New Year status report 2018

This is my fifth year of writing up the status of my books – see 2014, 20152016, and 2017.

The Beast on the Broch

The Beast on the Broch is still out there. It’s not selling particularly well (sometimes the Amazon sales chart shows two-month gaps between single copies being sold!) but it’s still out there.

This blog

I took a step back from the blog in 2017. In previous years, I’d tried to keep up a steady flow of articles and reviews, but this year I couldn’t find the enthusiasm to keep up that stream of content when very few people were reading it anyway. Hence the lack of “best of 2017” articles, which were very time intensive.

New novels

On the last day of 2016, just over a year ago, I completed the rough first draft of my Roman Scotland novel. The first draft is flawed (much like the scifi novel that was my other manuscript of 2016), but even after a year’s break I can’t see how to move forward without a 70% rewrite. On hold.

Short stories

With my novels on hold, to scratch the writing itch this year I wrote three and a half short stories, totalling about 7500 words. Unfortunately I didn’t manage to find homes for any of them.

The Wreck of the Argyll

My first novel came to an inglorious end when it sold just 200 copies before going out of print and the rights reverting to me less than a year after publication. But every once in a while, an end is a new beginning, and Cranachan have agreed to republish the book with a spiffy new cover in February 2018.

I’m massively proud of The Wreck of the Argyll, which I think is the best thing I’ve ever written, so I’m glad it’s been rescued from oblivion, and looking forward to seeing it in print again soon.

 

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