I don’t do New Year’s resolutions, but I did promise myself I was going to start submitting work this year instead of writing it, obsessively polishing and re-editing it, and then putting it in a dark corner of my hard drive to rot and wither. Once a story goes there, it’s done for- I just can’t bear to pick it up again once I’ve consigned it to the shadows. A careful sweep of my computer will bear sad fruit: countless abandoned novels, poems and characters, starved of attention, doomed to live out their days in a half-finished state, through no fault of their own. I’m just not a natural finisher of things. I am a beginner, but not a finisher.   

Anyway, I decided enough was enough. It was time to finish something, finish anything, and send it off, no matter how shit I thought it was. Published work that is imperfect is a lot better than near-perfect, unpublished work. 

And, so far, so good. I wrote a short story about a mad scientist, submitted it to an audio fiction podcast that I love called The No Sleep Podcast, and… they accepted it! You can find ‘His Life’s Work’ here on their website, although it is worth saying that you’ll need to buy the Episode to hear it, as it’s part of the Season Pass deal. It’s easy enough to click that ‘buy full episode button’, and it’s only $1.50 for over two and a half hours of awesome content, so go on, treat yourself. 

So, yes, that happened. When I got the email, I blinked, quite a few times. Surely this isn’t supposed to happen? Surely that should have said, ‘Thank you for your submission, but…’

But no, no mistake. Before I knew it it was edited, cast, recorded, produced and released. The excitement that hit me when release day grew close was unbelievable. Something I made, out there in the public domain for others to hear, and hopefully, enjoy. Or not. Again, who cares? It’s out there! I am published! I have transitioned! 

Perhaps it’s beginner’s luck, but honestly, who cares if it is. The podcast in question is one of my most favourite things in the cosmos right now. No Sleep has been producing superior quality, award-winning horror fiction in audio form for some years, and honestly, there’s very little else like it in podcast land. I’m an avid subscriber, have purchased all the season passes, and pretty much spend all my spare time plugged into the latest episode, so it feels incredible to have a story of mine accepted by the show. 

I’ll publish ‘His Life’s Work’ in written format in a separate post shortly. In the meantime, listen, support the show, and please help to turn me into a better writer with your feedback. 

Also, watch this space…there may be more productions to come! Onwards!