Freda is 26.
Unbelievable but it’s true.
I finished the short story I was writing for the LA Anthology! Hooray. Very much enjoyed taking Ronnie and putting her in a foreign city. The story came in a little under 7K, so a lot longer than I envisaged when I started it. I know I could’ve taken my idea and spun it into a novella or even a full blown novel, but I’m already writing the seventh Veronica Tracey book and I don’t want to think too far ahead! Plus, it was a short story. Despite the fact that I could spin a much longer story from the glimmer of an idea that I actually wrote an outline for! Yes, you read that correctly, I wrote an outline. I did not stick to it beyond the first few pages however, but I wrote it. That’s twice now I’ve worked from an outline. The first time was ‘Drawn from Cards’ and I did it just to try something different. This time I did it because I wanted to see if I could apply my ‘outline’ idea to a spy story. I kinda could but found I veered off very quickly. That’s not a bad thing.
What I will do over the next few days is write a short blurb for [Lima Alpha Xray] and a couple of tagline and loglines. Mostly because it will help the wonderful organiser of the LA Anthology to have little bits and pieces to use wherever they see fit prior to the launch of the anthology.
But also because it doesn’t hurt to hone those skills.
This term’s Crime Writing class is fabulously interactive. Very much enjoying getting to know them all. I can see stories in them, sometimes I can’t, but with this group I can. 🙂
In other news: I’m about to dive back into [Foxtrot Foxtrot Sierra] and I am looking forward to it.
Also, I’m waiting to hear back about audio books. (We shall see what happens there – the books I’ve chosen are Terrorbyte and [Nothing happens here].
In March I get to meet a contributing editor for The Big Thrill and Audiofile right here in Wellington, NZ. Very exciting. 🙂 🙂
So this whole China live firing between Aussie and NZ … that’s pretty much how the story I WAS writing started. I had about 17k written and scrapped it because the thought of our nations going to war was terrifying. I do not want to have called another fecking disaster!
I think that’s about it for now. I’ve got a busy Sunday ahead.
Take care out there.
Here’s the cover of my short (because I wanted a cover and because I can.)
Cat Connor 
That is such a great cover!! I love that creative side of you. It is interesting, isn’t it, that whole question of using/not using an outline to write. Sometimes I have; sometimes I haven’t. Both can give good outcomes, I suppose. But more often, I find that while I do plan, I also stray from the plan, especially if a character tells me I’m wrong about something, or if I see that something I’d originally written is impossible/not feasible/etc.
And thanks for the kind words about the antho. I’m really hoping it’ll come together well, and your story is an excellent addition.
Oh, and I don’t even want to think about the implications of that live firing…
I am excited for the Anthology too, you’re doing a very good thing! 🙂
And Happy Birthday, Freda!