. He's interested, but could I expand the subject to cover other areas? Sure, no problem, just give me a few minutes to think about it–preferably in a darkened room with a damp flannel on my forehead.
Okay, so I've had to change my priorities a few times, but it's woken me up and that's no bad thing. We could all do with a metaphorical kick up the backside now and then.