Goshdarnit...
I think this strip (from the brilliant Real Life Comics) illustrates my problem with blogging perfectly. Every few months or so, I think 'gee, I really should start keeping a blog', and then make one post. Then some nine weeks later I'll be sitting in bed thinking 'there's something I should be doing...' and then it'll hit me and I'll feel like crap. Possibly more.
In any case, I read an interesting interview with Neal Stephenson today, and some of the stuff he said really hit home - particularly when he was talking about his writing techniques. I often hear that the best way to write is to bang out a large volume of crap, and then sift through to find the good bits. And yes, it's a lot like sifting through crap - I've tried to write a novel like that for the past year, and it didn't work well. Reading my own excrement was disheartening, and then I'd give up editing for a while and go off to sulk/cry/scream in rage at the fundamental unfairness of the world.
So there ya go. Next time I'll just try to write editing as I go. Some bits may need a quick redraft, but what the hell.
On the subject of writing, I'm just putting the finishing touches to two stories right now - The Red Knight and The Warrior And The Beast will be dropped down to BeWrite soon. I'm not particularly happy with either of them, which is a good sign - whenever I'm happy or proud of a story it turns out to be incontravertible shite.
I'm not even sure if I spelt incontravertible right. And I don't particularly care.