Where you at, Mark?

First off, some good news. I recently won first place in Leicester Writers Club (LWC) short story competition 2023.

This was blind-judged by an external judge, a published novelist, and it’s the first thing I’ve ever won for my writing, so I was very happy about that.

As my writer life goes along, I’m finding it interesting to look back on my previous thoughts about where things would go, and set them alongside what has actually happened.

Two years ago, I was all set to put together a collection of science-fiction short stories, to follow up on my 2021 steampunk release ‘The Colossus of the Thames’.

But then I moved house, had a lot of family stuff going on and joined LWC, which I talked about in my previous blog.

LWC quickly convinced me that I didn’t want to go along the self-publishing route for now, but am more interested in getting conventionally published.

My old Works In Progress (WIP), frankly, aren’t up to the task. I’ve learned so much in the past year it’s been almost overwhelming, and I’m much better than I was in many respects.

Winning the competition has been the culmination of a lot of hard work and soul-searching - honestly, I was about ready to give up entirely at one point - but proved to me that I can do this, as long as I do the work!

So from now on, no grand announcements from me about what I’m just about to publish. My previous projects - the SF stories, the steampunk novels I was working on - have been placed on ice, and may resurface at some point in the future.

I can only tell you for now that I’m working on a couple of longer projects, and a few shorter ones, which may or may not see the light of day as my journey continues.

In short, I’m a writer. I’m writing. And I sincerely hope to share more with you when the time is right.