The grey sky is melting and dripping over everything outside so it’s a perfect day to sit at my laptop, a lone warrior with a keyboard for a weapon.

Before I jump violently into a full afternoon of writing, I’m re-reading the last few thousand words of Deadlight – Part 2, the current WIP (work in progress), to let it all flow back in, while listening to a new band for the first time.

They’re called Starset. If you’re a fan of bands like 30 Seconds to Mars and Breaking Benjamin, I’d really recommend you have a listen. A friend in the USA, unfortunately so far away, recommended them to me when I posted on Facebook that I was listening to another band called Seether. I find so much inspiration for my writing when I listen to music. Music is emotion. It grabs what’s inside and directs you to where you need to be. Anyway, check out Starset. I’m liking the hell out of their debut album, Transmissions.

In regards to the current writing project, I need to punch out 4,500 words over today and tomorrow to reach my target of 20,000 words in total by Sunday night. Then the plan is to smash out 10,000 words a week for the next 6 weeks. I’ll then have roughly 80,000 words, the first complete draft of Deadlight – Part 2 by the end of June. It’s a big task, considering I work during the day and write of a night, but I’m motivated right now so I’m going to grab that box with motivation written on it and abuse it as much as I can.

Once the draft is done, I’ll possibly get really drunk to celebrate I’ll definitely get really drunk!

Then the draft will be set aside for a few weeks so I can come back at it with a fresh mind, ready to re-write complete sections, rip others to shreds in disgust, and if I’m lucky, wonder if it was really me that wrote the awesome parts.

While this break is in motion I’ll be appearing at Oz Comic-Con in Melbourne on June 27 & 28. Supanova in April was fantastic and I’m super keen to see how Comic-Con goes. Hopefully I’ll sell a bundle of books, meet some awesome people, and have a fantastic trip.

The plan after Deadlight – Part 2 is written and sent off to be edited?

Well … I really want to put time and energy into bringing out my first anthology. I’ve been playing around with this idea for years now and I really want to bring it out of the wilderness so others can see it.

It will include most of the 8 stories that appeared in various anthologies in the USA, unless I despise them so much now and want to burn them all in a moment of crazy depression. Nearly all were created before Deadlight was released and will be re-written to a better standard. Some of those tales are set in Raven Beach where my second novel, Monochromacy, is based. Raven Beach is, of course, based on my home town of Penguin, so that’s a barrel of blood-soaked fun right there!

I may include a few small poems that were put to paper years ago. I don’t think they are very good, to be honest, but readers seem to like that dark space inside me let loose in a few short words. No concrete decision has been made on this yet. Watch this space! Haha.

And there will be a bunch of new stuff. I keep a files full of ideas that just come to me from time to time. They range from outright gruesome, to terribly violent and horrific, to strangely sexual and bizarre, to just plain wrong! But they want to be brought to life.

The working title for this anthology is Fictional Therapy. Because all of us, at some time or another, need it.

But for now …

I need to go … Sarah is driving an old Volkswagen beetle down a lone highway in search of a deserted carnival in a town she never knew existed. Some things should remain hidden, but they never do.

Till next time, never be afraid of the nightmares in your head because they’re part of you.