So what’s next?
It’s a time of change for me right now, and so it’s also a time to take stock and plan for the future. So where to next?
After much thought, I have decided to relocate from the Kent coast to London. Much as I love being by the sea, and have lived there for the last 16 years, I also miss living in a vibrant city. An excellent job came up in London, and I’ll be starting it just after Easter.
As a full-time teacher, I struggle to find much time to write. This will be even more challenging as I’ll be running a department again. However, having spent the last few months working in a school department alongside the prolific Elsye Harwood, I’m sure I’ll somehow find the time. Many a morning was spent comparing our experiences of writing. Almost without fail, she would have written substantially more than me the evening before.
So, to the future? The first series of the Royal Zombie Corps was completed with the release of Tigers at Cambrai at the start of March. I’ve got several ideas of where to take this story, and next would obviously be the conclusion of the Great War. However, much scope exists to address the chaos of the earlier Weimar Republic, and the Russian and Irish Civil Wars. There are also the small actions and conflicts that occurred across the British Empire, any of which could be an interesting setting for the Zombie stories. However, I must confess I’d also like to address the issue of a general zombie outbreak.
The next book I’m working on is the sequel to The Butcher’s Funeral. This was the first published story I wrote. This was initially serialised so that I would maintain the motivation as I battled through the chapters, uncertain if I would ever succeed in completing it. The next story will be longer and released as a single book. At the time of writing this blog, I can confirm that I have a whole story outline, with the first chapter already fully drafted. However, work on this has been put on hold for the whole of March as I prepared for my move to London.
Over the next few weeks I’m also intending to play with some short stories. This is so I can get back into the habit of writing, while setting up my new working patterns. I’ve always wanted to have a go at some sci-fi writing, something I’ve never previously attempted, so this is likely to feature over the next month. Of course, all this is subject to the workload in my new position, and as I’ll probably also be marking high school examinations, time will be tight.