FanFiction Saved My Sanity!

I’m a writer. It’s who I am. So when I can’t write, I’m not very happy. Big identity issues.

I’ve been fighting the Block lately, and it’s been going on for a while. Part of why there haven’t been any new posts, either here or on the new one or even Biblical Proportions. Turns out I have just as much worth as a person whether I’m cranking out stories or not. Yay me! But still, I needed my writing mojo back.

Fan-fiction to the rescue. Currently I’m a couple of chapters into a new Doctor Who story, and I recently uploaded a fic that crosses Deadpool with The Big Bang Theory. They may not be my own characters, but they got my mojo working again. I feel like I’ll be back at work on my own stuff in no time!

Ad Astra Saturday & Sunday

Once again I've let too much time pass between blog posts, and between the event I'm writing about and now. You know what? I barely have enough motivation to get out of bed some days. Each post that sees its way to publication here is a miracle!

Sunday at Ad Astra was a good time. I spoke on two panels, attended the Mental Health and Fandom panel that afternoon (not sure why I wasn't on that one, but whatever), and hung out and gave support to my friends.

I'd be remiss if I didn't also talk more about Saturday. That's even further back in my memory, but there were a few decent highlights: lunch with Sarah Water Raven and her minions; sitting at a table in the book signing room with Suzanne Church, who gave me valuable cane-related advice; attending my friend Elizabeth Hirst's Pop Seagull Publishing anthology launch, where I heard some very good stories from some very talented authors and even found a piece of cake with my name on it; being warned that describing the plot of my novel Evil might be offensive to religious people at the Inclusiveness in Fandom panel; discussing my Doctor Who epic Bane of the Doctor during the FanFiction panel. Good times.

Sunday started with a two-hour look at trailers for upcoming movies. We looked at the teaser for the new Star Wars movie, plus trailers for summer soon-to-be-blockbusters. Then we discussed our reactions to those trailers, which ones we thought might be cool(Avengers: Age of Ultron, Mad Max: Fury Road), which films we were cautiously optimistic about(Jurassic World, Terminator: Genysys), and which ones looked like they were going to suck huge, rancid monkey balls(Fantastic Four reboot, and a shitty-looking 'comedy' called Pixels starring Adam Sandler). It's a good ting we had a full two hours to work with!

My final panel as a pro panelist was another Doctor Who discussion (I'd been on one the day before focusing on 12th Doctor Peter Capaldi). This one was about show runners Stephen Moffat and Russel T. Davies and their differing styles, strengths and weaknesses. On both panels I was joined by my good friend David Clink, who provided many intelligent insights into Whodom.

Another good convention! Happy happy, joy joy.

First Update of 2015 - All 3 Parts

So, this is my third attempt at an update in as many months. Previous attempts are posted below.


Here’s what I thought in January:

I’m typing up the last few chapters of I, Suicide. Feeling very good about that one. I wasn’t before, and I do have concerns with how it will be received. Now, I think it is very unique, and very different from all my other novels.

Kudos to me!

I’ve also started to work on a sequel to Apoca-Lynn. It’s early days, but I think I’m off to a good start. Apoca-Lynn itself is down to the final editing stage – I’m putting in a few more details to make the town more of a place. That way it’ll be recognizable in the sequels.

I need to get started on promotion. I want Valentine’s Day to be Apoca-Lynn’s release date, so I need a Facebook page and flyers and stuff. I wish this kind of thing came easy for me.


And here’s February:

Not as much progress as I’d like. I’d hoped to set up a Facebook page for Apoca-Lynn, and maybe do a Cover Reveal event. Sadly, my depression has delayed all that, and the editing process, too. I’m still trying to get the book ready, but there’s a long way to go and I have very little motivation.

I’m not even sure which online publisher to go with. Smashwords is nice, but I haven’t been able to draw much of a readership from them. Amazon KDP or Kobo are the choices I’m looking at now. Time is running out; motivation or no, I need to get moving on this one.

If only getting moving were easy. People in my life always reacted with annoyance, frustration and/or ridicule when I didn’t immediately get cracking on things in the past, whether just for myself or for them. Now that I (and most of them) know I have a mood disorder, things really haven’t changed much. Instead of seeing me as a lazy procrastinating slob, I’m a lazy procrastinating slob feeling sorry for himself and using his depression as an excuse.

Sometimes it is an excuse. Most times it’s a valid reason. Try explaining that to Life. You still need to feed and clothe yourself, no matter how sick you are inside.


And now we are in March. Apoca-Lynn is not out yet, but I do have a Facebook page for it. Maybe one day I’ll post something to it.

My current temp job has come to an end. Good while it lasted. We were just able to get by. Here’s hoping I find something else soon.

I have no idea what’s happening with the Evil movie. I’ve sold the film rights option, and that is all. If they do decide to go ahead and buy the film rights proper, I will make a very excited announcement.

Currently, I am up to Chapter 6 on Armaged-Dawn, my sequel to Apoca-Lynn. On the horizon are the continuation of Zombie Jesus Day, and more Doctor Who fanfiction. I have plans to make a separate blog for Section K stories, but that’s gone no further than the proverbial drawing board. I have a lot of stories to post, all of which require substantial editing. Honestly, no one is asking for Section K stuff. I don’t know why I’m bothering.

I could say that about a lot of things: my fan-fiction; my writing in general; certainly my attempts to get a better job. And yet, I keep going. Stubborn, I guess.

2014, And the Stuff That Happened To Me In It

So, the New Year is here, as it always seems to be this time of year. Time to look back, time to look forward, time to make promises - sorry, resolutions - one has no intention of keeping (if pop culture is to be believed, which it usually is).

2014 was a good year for me. And, as a person living with depression and anxiety, I do not say such a thing lightly. Speaking of which, I've been tapering off one of my medications. If I can get off it completely while still remaining healthy, I'll be very happy (no pun intended).

So, what else was good in 2014? Let's take a look:

I sold the movie rights option for Evil, one of my best novels. I finished and posted a novel-length (or at least novella-length) work of Doctor Who fan-fiction, which you can find here. And, in the last couple of days before the year ended, I finished the first draft of I, Suicide, a Cupid War spinoff four years in the writing. I wrote a few short stories too, one of which is a Cupid War story! You'll be seeing that here before too long.

I was employed for well over half the year. Not bad, but I can do better. One resolution of mine is to break away from temp agencies. I'll say more about that in another post.

I visited my sister Claire in Regina. That did both of us a lot of good.

I gave up soft drinks, with only one relapse; I drank a half-litre bottle of Pepsi at my sister's place. Bad Tim! But the ginger ale I drank while I was fighting a cold does NOT count! That was for medicinal purposes. It's funny, people have asked me if I feel any better now that I've (mostly) stopped drinking pop. Honestly, I don't feel any different.

I went to four conventions this year, five if you count the Fan Expo (I don't). Each one brought me closer to my fandom friends while introducing me to new ones. Two cons were out of Toronto, another bold step forward in my self-promotion. Before you know it, I'll be a star attraction at San Diego ComicCon! Well, I can dream. Might as well dream big!

Not everything was good. Last month I got notice that The Cupid War is now out of print. I also removed Closets from SynergEbooks, so the only titles I have available are Section K (paperback) and The Five Demons You Meet In Hell (ebook). My novel-writing career has taken a huge hit, and it will take a lot to bounce back.

Part of that bouncing back will involve re-releasing Closets through Smashwords. I'm also planning to release my next ebook, Apoca-Lynn, through Smashwords on Valentine's Day. I'll keep writing, of course: next up is a sequel to Apoca-Lynn, and the continuation of Zombie Jesus Day. I have a lot to do, and for that I'll need a lot of motivation and energy.

Hello, 2015. Here we go!

Ad Astra and Beyond

The con is over, and Post Fandom Depression has set in. Or rather it did, back when I started writing this bit. Better late than never, I say. And I say it a lot.

I've since returned to the real world, where Violet and I must do our taxes, and I'm back in the wonderful world of temping.

But back to Ad Astra. The last day was memorable. There was the Mental Health and Fandom panel, which was reasonably well attended. All of us had a lot to say, in a compassionate and healing environment. I will always be grateful to this panel and its participants.

Violet wanted me to get a picture or action figure of one of her fangirl crushes, like Hugh Jackman as Wolverine or Chris Evans as Captain America. Preferably shirtless. I was unable to find exactly what she was looking for, so I got her this action figure. I have no idea who the character is, but he's shirtless and ripped, and he's got a sword. Violet very nearly liked him. Ah, well. Next convention, my Love!

The last panel I attended before setting off home was about Star Trek; I sat in attendance, and my friend and fellow author Sarah Water Raven was on the panel. I have to say, it went much better than my Star Trek panel back at Reversed Polarity (though not as good as the one I did at GenreCon). No Uber-Nerds, for one thing. And some interesting ideas were put forth. Well worth my time!

After that, it was time to say goodbye to a few stragglers before catching the VIVA buses back home. I sat across from a dude who had a bag of barbecue-flavoured sunflower seeds, and the area all around him was littered with shells. He taught me how to eat sunflower seeds, which apparently I'd been doing wrong all these years. You don't eat the shells - you suck the flavour out of the shell, crack them and eat the seed within, then spit the shells away. Good to know. Too bad he didn't feel like cleaning up after himself.

Monday, April 7th, involved a ridiculous amount of telephone tag with my temp agency to get me accepted into a mailroom job. It worked out in the end, though, and I was working as early as Wednesday. I've been sticking labels onto envelopes, stuffing envelopes, and lifting heavy boxes full of papers that will eventually end up in envelopes. Not the most challenging of jobs, but work is work. They are a good bunch, which certainly helps. Plus, my contact at the temp agency took me out to lunch last week! That's never happened to me before! Wow.

I've managed to get back into my novel Zombie Jesus Day, about which I am ecstatic. At the same time, my enthusiasm for my Doctor Who fanfic Bane of the Doctor has cooled a bit. I've got two more episodes still to post, so I'm not particularly worried yet. BTW, the latest installment can be found here.

Finally, I got back the processed German tax forms from Revenue Canada. I sent them off by Xpress Post on Thursday - did you know it costs $61 to send something from Canada to Germany via Xpress Post? Well, it does. It will be worth it, however, when they pay me the option fee for Evil. Woo-hoo!

Bane of the Doctor - An Adventure in Fanfiction

In my last post, I discussed the status of my writing life and how things hadn't exactly gone according to plan. My main novel projects are stalled - I've been trying to write Chapter 16 of my Cupid War spinoff I, Suicide for the last three weeks - and blog posts such as this one have been few and far between (not that that's anything new, I'm afraid).

The only thing I've made any kind of progress on is a Doctor Who fanfic story. That has actually been going really well. And it's pretty much the only thing I've got to show for myself for the last seven months. I call it Bane of the Doctor, and it's a multi-part saga filled with references and popular characters, and a villain of my own creation.

I'm publishing the story on Archive of our Own. Here is a link to a prelude story, and this link will take you to the first chapter. I also chose to re-publish my first Doctor Who fanfic story, Happy Landings, found here.

The second chapter of this epic will be posted very soon. I'm hoping to release an episode every month.

Stay tuned, fellow Whovians!

New Business, Part 2

That business plan I was all fired up about last year? Not really working out. I finished a book in my new shared universe and started another, Zombie Jesus Day (ZJD), with plans to keep going while putting other projects aside.

Instead, I’ve spent the last several months working on I, Suicide (a spinoff novel from The Cupid War) and a Doctor Who fanfiction story. I, Suicide will be a hard sell, and I can’t make any money at all from fanfiction! What happened to the great plan?

What the hell went wrong?

Basically, I kept giving priority to other projects. A lot of those projects were articles for Toronto.com. Those had to take priority because they had deadlines. And they paid. In money. There was also a short story I wrote for an anthology (they rejected it). Each time one of those came up, ZJD had to be put on hold.

Then, when I was typing up what I had of ZJD, I had to have another project to work on during the day (see this post here for more details). I picked up I, Suicide again, and discovered I had a passion for that story once more. And when I was typing up the new chapters of I, Suicide, I tried to get back into ZJD. Only I couldn’t. I’d lost the mojo for it. I ended up doing an I, Suicide short story instead, and picked up the thread of a Section K story (the one with the chocolate zombies, mentioned in my last post), and got into the afore-mentioned fanfic.

So, what’s the plan now? Finish I, Suicide and the Section K story, then see about picking ZJD back up once more. Then start a new novel in the ZJD world.

Unless... you know, stuff happens.