Life Updates, New Shorts & Album Progress

06 March 2023

And this time it's an even longer gap between posts—almost a year! That's got to be the longest I've ever gone, so I must have lots to tell you... right?

As predicted in my last post, I haven't gone back to novel-writing yet. This isn't a self-pity party or writer's block—it's simply an acknowledgement of the fact there are too many people trying to be writers nowadays. Agents won't even read my work. They all throw up the old rejection-without-reading excuse: "We're not taking on any new writers at the minute."

It is what it is. No matter how much I try to destroy those demons of apathy, the windmills never fall. So, for the time being at least, I've stopped trying. The books are still out there and available to buy, and I know it only takes one to catch fire and the whole back catalogue will burn up the bestseller lists. So I wait.

Wattpad & Short Stories

I have discovered Wattpad as a good place to post short stories that I can't publish on my own because they're based on properties I don't own (so I'm not allowed to make money off them). I've only posted my Jurassic Park short story so far, but there's more to come. It's set 41 years after the first film, and it's a teaser to a larger project I would like to write, but I don't have the rights. Still, I think it would be an interesting direction to take the JP franchise. What do you think? I just need to wait for Spielberg to find it online and I'll be set.

Album Progress

According to YouTube, the last time I did a vlog update on recording my second album was May 14th, 2021! In the words of Doctor Emmett Brown: "My God, has it been that long?"

Apparently so. What's been holding this up? Well, just life. Illness, recovery, moving house, more illness and recovery. I moved house after 13 years in Portstewart to Coleraine. I've been here over a year now, but this place isn't suitable for me long-term, so I'm looking for somewhere else again. If you know of any long-term rentals on the North Coast, ideally a bungalow, let me know.

I set myself the goal of having this next album out by Christmas 2022, but I didn't realise how cold it would get. When I came up to my new office to work on my album, my hands were frozen, which doesn't make for good guitar playing. So when the weather warms up, I'm going to jump on this and get it done. This next album is more stripped back... though I might go over-the-top on a couple of tracks if they need it.

Short Films & NCFC

Since the dreaded lurgy (whose name we can't mention like it's a dark wizard with no nose), the NCFC has fractured badly. We tried to keep the monthly meetings going online, but when the all-clear sounded, only one person turned up for in-person meetings.

Even if more had shown up, the venue we used isn't suitable anymore. I'm not sure what the answer is. Meanwhile, I've started making movies again—I've made two shorts in the last few months: Star 13, a family drama, and Out Of Her Head, an allegorical horror movie. I'll probably submit them to festivals, so keep an eye out for screenings.

Speaking of short films, I may as well release Crohn's, Actually (2019), a film I made that was accepted into festivals before everything shut down. Festivals usually want films less than a year old, so I’m releasing it now. It stars Glenn McGivern and Christine Clark—it was great fun to make, so enjoy it!

Other Updates

I've started using Letterboxd to keep track of all the movies I watch and post my reviews. You can follow me there (link on the Contact page).

I’m still writing screenplays, so I haven't given up on writing entirely. I've spotted a very obvious gap in the market and I'm writing a script to fill it. Writing is the easy part—getting it read is the hard part. But I have a plan (not a terribly original one), so we'll see where this goes.

See you when the whim to update once again grips me!