Change of Heart

Yesterday's blog post painted a picture of wanting to write The Jump... well, I've had a slight change of heart. That series won't be what I pay most attention to (in terms of writing) for the next while. It's not that I won't be writing it ever, I just don't want to write it right now. See, shortly after writing the blog post and talking to my friend about all sorts of random crap (that's a technical term), I started writing a Young Adult Urban Fantasy...about the apocalypse.

That sounds weird... good. It's a parody novel, with the narration taking the piss (again, technical term) out of everything. Well, not everything. But as serious a theme as the apocalypse is, that didn't stop me including a penis related joke within the first 1000 words. That's the sort of high brow humour I'm going for, folks. Well, not just penis jokes, but you get the point - it's not a work of serious comical merit, but that doesn't mean it won't be written well. I won't give away too much, but hopefully in reading it people will like the main character and all of his oddities. Let's face it, when you're writing about the apocalypse using low brow puns (That Guy I Am can attest to how poor they are) and penis related jokes, you've got to have a weird protagonist.

As well as that, I will be seeking to get a work on non-fiction written. I am not publicly announcing what it will be about, though I have told a few people in private already (family and a couple of friends). It's not going to be a work of absolute genius, it most likely won't challenge any accepted norms, but it will do as I aim for it to do: give a clear and easy to read account of the topic at hand, using language that anyone can understand. I will be doing my research on the topic shortly after exams (so, in June) and when I've plotted out my notes on writing the book, I will be going to a small e-publisher about it. Or possibly going it alone. I will see. (Thoughts on this greatly appreciated, particularly if you know about this sort of stuff).

About the "going it alone" thing. I've been reading a lot, lately, about self-published authors. With my friend Rebecca Woodhead self-publishing her first book, Palaces and Calluses, within the next couple of weeks, Barry Eisler turning down a half-a-million-dollar book deal to self-publish instead and Amanda Hocking having made two million dollars self-publishing and now selling a four-book series to St Martin's in the US for a contract rumoured to be worth over two million dollars, the whole thing has been getting me rather... I don't even know the word for it! Anxious? Excited? Wantingtotryitmyself? I'm baffled by the figures involved.

Anyway, that's something to mull over. In the meantime, I have to study for exams, write my apocalyptic book (this will be my de-stress hobby for the next two months) and sort out a schedule for during the summer. I need to shuffle about:
- Research for non-fiction book
- Editing of Meet Sam
- Writing of the new book
- Writing of short stories

My summer is going to be weird! It seems like every time I bring it up I have a new plan for it. Seriously. Have you noticed that? I always seem to come up with new plans for the summer every time I look at it in terms of work I can do. I mean, the list above, if I was to include everything I planned on doing, would get a lot longer. I can think of at least two other significant things I have to do that I haven't put on that list!

*headdesk*

Moving on... and back to where I got started. The book, the apocalyptic book, is set in the American Bible Belt. We've been looking at one case of how crazy some of the people there are, so naturally my story is being set in an overly religious area with a school that almost breaks the law. It's fun! Within time, I will be harassing friends to read this book to get an impression of what they think of it.

Oh, and a friend commented on my Facebook status about it saying "ZOMBIES". All I'll say is... not this one.