Yellowcake Springs: three quarters done

Okay, I won’t make the mistake of putting a picture of a mushroom cloud into this post. I got a ridiculous amount of hits on the post last time I did that. Anyway, I managed to write nearly 11,000 words on my novel Yellowcake Springs over this past two weeks, which is just shy of the 12,000 words I had aimed to write. A common theme here. This means I am now the proud owner of 64,000 words or 221 double spaced pages, which represents around three quarters of the total manuscript. I had wanted the first draft to be 100,000 words in length, but I’m not going to get there. The book has really short chapters: 39 at the moment and more than 50 when completed. I myself like books with lots of short chapters. It makes them seem easier to get through. So I’m writing a book for lazy readers like myself.

The first draft will be finished in the summer holidays, Dec 09/Jan 10, and I expect I’ll have time to tinker with it extensively before returning to school (work) at the beginning of Feb 10. Next stop: world domination!

All right, this post wouldn’t be complete without a picture, so here’s a picture depicting a scene from my novel. Er, kinda:

More books to read – 2/10/09

At the end of 2008 I was pleased to be able to say that I had read around 50 books in the year at the rate of one per week. I’m not entirely sure why, but I’ve read far fewer books in 2009, and with the year entering its final quarter, I thought it was time to read a couple more. So off I went to the two local secondhand bookstores here in Northam. I’ve got three to read now, but knowing me, I’ll be doing well to end up reading two of them.

Regeneration by Pat Barker – this is about Sigfreid Sassoon in World War One. I’ve had this open for weeks now, but I haven’t gotten around to finishing it yet. Quite compelling reading, but easy to put down, as I discovered.

Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini – I’ve definitely heard of this author, but only vaguely. I’ve barely looked at this, but it’s about Afghanistan and I like reading about different cultures. Sold.

Vignettes from the Late Ming translated by Yang Ye – I’m a sucker for anything Chinese, so I was sold on this straight away. It’s a collection of hsaio-p’in, a kind of prose vignette style from the Ming dynasty (17th century). Sold.

On another note, I am working on my novel Yellowcake Springs again. I’ve managed 5000 words so far in these school holidays, and I aim to write another 7000 words in the coming days, taking my ms. to 65,000 words in total. The entire ms. will be around 90,000 in first draft form.

Yellowcake Springs: aim for the stars, hit the trees

I believe that it was a game developer who once said the following in relation to their upcoming release  (the game, Master of Orion 3, was a terrible flop, incidentally):

“Aim for the stars, hit the trees. Aim for the trees, hit the ground.”

The point of that statement, of course, is that the greater our ambitions are, the greater our achievements are likely to be, even if they don’t match said ambitions. I find this a very pertinent statement in relation to my own writing, as it never does reach the heights I imagine for it. Nothing ever comes out quite as good as it is in our heads. Anyway, my aim for these holidays was to write 20,000 words on Yellowcake Springs in 10 days. I’m pulling the pin today at 13,000 words in 8 days (today would have been the ninth). Why? Why not push on through the pain barrier?

I am fond of quoting William’s Burroughs famous (at least to me) statement:

“Writing that you do when you don’t feel like writing ain’t worth shit.”

And I didn’t feel like it this morning. I stared at the blank page, I cast my eyes uneasily over my paltry notes (the writing had virtually outstripped the planning), and I said, ‘No.’ This is surely one of the most useful words in the English language.

So now I have slightly more than 51,000 words, weighing in at 184 pages of double spaced script. With any luck, I’ll be ready to write another 20,000 words (read: 13,000) in the term 3 holidays in October…

From the Avon Advocate – 3/6/09

Looks like I’m famous…again. I like this photo better than the last one. I’ve been gratified by the response to the novel, and sales have reached or exceeded expectations. Avon Valley residents can still get a copy of The Kingdom of Four Rivers from Monopolies Toys & Books in Northam, or direct from the author (me). Leave a comment hereabouts if you desire…

The Kingdom of Four Rivers – officially launched

Yesterday I had my book launch for The Kingdom of Four Rivers in the Northam Boulevard. It was a nerve-wracking experience for me, but I was mightily relieved at the end to discover I had sold all but five copies of my stock. The event had been well supported by the Avon Advocate, Monopolies Toys & Books, the Avon Valley Arts Society and Northam Senior High School – all of which helped to make the day a success. My heartfelt thanks go out to anyone who has helped in any way with this project, and especially to those of you who came and bought a book yesterday! I even got a ticking off from one astute gentleman over a grammatical issue on the book’s blurb. I won’t point it out here, but I wish someone had pointed this out before it was too late! Extra points will be awarded for those who can discover any proofreading issues in the book itself. I counted four (very) minor issues in total, which seems reasonable.

So where to now? Those still interested in obtaining a signed copy of The Kingdom of Four Rivers have a couple of options. Firstly, you can make your way into Monopolies Toys & Books in Northam, which has plenty of stock. Secondly, you can order direct from the publisher at Equilibrium Books . Thirdly, you can leave a comment hereabouts and I’ll see what I can do for you.

I am hoping to expand the retail availability of the novel somewhat, but I’m under no illusions as to how grinding this process is likely to be. If you can help in any way with this, let me know.

From the Avon Advocate 29/4/09

The Kingdom of Four Rivers is now available!

The publication of my novel The Kingdom of Four Rivers has been completed slightly ahead of schedule, which means that that it now available for purchase from the publisher, Equilibrium Books. Total price including postage anywhere in Australia is approximately $30.

Check it out here:

http://www.equilibriumbooks.com/kingdom.htm

You can read more about the novel on my official site:

http://www.guysalvidge.com

Announcing guysalvidge.com

Today I ‘m launching my official website at guysalvidge.com

The official site will run in conjunction with this blog. Information relating to the release of The Kingdom of Four Rivers, purchase information and photo galleries will be hosted on the official site, while guysalvidge.wordpress.com will continue to be used for book reviews and anything else deemed not quite important enough to make it to the official site.

More information will become available as the release date draws near. At this stage, the release is set for some time in May, and I’ve tentatively set Saturday May 23rd as the date of the official launch at the Northam Boulevard. More on this soon!

The Kingdom of Four Rivers to be published by Equilibrium Books

Yep, this is my exciting news. My novel The Kingdom of Four Rivers has been picked up by WA publisher Equilibrium Books. The release is tentatively set for May of this year, which is just three months away. Hopefully I will be able to arrange a book launch here in Northam. The novel will be available for purchase at the Equilibrium Books website, and at selected bookstores (i.e. the ones I convince to stock it). Initially this will be only bookstores in the Avon Valley area, but I’m hoping to branch out into Perth and Melbourne, if only in some small degree.  Don’t believe me yet? Here’s the cover:

I’m stoked with the cover, as it depicts two of the most important images in the novel: the jungle and one of the shields covering the remaining cities. In the next couple of months, I will be setting my own web space, probably guysalvidge.com, which will have information about the book, links to various booksellers, and hopefully an extract too. I just need to work out the legalities of this. So there – I’m excited!

Guy Salvidge’s blog turns 1

Well, a year of this blog has come and gone, and I’ve been pretty pleased with how things have travelled. I’ve written a fairly insane number of book reviews (at least 50) on here, as well as various other things. I scored free books from Simon Haynes and J. J. DeCeglie.  Strangely, the most popular post is my review of Ma Jian’s Beijing Coma, which seems to be mostly because I included the famous ‘tank man’ image in my review. That’s right – if you type ‘man vs tank’ into Google you’ll wind up here. Apparently.

I’ve got some fairly exciting news on the writing front, but I think I’ll hold onto that one just for now. Thanks to everyone who has read or  commented on this blog over the past twelve months. Watch this space!