Now that I’m consistently carving out space to write in my week, I thought it might be useful to get into the habit of touching base with all the projects hat have my attention right now, regardless of whether that attention is active/current or just a nagging sense of oh God, I really need to finish that.

Possibly not interesting to anyone who isn’t me, but occasionally I like to log these things so I can come back and review my work cycles years down the line.  Current status/word counts are included where feasible, details about where things are up to when not.

And I’m breaking things down into different territories because it’s the way my brain works.

THESIS PROJECTS

My thesis consists of two fiction projects and an exegesis, and I’ve got until the end of March to get drafts of all three to my supervisor.

Median Survival Time

A third-person SF novella based on the question “what if Jack Reacher was a space marine, female, and we stopped kidding about the fact that he’s basically got all the hallmarks of PTSD hypervigilance with none of the side-effects.” STATUS: 25,997 words of a proposed 32,000, and there are three or four scenes that need to be drafted.

Cerberus Station Rumble

A first person SF novella that riffs on Robert E. Howard’s Sailor Steve Cositgan boxing stories, except it starts with the premise of “what changes if this character is female and an sailor/MMA fighter in space?” STUTUS: Currently 37,053 words long as a finished draft, but it needs some work before it’s ready to go.

The Exegesis

The dreaded theoretical component, which needs to be 20,000 words long (and as my supervisor is fond of reminding me, doesn’t need to be a word more than that). Status: There’s apparently a draft that’s 22,586 words long, but I haven’t looked at it since my dad died so I wouldn’t swear it’s usable. My gut says I’ve got closer to 10,000 words that will fit, but my brain doesn’t hold this stuff terribly well.

Eclectic Projects – Fiction

Can’t See The Undead For The Trees

A mosaic zombie apocalypse novella set in the mountains of the Sunshine Coast here in Australia. Third person, past tense, because I’m not used to writing in either and want to get some practice in. Current wordcound is under a thousand words typed, but there are about thirty pages of notes and handwritten drafts getting me to this point. STATUS: Active project, 912 words in. Nailing down the voice of the eight POV characters.

Bad Neighbours

Short Story riffing on three billy goats gruff. A bridge troll moves into a ground floor apartment, then struggles with the noise from the shitty neighbours upstairs. May have been written as a coping mechanism while our old neighbours were being dicks. STATUS: 6,242 words and in need of a strong conclusion.

Gun Mage (Keith Murphy 4)

Urban Fantasy Thriller. Picks up after Keith prevents Ragnarök, and finds himself stuck on the Gold Coast sa a free agent with a mythical sword he’s got no desire to use. Has to learn to use magic in order to fend off a fey take-over of the city. STATUS: Blocking out early scenes and characters.

The Fall of Iron Hold (Blades Against Death 1)

Novella. Part of an ongoing fantasy serieal which basically asks “what if Dumas wrote a zombie apocalypse novel in which the Church guards were the good guys and D&D magic was a thing”. Third person, past tense. Status: 6800 words of a proposed 30,000.

The Secret Gig (The Kaleidoscope’s Children 3)

Third phase of a mosaic series tracing the after-effects of a cult band with uncanny powers happening on the gold coast. Big X-Files vibe, with a loop back to book 1. A concept that was badly derailed by the shift to publishing other people with Brian Jar 2.0, and never quiet reclaimed its place in the work queue. STATUS: About ten thousand words of really rough draft I’ve been meaning to get back to since December of 2020.

The Gun Witch of Half-Moon Bay (Crossbones & Sorcery 2)

Novella or novelette following on from The Last Great House Of Isla Tortuga. First person, pirate fantasy. Another project that was seriously derailed by the implementation of Brain Jar 2.0 in the middle of 2020. Status: 7751 words of a draft done, but I’m stalled until I can do some research into piracy and warfare in the age of sail.

Night of the Cavvy (Creature Features 1)

Novella, Contemporary pulp horror. A crew of RPG geeks find themselves haunted by demon possessed guinea pigs. Some books I just plan to write because they will entertain my partner. STATUS: Locking down early scenes and characters.

Untitled (Century City 1)

The daughter of a pulp era sidekick returns to the seedy, post-golden age “city of the future” pulled together by the science heroes of the fifties. She investigates dad’s murder by working her way through a series of folks who are riffs of classic pulp characters and the Doc Savage support staff, trying to uncover a very old secret. Status: Blocking out a structure, characters, proposed length, and what the series might look like.

The Rabbit Says Run

Weird thriller idea based on a book cover I designed. A young man is kidnapped and chased through an underground complex by a rabbit-masked, shotgun wielding killer, while a hyperactive game show hosts delivers commentary. STATUS: Blocking out structure and potential series plan (especially now Squid Game has brought the genre back into prominence).

Thirty Minute Run (Hell Track Part 1)

Fantasy-Cyberpunk novella about a motorcycle courier with a dark secret and the demon-sponsored corporation determined to bring her into the arena of death that entertains the masses. Theoretically, this was going to be the first original Brain Jar project back in 2017, but I couldn’t figure out how to structure it without writing a 400,000-word monster. STATUS: Need to pull some details out of the original draft and re-think it as a novella serial.

Eclectic Projects – Non-Fiction

What Writers Out To Know About Die Hard 2.0

A rethink and redraft of the blog series, incorporating new ideas and interest that have built up since the original stalled. I largely started a Patreon in the hopes it would get this progect finished. STUTUS: 14,000 words drafted, and about half done with the long-awaited Act Two, Part Two section.

Living That Ampersand Life/Part-Time Creative

Non-fiction series about splitting your focus between competing priorities as a creative. Originally planned to do it as a newsletter series that doubled as a book draft, but it got a little unwieldy. STUTUS: 10,000 of a proposed 15,00 to 20,000 words done, but I need to re-scope the project a little.

The Neo-Pulp Manifesto

An essay looking back at the habits and strategies of the pulp writers, and what’s worth importing into the new pulp era given that certain market conditions are similar (you can write and release in huge quantities again), while others are definitely not (your backlist is permanently available, rather than disposable). STATUS: I’ve got a collection of notes and rough ideas that need to be formatted into something cohesive.

Pivot Fast and Trust The Data: Launching Brain Jar Press 2.0

A long essay about the revamp of Brain Jar, written with the goal of walking people through how to launch a small press using the tools and philosophy that worked for me (and the pitfalls that derailed me). STATUS: Draft is 4300 words long and about half done.

Everything I Know About Running Cons and Festivals I Learned From Professional Wrestling

Random post that I’ve half-drafted, based on a realisation I had while talking about festival design with people who definitely don’t think the way I do. STATUS: about a thousand words in draft format.

The Best of Man vs. Bear

A sequel book to You Don’t Want To Be Published, collating a series of blog posts I’m proud of from last decade. Status: I’ve got 70 blog posts selected, totaling 112,000 words. I need to decide how to order them and break them into themes, and maybe remove some that could be their own books (Trashy Movie Writing School and Everything I know About Writing I Learned From Pro Wrestling).

The Arcane Art of Title Development

A white-paper about title design offered free to aspiring writers/publishers, built from prior newsletter fragments. STATUS: I need to write one final entry, and it’s pretty much ready to go.

A White Paper Of Common Writing Scams

A free ebook I want to write logging signs that you’ve been scammed by a vanity publisher or not-so-ethical small press whose operating in the grey zone. STATUS: I need to break down what I really want to cover, and pull together some existing twitter threads and blog posts that can be repurposed.

Note From the Brain Jar Quarterly (Ebook Archive)

Compilations of the newsletter archive in ebook/PDF form, downloadable and accessible. I was originally going to this by month, but quarters made more senses. STATUS: I’ve got files ready for all the newsletters from 2017 to 2020, but I need to do formatting, proofing, and cover designs.

Freelance Jobs

Design Job 1
A cover design and interior layout for a student press out at UQ, and my third or fourth time around doing some iteration of this gig. We’re at the fine-tuning stage of the work, which is always the worst part – hyper-enthusiastic young editors will frequently scour the manuscript for fixes that can’t be done, or want to implement copyedit changes at the proofing stage. Deadline isn’t until February next year at this stage, but I want to get it clear before the end of November because February next year is two months away from running a festival

Design Job 2

A straight cover design for a new client, who commissioned me during the brief window when I was open. The design is mostly done at this stage—I just need to swap in the final art and do some last-minute tweaks, then find out whether they want a cover.

Making Your Backlist Work For You

Two-hour Workshop for the RWA Conference, now scheduled for December 10 2021. Which, now that I’ve written own, is far closer than I’m thinking and totally a justification for doing this exercise.

You Don’t Want To Be Published

A workshop I may or may not be delivering in 2022, depending on how it can be rescheduled (It was originally scheduled for the week in May where I’m not running a festival)

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