Hello there

So, yes, hello.

Hi.

As you may have gathered from the blog title, my name is Jonathan and I am a writer. I would say aspiring writer but I think that if you're actually writing then you're not really aspiring to it, are you? You're doing it. Aspiring published writer? Yes, OK, let's go with that. I'm an aspiring published writer.

What do I write? I've spent the last year or so writing a novel, and I'm currently working on a follow-up as well as a sort of script thing that will occasionally disappear from my list of things to do before bubbling up again. I mostly write horror. Or dark fantasy if you'd prefer. I do write in other genres, but I do find that a story I'm writing will often take a nasty turn.

This blog is here for a few reasons. Firstly, I'm envious of my friends who write very clever, very entertaining blogs, and I thought I'd like to give it a try. Secondly, I find I'm more productive when I'm working towards something. Being a naturally slothful person, I write best when I'm working towards a deadline, even when it's self-imposed. I've not been setting myself enough deadlines recently as, after enjoying a thorough round of rejections of my manuscript for my first novel, the little part of my brain that thinks that my writing is any good retreated off somewhere for a bit. It's back now, although it's a lot smaller and quieter. Sometimes it'll be laughing quite happily, then the smile will drop and it will go off to sit on the windowsill for a bit and it's all too clear that it suffered a great deal. Maybe it feels like this.

Maybe one day it will talk about it. The point is that I love writing. It's fun, addictive, and there's nothing quite like it. This blog will allow me to put at least some of what I write out there for people to see. Thirdly, I'd like to talk about writing. Not in a precious way, but in a nuts and bolts sort of fashion. Finally, I miss writing short stories. While I am in the process of working on a novel (and the script thing, which refuses to go away), there have been little ideas popping up that would be nice to do something with.

What this blog won't have is very much of "what's going on in my life". This is because what's going on in my life at the moment isn't really that interesting. What it will have is some stories. Some scary, some funny, some sad, and hopefully some that are all of the above. There may even be some happy ones. But I won't lie, they probably won't pop up that often. The first story should be coming soon. I hope you enjoy it.

Still not sure about the blog title. That comma...