Tenth Story Published - 'Aloha or Bust'

There has been a lot of change in my life over the last month, including a few important milestones - from a writing perspective, the publication of my tenth piece of original fiction is the latest. If all goes to plan, 'Aloha or Bust' should be appearing in AntipodeanSF #139 sometime in January, and is a tiny snapshot of interplanetary politics from the point of a ships Captain.

Sure, ten pieces short stories doesn't sound like a whole lot in the grand scheme of things, but frankly, that's about ten more than I ever expected to get published back when I launched into this caper a couple of years ago. It's been an interesting 'hobby', and one that I haven't been able to devote a lot of time to recently, however this should hopefully change in the coming months.

I've been pondering exactly where I should go with my writing. I'm more of an instant gratification type of guy, so I find the long haul of grinding out a novel to be painful. Everyone thinks they have a novel in them, a select few actually do, and most of those people fall by the wayside. My first novel is sitting in the metaphoric cupboard drawer in second draft - every time I pick it up I can't put it down, I love the story I've written, but it's ultimately the quality of the writing that shakes my confidence, and I'm not entirely sure this is a story that a wider audience would enjoy. The long game, a.k.a. novel writing, may not be my ultimate calling. I love the short game, a.k.a. short fiction - writing funny anecdotal stories that people can enjoy almost immediately. That's more my bag.

For those interested:

'Aloha or Bust' - AntipodeanSF #139 (January 2010)
'Dog-E' - AntipodeanSF #138 (December 2009)
'Interrogation #8' - AntipodeanSF #131 (April 2009)
'Jack Austin: Xeno-Hunter' - AntipodeanSF #130 (March 2009)
'Payload' (poem) - AntipodeanSF #125 (October 2008)
'Hemodialysis' - Skive Magazine #6 (December 2007)
'One Bullet' - FLASHSHOT (November 2007)
'The Cloud' - Twisted Tongue #7 (August 2007)
'Supreme Hunter' - Twisted Tongue #7 (August 2007)
'Ringtone' - Ripples Magazine #9 (July 2007)