November (just) 2024
Been meaning to write a post for the last couple of weeks mainly to get one in before December, but real life has slowed things down. I’m currently battling the worst cough/cold I’ve had since my three rounds of Covid so that’s taken a lot out of me for the last ten days or so. Plus I’m on a week off work so feeling like crap and not getting anywhere near as much done that I planned on has really pissed me off. Here’s hoping the Christmas break goes a little more to plan.
Things are generally quiet on the publishing front. I’ve got two books out on submission at the moment - the submission window on both is done in three months or so. I think if one of them doesn’t land with anyone by then, it’ll be time to put it to one side. I like to mix up genres a tad but I’ve found that a lot of publishers (especially bigger ones) are more conservative and believe readers won’t get a book unless it fits neatly into one genre. Maybe they’re on to something - I read a book a few years which appeared to be a psych thriller but turned into something very different right at the end. It didn’t bother me but judging by some of the reviews I read, it pissed off a lot of readers who felt cheated by the change from reality to speculative.
Anyway, as proud as I am of this book, I can’t keep it open forever so if it needs to be set aside, that’s part of the life. The other one still has some time to find a home although quite a few publishers seem to be closed to submissions at the moment so it’s slow going.
In writing news, I’ve recently finished the second draft of my current book and I’m pretty happy with it. It needs a polish and a few issues need expanding while I also have to trim about 10% from the total wordcount so there’s some work to do before it’s ready to go anywhere. Once this one is done, I’m going back to a book I wrote earlier this year which got messy and directionless to see if it can be fixed. After that, who knows? Whichever idea shouts the loudest, I guess.
Depending how much you follow me on social media, you may have noticed I’ve binned Twitter (fuck calling it X) and am now on Bluesky. Twitter always had issues but for the most part, it was a fun time until recently and I don’t want to spend my time there. I tried Threads under my other name but didn’t enjoy a minute of it. Bluesky is pretty groovy so feel free to find me there or on Instagram where I’ve rebooted myself.
https://lukewalkerwriter.wordpress.com/contact/
That’s about it for now. Talk next month when I’ll hopefully be over this cold.
Be well.
Luke