Productive

            My wife has just bought me the dvd of Skyfall, the latest James Bond film, the one which is earning all the plaudits. I’m chuffed to bits with it. I still think that the best Bond film is Goldfinger, though.

Skyfall is a good film, but it isn’t really a Bond film; as Quantum of Solace wasn’t, or The Spy Who Loved Me, or Moonraker.

Had a very productive morning yesterday. I wrote another story for Microhorror. Beginning, middle and end. And I wrote it in half an hour. Maybe that's another rule-of-thumb for writing flash fiction: don't take longer than one day to write the first draft.

            I keep trying to think of stories other than horror stories. I've got an urge to write a straightforward contemporary novel. But horror fiction keep dragging me back. I bought Wordsworth's Best Ghost Stories on Wednesday. That makes five Wordsworth horror anthologies which I've bought but not read completely, including Best Irish Ghost Stories, Spinechillers, The Best Ghost Stories of E.F. Benson, and Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination. There's so much good stuff out there. And when I start reading a classic horror story, my imagination starts working.

            There's a set of writing competitions coming up, run by the Erewash Writers Group:

                        http://erewashwriterscompetition.weebly.com/

I really should start writing something for them, if I want to enter the competitions. I've even got an idea for a non-horror short story. It's just that I want to have something new published by Microhorror first. It's a terrific website, friendly and with a genuine love of horror and new writing. Nathan Rosen is a supportive editor, and it's a challenge to try and come up with something which fits the word count. Have a look at this little gem:

                        http://www.microhorror.com/microhorror/author/eugene-gramelis/bye-bye-birdie/

             

            I’m conscious that I’m writing all this and my dad is still dead; and I’m still estranged from my mum; and I’m still hiring a solicitor. Those things are always at the back of my mind even when, as now, things are going well. I feel dislocated. I wish my dad was still here. So much could be so different.