My Sunday waiting for Monaco

Today has been boring. Sundays often are this way, because the shops rarely open in a convenient way thanks to outdated religious-based trading laws. Actually, I liked working Sundays in preference to a weekday, because I got paid twice as much for the same amount of work, traffic was better on the roads, and I could have a day off in the week instead when the shops actually were open.

Since work dried up I’ve had to find imaginative ways to utilise Sundays. At the moment it is Formula 1 season so at least every other Sunday is covered with Something Interesting™ to do. Today however there was not much, so I’ve been spending it reading and revuing other people’s books on Harper Collins’ Authonomy website. The way this works is that people are much more likely to read and revue your work if you do the same for theirs. Simple really. I’m quite active in this way, and seem to be building up momentum as a respected revuer. I did revues for four of the five books that went forward at the end of the last month to the Editor’s desk, so I must have an eye for something. I have also thoroughly enjoyed some of the books I’ve read and revued – there really is some great talent out there.

I’ve also been taking some of the comments that people have been making my book and editing my own magnum opus, ‘Bringing home the stars’. I find being on the site invaluable in polishing my work, as otherwise it is very diffilcult to iron out all the typoes and wrinkles when reading my own work (I keep staring blankly at the screen otherwise with a “Looks okay to me” expression). I think this polishing has helped, as the book has climbed the charts and now is in the top five (actually #4 when I checked) in this week’s horror charts. It also regularly charts in the top ten of the sci-fi charts (it is a sci-fi/horror crossover). Being in the top five for any genre means a much increased exposure to scouting publishers and agents.

Some of the comments are interesting, as they suggest comparisons with films and books that I hadn’t even realised. It’s interesting to realise what probably influenced my writing. ‘Event Horizon’, ‘Firefly’, ‘Ghost Ship’, ‘Alien’ and ‘2010’ all got mentioned. I’ve also been commended for suspense building and never quite revealing the monster – all aspects of what horror should be in my opinion. After all, ‘Jaws’ sucked the moment you saw the shark.

Here’s to peer revue and climbing ever higher in the book charts.