Six months sure pass quickly. On March 1st 2018, I started my sabbatical. On 23rd August 2018 (a week short of six months), I will head back to work. Not that I haven’t been working these last six months. In fact, given the last few weeks, ‘real’ work might feel like a rest.

I still find it all too easy to normalise success (by this, I mean I tend to ignore what I’ve achieved and focus on what I haven’t). Yet, when I explain to friends and family what I’ve been up to, everyone wonders how I’ve managed it. Without waffling on, here’s a list of everything (I can remember) I’ve achieved:

• Wrote approx. 40,000 words of a Young Adult magical realism novel. I think there’s another 15,000 left. I was hoping to have this finished by the end of the six months, but the small matter of a house move scuppered this (more on this later). I will be attending an Arvon writing retreat in November where I will be locked away (with no Wi-fi apparently!) for a week to begin re-editing the 1st draft.
• Completed the first draft of a 15,000 words of a surrealist novella. I need to find the time to redraft and send for proof reading.
• Written and submitted 2,000 word ghost story to British Fantasy Society short-story competition (awaiting result)
• Written and submitted 2,000 word comedy story to ‘To Hull and Back’ anthology (awaiting result)
• Written and submitted 2,500 word sci-fi story to Castrum Press submission request (rejected, but good feedback)
• Written and submitted 1,000 work flash fiction story to NYC Midnight Challenge – you are given a genre, a setting and an artefact and 48hrs to write. Mine were Fairy Tale, Auction and a Measuring Cup. I’ll get feedback in September and start the second round of the competition then too.
• Redrafted and submitted 2,000 word sci-fi story to Yeovil Literary Prize (awaiting result)
• Wrote and submitted a poem to Humanagerie submission request (rejected). Also wrote other poems, but don’t think they’re ready to share yet.
• Redrafted and submitted 2,000 word ghost story to Scribbler magazine (rejected, but good feedback and I’ll probably send this out as a freebie at some point)
• Still waiting the release of my horror short-story ‘Ingrowing’ – I’m told this will be released Halloween 2018.
• Drafted new idea for comic book, ‘Reanimator Inc.’ based on H.P. Lovecraft mythology. Plan to start scripting and kickstarting this project in Q1 2019.
• Begun work on Webcomic idea for a comedy/fun mini-series
• Continued work on a trilogy of children’s poems – artwork will be by the multi-talented Rebecca Travers
• My Cyber Security free e-book has achieved over 1,000 downloads and now has 4 x 5 star reviews. I’m planning to start work on a second edition and will be volunteering with the local scout and community to further knowledge into Cyber Security and home IT setup.
• Set-up and maintained two websites inc. 6 blog posts (7 including this one)
• Completed, marketed, Kickstarted, printed and distributed my debut comic book, Undetermined. I truly never expected it to be as much work and as hard as it turned out to be, but with some amazing support, we got there. I sold 86 copies through Kickstarter and have had enquiries about how it can be bought now. I’m looking to set-up an online shop, so it can be ordered and posted. To be honest, the comic distribution is worthy of a blog post on its own, but in short, I’ve ordered the following items and dispatched a selection of:
  • 200 x comic books
  • Worked with the genius Darrell Strike on the inception and production of 50 x Infinity Mirrors
  • 56 x T-shirts (yes this is a strange number, but there was a mess up on the sizes and re-ordering was required)
  • 35 x jigsaws
  • 500 x leaflets advertising Episode #2
  • 1 x roller banner
  • 100 x pocket mirrors
  • 4 x 100 x A5 prints
  • 250 x bookmarks
  • 100 x Vinyl Stickers
  • 100 x Bottle Openers
  • 100 x Fridge Magnets
  • Lots of envelopes and packing materials
    • Bear in mind that a lot of the above needed designing and collaborating on. I don’t know how many beers I owe Chris Holmes.

Has it been worth it? Of course…! I’ve received some amazing and really kind feedback from people on the comic, its quality and production. It’s demonstrated that I can do this (even though I questioned why I was doing this during the packaging and shipping of the above) and I’ve more lessons and learnings than I can count for the episode #2 of Undetermined and my other ideas.

I’m sure I’ve forgotten a few things… So what’s next?

• I will be attending my first comic con which scheduled for 29th Sept in Chichester. You can apply for tickets here: https://meanwhilecomiccon.com/
• I’ll also be selling some copies of Undetermined at Bristol Comic Con on 6th October – https://bczf.co.uk/
• The plan is to attend more conventions and start networking on the comic scene more through 2018 and 2019. Edinburgh might be happening in November… http://www.comicartfestival.co.uk/
• Start planning the release of Undetermined #2 – we’ve ten pages of completed artwork and it’s looking absolutely stunning. I’ll be releasing some previews over the next month or so…
• Complete the 1st draft of my YA novel and re-edit at the November retreat
• Script Reanimator Inc. comic story
• Start work…!

This blog isn’t to brag or show-off how much I’ve achieved; it’s more to quantify personally what I’ve spent this last six months doing. Even when I read back through the above, it still doesn’t feel like I’ve done that much. Even though it’s been 6 months, it honestly feels like only six weeks has passed. I’ve not spent a day when I’ve been bored or wondering what to do. If anything, it was stressing about what can I cram into the day. Not every day has been productive. Writers block is real – especially when you’ve got a house move to plan, or boxes to unpack. I gave myself cabin fever the first few weeks, chaining myself (metaphorically) to the desk and laptop and writing until I felt a bit odd. I soon learnt that I need to get out and walk around a bit.

I’ve learnt so much through allowing myself this time. There are lots of things I would do again, and lots of things I wouldn’t. If I’m fortunate enough, I’ll be able to take some more time out again in the future. The encouragement and messages of support have really kept me going, and going I shall continue.

Let’s see what the next six months bring…

Andy