So where am I at?

So where am I at with this writing game?

Well my first completed novel first draft is sitting on my hard drive and a flash drive (backup backup I'm never losing a load of what I've written again). It'll likely stay there untouched for another couple of months and then it will be hit with the edit stick.

At the moment I'm trying to get to grips with the art and science of short story writing. I've never been very good at short story writing - they always grow out of control - so it's time to get to grips with that.

Just this weekend I finally finished the second draft of a werewolf short story "Moonlight and Memories" (terrible working title that I can't seem to come up with an alternative to) that's been in the offing for ages. Well at 7,742 words it's more of a novelette but it's one of the shortest things I've ever written and hopefully I can shave a bit more off it in the next edit.

Today I'm looking at an outline for a futuristic fantasy short story/novelette I outlined ages ago and trying to work up a head of steam to start writing it. Starting is the hardest bit I find. I hate staring at blank paper. It's called "The Opening" and it's very very weird.

I'm also at various stages of brewing up outlines for three other short stories.

• "The King's Head" is a ghost story that's been in my head for a while and just needs a little push to come out onto paper in outline form at least. The title refers to the pub where it is set not a decapitated monarch.
  
• "Healing the Sunbird" is a full blown fantasy but very vague as yet. I know the set up and have an idea of the ending but I'm not sure how I'm getting from A to B yet.
• "There Might be Dragons" is - hum - a slightly historical contemporary fantasy mystery set in a very exclusive boarding school in the 1970s. And it actually does involve a dragon and a nosey cryptozoologist, but no magic. At least not that is referred to as magic - I am not getting into the Psi as magic (where magic means unscientific) debate. It's natural in my world the real world doesn't count. There certainly no Harry Potter ripping off here trust me. (And I wouldn't even be worried if I hadn't mentioned the words Boarding School). Anyway this one needs a lot of research. I know sweet FA about Boarding Schools beyond Enid Blyton, and I doubt that's a good source.

It's mid-May now and I intend to have at least finished the first draft of "The Opening" and outlined the other three by the end of June.

So that's basically where I'm at for now.