¦ dialling in from the Sky Bunker ¦
08:04 GMT, Sunday 7th October 2007. Baby blue sky beyond the canaopy, chiffonous white clouds drifting high, really high, tinged with pink, the last vestiges of a sunrise I missed. So much for waking up at 4A.M. again, as I'd hoped. I even went to bed at 10 O'clock... (on a Saturday night)... fighting the ideas sloshing around my brain, resisting the urge to get up again, brew a mug of tea and climb up into the sky bunker with the darkness pressing in tight and soft lighting creating a wonderful bubble to be creative within. I woke up about 7.45 from a deep sleep, groggy and clumsy as I pushed myself out of bed, downstairs, kettle, mug, tea bag.... upstairs into the backroom to sit in a small wooden chair with a view across the edge of the city, to distant hills of Dundry, vast swathes of green countryside all around, and the early morning light blending with gold beams of the sun. I smiled around that mug of tea and realised that I'm living in a moment, in a period, that I'll be remembering for many years to come. This is the end of July 2005 to Octobter 2007.
I'm looking forward to getting back into a work routine: different challenges, different parts of my brain getting used, different pressures and stresses; new people. I'm relieved that I've found something that pays the kind of money I'm used to. I'm really happy that I've scored a job in Bath, it means I can finally get to know that city better, and it means I'm closer to people like Mathias (Vega$) and Ms Zee West. I'm delighted I can take a bus into work, rather than drive: more environmentally efficient, an enforced buffer between personal world and work world, I can read a book, or stare out of the window at the passing countryside as this backroad to Bath (not the congested A4) snakes along the upper ridges of high hills that fill the space between Bristol and Bath.
Sure, the job might stress me out; I might miss the abruptly slashing of creative time from all-hours of every day for month after month, down to a couple hours every evening and my weekends...but, bloody hell, I've done what I needed to do. All current creative projects are secondary to what I've now completed. I have to reign in any impatience and frustration about progress and simply accept the fact they will now take longer.
This weekend was a good one. Friday morning I did my regular routine for the last time (Coffee #1 in the morning, then into town, stroll through harbourside to Watershed). Saturday I spent a couple hours fighting back the jungle in the garden. Then I went up into the sky bunker and finished the full notes for Dog Eat Dog, with some new plot developments I'm very pleased about. It is literally ready for me to start writing. I also finished off writing out comprehensive notes for "Red Desire ¦ Cold Murder", which is a novel idea, but will also be made available as a published scenario for Yellow Dawn. I'm still ploughing through the editing of Yellow Dawn...my god the thing is huge, and packed with great stuff: every time I read a little bit more of it I come away with a stomach fluttering excitement, like anticipation of Christmas as a child, from the idea of finally launching it. I've also got to start picking up the threads of the major campaign I was writing for Yellow Dawn this time last year (Shadows of the Quantinex); it is a major piece of work but I want to ensure it is ready to launch not too long after Yellow Dawn rulebook. I also need to make sure I have a handful of small scenarios to release with the rulebook, so people can get on with playing the game straight away. I also need to have Dog Eat Dog (which is a Yellow Dawn novel) ready to launch in a similar time-period. Current schedule looks like:
() Finish editorial of Yellow Dawn rulebook and be ready to launch: 1st March 2008
() At this point push to finalise Shadows of the Quantinex
() Complete writing Dog Eat Dog: 1st of May 2008
I've also got a simmering awareness of the novel I started and stopped (back in September 2005) in order to focus on creating the first edition of Yellow Dawn. I want to resume writing that around Autumn 2008.
So, quite a lot to get on with.
Djr