What am I up to?

Hi Everyone:

It's been a while since I blogged so I guess I should check in with the world and explain what I'm up to.  I know I don't post very often and to be honest it's because I never know what to talk about.  I love to create stories and write novels, but I find blog writing a real pain in the keester!  I will endevour to blog more in the future and may even do a video blog where I just chat about whatever - maybe that would be more my style?

Anyway, at the moment I am up to all sorts of things, but feeling a bit lost as I try to remain productive.  One of the hardest things about what I do is having to motivate oneself, especially - such as in my case - when you have a propensity towards bone-idleness.  I struggle, I won't lie.  But here is what I am currently up to followed by what I will be doing later on.

1. I am currently helping establish the SalGad publishing group.  It is my opportunity to help other author's establish themselves and it's really exciting to start a new business with the other people involved (one of which is my wife to be).  In the new year I will step back and become more of a 'consultant' to the company, but right now I am working fulltime with them.

2. I will finish the third entry in The Peeling novella series soon, but I'm finding it hard to find time to write it.  When it's out that will be the last thing I release until after Christmas.

After Christmas I will be:

1. Getting married.

2. Moving house.

3. Writing again.

Before I state what projects I will be working on, I will tell you about the ones that I have cancelled.  I have decided not to write The Final Winter 2.  This may upset some people, but the reason being is that I just couldn't make myself completely happy with the plot I had in mind.  It felt forced.  The Final Winter ended pretty well so I don't think it really needs a sequel.  That's not to say I won't one day write it, but for the time being it has been shelved.  FYI the plot would have tied all of my novels together, and the main tie in would have been with my novel, Sam (all grown up now).  Still, it would not have been perfect so I will revisit the idea when I feel I have all the pieces in place.

The Animal Kingdom comic book series has also been shelved by me as I just cannot commit time to it.  It was an ego project and an opportunity to diversify, but that is no longer one of my main priorities, so it will remain cancelled until my goals change.

So what will I be writing next?  Well, my next novel will be called 'The Housemates' and is best described as 'SAW meets Big Brother'.  After that I intend to write a zombie novel.  I have been holding off on a zombie apocalypse tale as I didn't want to write something that would just get lost in the crowd of all the other Z-novels.  All I will say is that when I write it, it will be different yet traditionally.  I will make sure it stands out and is worth reading.  A zombie novel is not something I am willing to do wrong so I will take as long as I need to make it a fun and worthwhile read.

And that's as far ahead as I am thinking, right now.  There will be other stuff over the next twelve months but nothing set in stone.  I hope this little update keeps people informed and I hope you all have a great Festive period.

Iain