The Platinum Ticket by David Beynon

The Platinum Ticket by David Beynon
Shortlisted for The Terry Pratchett Anywhere But Here, Anywhen But Now First Novel Prize

Saturday 7 February 2009

Mercury Rising

Ahhhhhhhhhh.

For the first time in what seems like forever the temperature has moved to the happy side of zero.  It's 3 degrees Celsius right now and the forecast promises to hover around the freezing point for the next week or so.  You know it has been a long, cold winter when dancing around the freezing point is something to look forward to.

I gave Root of Evil a day to stew and have been going through it looking for typos and opportunities to make the flow and cadence run a little more naturally.  Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the result.  A little more clean-up and I'll send it out into the world.

I've now written two scary stories in the last little while and I have been looking toward the British markets.  Not only does the UK seem to grasp horror stories more readily but they tend to pay more.  Short horror stories in North America tend to get a price from anywhere from about 1/2 cent per word up to as high a 8 or 10 cents a word.  The UK pays about the same per word but here's the thing - their pennies are worth twice as much.  I haven't decided where I'll be sending Root of Evil but Britain certainly has its advantages.

Next up is rxpanding Patriot to novel length- to start, anyway.  I'll try alternating between The Witch and Patriot but I'm dubious how successful that will be.  We'll see.

Wednesday 4 February 2009

Root of Evil

It is finished - well, the first draft is anyway.  Around 3:45 this afternoon I put the stake through the heart of Root of Evil.  I've forwarded it off to the usual suspects for a first reading and will look at it myself in about a week to edit.  For now I'm just glad to have it done.  At just over 12,300 words I'm not so sure it's a short story anymore but we'll see where it ends up after editing.

I'm thinking Patriot is next up, but The Witch is calling out to me too.  Maybe alternating days - work on one, next day the other?  I've never tried that before - might just work.

It is numbingly cold here again today.  Since we got the dog I am more aware of the cold (nightly 11:00pm walks will do that), but I must say my usual hatred of winter has lost its zest.  I guess having kids takes the edge off - I mean who can be too pissed off at the cold when the people you love most are hauling you out into it for tobaggoning and snowball fights.  

A little bit of news -  The Beynon family is heading to the UK in the spring.  At Christmas my aunt not so subtly hinted that she and my uncle are not getting any younger and that a visit was long overdue.  We agree and are making plans.

One last thing - that picture of me up there.  It's been two years and about fifteen pounds (I'm lighter now, thanks for asking) since that picture was taken and it's time for something new.  It'll change in the next few days, I'm sure.

That's all for now - kids are calling.