From Sand To Glass

Friday Fun

2012-01-27T17:50:00.000Z

It's Friday (I keep typing Firday and correcting it), so it must be time for some fun.

First up is Oddbox. This week how not to spell Shcool...on the road outside a school, the cutest baby Aardvark you'll ever see, the grossology exhibition about farts & vomiting and what happens when you let a BBC reporter loose at a toy fair. Nice.

From elsewhere comes news that Canada has put its first man into space...albeit a lego one while in entertainment news, Star Wars has been remade...by amateurs. Fans have submitted their own versions of fifteen second chunks of the film and it's all been sifted and collated into a ~~ripoff~~ tribute to the original. Among the stars of this new version are various household pets

My favourite headline of the week from Newsbicuit: 'Maternity unit say staff shortage is causing a midwife crisis'. Second place goes to: 'Huge solar flares threaten Earth with 70s fashions'.

Picture time.

Finally, some fantastic 3D pavement art:

and see if you can spot the design error in this picture.

Th-th-th-th-that's all f-f-f-f-f-folks!!! Have a great weekend, and on Monday I shall tell you about my possible upcoming radio interview.

Marketing And Overcoming The Fear Factor

2012-01-25T18:40:00.000Z

When someone tells you your book needs to be publicised/advertised/marketed, what's your first reaction? Mine is, 'I don't want to get into people's faces with this or upset them'.

Over the past few months I've done a lot of thinking about advertising and come to the conclusion that there are two types of adverts. The first type tells you about the person/company, what they do/sell and where to contact them. It's not an in-your-face pressure sell or an ego-trip, just a note to remind you they exist.

The second type of advert threatens you with being ostracised from society if you don't buy this stuff or patronises you because you don't know about it. And if that's not enough, it goes on to say that ALL your friends will want one and you're odd/stupid/smelly if you don't get one too. It's what I normally think of as advertising, as it's the kind I see most often on TV, at the cinema, on hoardings or hear on the radio.

The first type is found in parish magazines and local papers and is the style of advert I run for my PC business. So, I thought, why not use that style for my books? Why not become a 'first' advertiser.

To that end I have placed an advert on the right for my latest novel, and the publishing co-operative it was issued through, as well as including a separate page on this blog.

If you don't buy the book it won't leave you an outcast or cause you to tumble headlong down the social ladder. Nor will the lack of a purchase reduce your IQ or cause you to suffer from BO or halitosis. It's not a threat of social exclusion, it's a note from me to you to let you know what I do.

If you're worried about 'marketing', then become a 'first' advertiser. Leave people a note on your blog, on a website or in the local paper. You don't have to become like Uriah Heep and be 'ever so 'umble', just be yourself.

Take the fear out of marketing. Leave a note.

WIP And An Award

2012-01-23T14:42:00.000Z

I have been given an award: the Versatile Blogger Award.

It is with great pleasure that I accept the award for being a versatile blogger from Nick Wilford on his Scattergun Scribblings blog. I'd like to thank all those who made me what I am today...I'd like to but I won't, I'm mean and horrible like that.

As a recipient of that award I am duty bound to do the following:

1. In a post on your blog, nominate up to 15 fellow bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award.
2. In the same post, add the Versatile Blogger Award.
3. In the same post, thank the blogger who nominated you in a post with a link back to their blog.
4. In the same post, share 7 completely random pieces of information about yourself.
5. In the same post, include this set of rules.
6. Inform each nominated blogger of their nomination by posting a comment on each of their blogs.

Here are my nominees:
1. Caitlin at All about growing up and becoming a famous author. It makes me smile and gives me pause for thought.
2. Milo at In Media Res. For giving me a lot to think and laugh about, especially Coyote Cal.
3. Valentina at Letters from Valentina Hepburn. It's varied and interesting.
4. Lisa at Lisa Shafer: A Writer's Blog. This woman has me laughing out loud and her photostory competitions can be a hoot.
5. Nicole at Peace, Love, Nicole. For writing a life blog that is not only varied and entertaining, but also interesting and honest.
6. Ted at Ted Cross Blog. Not only an author but a diplomat. His stories about his travels around the world are fascinating to read as are his pieces on his writing.

I now have to give you seven random pieces of information about me:
1. My kids call me Baldatron. A confluence of having a bald patch and them watching Transformers far too often for my own good.
2. I HATE music in shops and eating places. It's way too loud and instrusive.
3. I graduated from University at the age of 34 with a degree in History and German language, then used that to get a job as a computer programmer.
4. I used to collect compliment slips.
5. One of my dreams is to have my own library.
6. I home educated my two eldest children through their teenage years.
7. I love baking cakes as I get to eat the leftover raw cake mixture, and there's always lots leftover as I seem to make too much each time. I also eat raw pastry.

Well, aside from telling the nominees, that's my award speech completed. Now, on with the play.

------------------------------------------------------------

I haven't come up with a title for this play yet, so I'm open to suggestions. You can read scene 1 if you want to get in the mood.

Scene 2

Margaret and the girls enter stage right.

Elena: My feet hurt

Elizabeth: Stop complaining.

Margaret: We're here. The village is just beyond the edge of the forest. We should start seeing people now.

Elena: I'm hungry. We haven't eaten for three days.

Margaret: We ate this morning.

Elena: Not much.

Elizabeth: Would you rather be back at home, well fed and dead?

Elena: No

Elizabeth: Then stop complaining.

Elena: But I'm...

Margaret: Stop it, both of you. (She beckons them close and hugs them) That village isn't our home anymore, this one is and we're nearly there. Elena, your grandfather will give you some food and somewhere to rest. And both of you: we'll start anew here.

Elizabeth: What if grandfather's dead?

Margaret: He wasn't last time I heard news from the village.

Elena: That was when I was born.

Elizabeth: That was a long time ago, mother. He may not...

Margaret: STOP IT! There's nowhere else for us to go. IF he's not alive, then I don't know what we'll do. I'll have to find somewhere for us to work. I don't know everything I'm just doing my best.

The girls hug their mother and together say, Sorry.

As they stand there a man walks on from stage left.

Man: And who would you three be?

The three of them turn round to face the man.

Margaret: My name is Margaret and these are my daughters Elizabeth and Elena. We've come to see my father, Harold Blackman. He is, was, the local blacksmith.

Man: Harold. I take it you're his daughter. You left some years ago to marry a man called...what was his name...Peter?

Margaret: Philip. Philip Thompson.

Man: Ah yes. You were his only daughter. His only child. And you left him.

Margaret: You look familiar.

Man: Older certainly, but I don't think I was familiar.

Margaret: Albert? Albert Potter?

Man: No. That was my elder brother.

Margaret: Oh. Does he still live here?

Man: In a way. We buried him four years ago. You can visit his grave in the churchyard if you want.

Margaret: I'm sorry to hear that.

Man: He wasn't best pleased when you moved away. He wanted you for his own.

Margaret: I know, but I wasn't...

Man: You didn't want to marry a lowly farmer.

Margaret: No, I...

Elena: Is my grandfather alive?

pause

Man: No. He died nearly ten years ago. His apprentice took over the smith. He may still have some of your father's things, but I doubt it. (He starts to walk off, stage left, then stops) A lot of people remember what you did Margaret. Without your father here, you may find it difficult to find anyone to take you in.

exit stage left

Elizabeth: Mother. What do we do?

Margaret: We carry on. What else can we do?

Elena: But mother?

Margaret: But what? Do we have another choice? Do you know somewhere else we can go? (pause) Let's hope that he was wrong about the village. Let's hope that someone will help us.

they exit stage left

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As always comments are welcome. I have a few ideas to improve the scene which I'm working on, but would appreciate any input you can give.

Have a good start to the week, and I'll see you on Wednesday.

Friday Fun

2012-01-20T13:07:00.000Z

First up is oddbox. This week, snow in the Sahara, a breakdancing bricklayer and an ice sculpture competition in Moscow.

From elsewhere on the BBC, there's news that Ancient Peruvians ate popcorn and some amazing 3D pictures of the Earth.

From the blogshpere, my favourite blog of the week comes from 'Chandara Writes' and has some spectacular space photos.

Two other blog entries gave me pause for thought this week. One, from 'Say This Write', is about pointing the finger at others, while the other comes from 'Saucy Lucy Wisdom' where she writes about encouragement.

Picture Time.

See you on Monday, where I shall be accepting an award and posting scene 2 of the play what I is writing.

Write To Your Strengths

2012-01-18T20:27:00.000Z

My last post garnered a couple of responses along the lines of 'I find description hard'. So do I, which is why I decided to write something that didn't require description in any detail.

If you find someting hard you have two options: practice or work around it. If description is hard for you, try scriptwriting. It's not as if there's no work around for scriptwriters. The BBC actively encourage people to send them scripts, especially unpublished and amateur writers. There are also a large number of production companies seeking out scripts for radio, television and film, which a Google search or flipping through the Writers' and Artists' Yearbook will find for you.

If scriptwriting isn't your preferred form of writing, then how about non-fiction. For all the acclaim Isaac Asimov won for his fiction, he made more money with his non-fiction work. Novelists can also be found writing non-fiction articles, and not always about writing. Douglas Adams, the creator of The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy, wrote extensively on new technolgy and ecology.

Another alternative is to work with another writer. If you're not good at description, but good with dialogue, why not write together? You could sharpen up their dialogue in the pieces they write and they can help you with the description.

In short, if you find an aspect of writing hard, there are more opportunities than you think to help you either overcome the deficiency or ignore it altogether.

WIP Update

2012-01-16T22:29:00.000Z

A slightly different WIP update this Monday: I'm posting part of a play.

In the last writing update I gave two weeks ago, I mentioned a play. Well, here is the first scene for you to peruse and comment on.

*************************************

Offstage, men and women are shouting. 'Get them' 'over here' etc as they chase one woman and two teenage girls they've accused of murder.

Enter stage right, Margaret and her two daughters Elena and Elizabeth, who are the subject of this chase

Margaret: Over here girls. Now

They hide at the back of the stage and cover themselves with a large, dark cloth that Margaret is carrying. On comes a man, out of breath, talking to someone offstage.

Man: I'm sure they came this way.

Offstage: Can you see them?

Man: Not yet, but they've got to be here somewhere. (He continues searching while he and 'offstage' talk)

Offstage: Well if you can't see them, they can't have gone that way. There's no way they could've crossed that field that quickly.

Man: Listen, I saw...

Offstage: Look, we need to get to them. They killed Partridge and they couldn't have gone that way. We'd have seen them.

Man: (Sees the cloth at the back of the stage) What's this?

Offstage: A distant shout of 'Found them' followed by 'Come on Adam, someone's got them.'

Man: (Rushes off) Great. I haven't seen a hanging in years.

Offstage: We've got to have a trial first.

Man: (now offstage) That won't take long.

Long pause

Margaret: (slowly looks out from under the cloth) They're gone.

(All three stand up)

Elena: Why do they think we killed father?

Margaret: Because we're foreign.

Elizabeth: We're not foreign, we come from Cambridge.

Margaret: To these villagers, that makes us foreign. They don't like non-villagers. I warned your father but he wouldn't listen and look what's happened.

Elena: What do we do now?

Margaret: I don't know. But we have to get away from here.

Elena: Where to?

Margaret: (Thinks for a moment) To your grandfather's village. We'll be safe there.

Elena: But that's miles away.

Elizabeth: Then the sooner we start the better.

Elena: My feet hurt.

Elizabeth: If those men and women...

Elena: And children. I saw Samuel Parker in the mob.

Margaret: If anyone catches us, they'll kill us. They'll hang us. Sore feet or not, we have to go. Now.

exit stage left

*************************************

Any comments you'd like to make about this opening are VERY welcome, whether it be critical or praisworthy.

See you on Wednesday.

Friday Fun

2012-01-13T22:08:00.000Z

First up it's Oddbox. This week, no pants day, an ENORMOUS toy car track and surviving a bungee jump...when the string breaks...over the Zambezi...with Crocodiles in it. YIKES!

From elsewhere on the Beeb, the story of man's predictions made 100 years ago,some of which came true, not forgetting a new technology prize: $10m to invent a medical tricorder.

Picture Time

This young man can still smile, despite the problems.

Kinda puts the world in perspective.

And finally, Everytime I hear this song I think about sportspeople, CEO's and politicians.

Have a great weekend.

Too Focused?

2012-01-11T23:15:00.000Z

In the past three days I have updated/edited the first three chapters of my new novel. On top of that I have written the first scene and the outline of a play and the first chapter of another novel in a different style to the one I had origianlly planned. Is this distraction a good idea?

Yes. It gets it all out of my head and onto a page so I don't have to remember anything.

By writing all this stuff down, it has freed me from a lot of worry about those stories and ideas and left me to concentrate on the main task, which is writing the new novel. It's something I heartily recommend for anyone who suffers from this overload of ideas.

In the past I have written down all the comedy material I had swimming around my head for a standup routine (no I haven't performed it yet). In a folder on the shelf to my right are pieces of paper on which I've written ideas over the past ten years which I may well go back to at some point.

In short, don't worry about being distracted by other ideas, just write them down and get on with your WIP. There is such a thing as being too focused.

See you Friday.

WritingRaw

2012-01-09T22:32:00.000Z

Not a WIP today, but an appeal.

WritingRaw.com is a writing website whose aim is 'to serve the literary community with the opportunity to have their work online and out in the world'. In the past year they have had several problems with a lack of material and the January issue wasn't emailed out for this reason.

Here's the email I and other subscribers received from them.

.........................

People would like to know what has happened to the January issue of WritingRaw.com. The answer is easy, but quite sad too. We did not get enough submissions to put together a new issue. Fiction-wise we did but there were only 6 poetry submissions, 2 for the contest, and some of the people who were doing columns were not able to do them for January. I am again lost on how to proceed with the site. Without submissions there is no point – unless I can figure out a way to redevelop the site into something that does not require submissions. Suggestions would be greatly appreciated! I believe in what we are doing, and believe in all of the authors who have appeared on WritingRaw.com, but it would seem that an online literary magazine just does not work. Am in the process of discovering how to continue with the material that I do have… Again, any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

.........................

I will be sending my feedback to them in the next day or so.

Sites like WritingRaw that do not charge for their content, or pay, are getting rarer, but without them new writers will find it harder to get 'out there'. If nothing else, they give the writer a feeling of hope that their writing isn't total rubbish.

Some sites will die out as part of natural wastage and this may be the case with WritingRaw, but as it is the site that has given me a column and published a short story for me I do feel an affinity to it.

Give it a look over, and see if it appeals to you. If not, tell them why. If it does, send them something.

See you on Wednesday.

Friday Fun

2012-01-06T13:17:00.001Z

First up, an old favourite: Oddbox. This week, the best christmas present ever (I defy you not to weep), how to give CPR without kissing and an ice hotel.

Newsbiscuit has had some interesting stories over the past few weeks. From a writer's perspective the most grin-inducing was the number of da vinci code rippoffs would top 3 million in 2012. From the world of international relations, there are rumours that the axis of evil is to seek new members after a terrbile year.

Elsewhere, some good news when one Swedish woman found her ring after 15 years...attached to a carrot. There's also '100 things we didn't know until last year'. On the list is the snippet of information that the male water boatman insect sings with its penis.

Picture time.

And finally, one of the breatest versions of 'Rawhide' you'll ever hear performed by a Scottish band called 'The Chaps'. Sadly it wasn't a hit first time round, but deserved to be, so let's get this thing going viral.

My Blogging Rules

2012-01-04T19:16:00.001Z

As a writer I have some rules that I (almost) follow when writing my blog. Not for the sake of it, but because this is more than a personal diary, it's a focus on and promotion of my work as well.

Different writers will do different things with their blogs and this is NOT a critique of the way they do things, it is only what I do and why.

1. Always respond to comments. I think it's bad form when you have a 'professional' blog to not respond to every comment, even if it's just a thankyou. If I had over a hundred responses it may not be practical to respond to each one, (though I'd like the problem) but even so, thanking everyone for responding with a single comment at the end is not an unreasonable goal.

2. Be regular. Monday I give an update on my writing/acting/publishing. Wednesday is for tips/hints/ideas about writing. Friday is for fun and some random thoughts. I rarely post at the weekends, but when I do it's with something personal. I have some readers who only drop by on the day they're interested in, so keeping to that routine is helpful for them. It helps me too as I always know what I'm going to write about a couple of days in advance.

3. Keep it short. Although long blogs can be interesting, they can also be dull. I prefer to keep my entries shorter than I am so they are easy to read and, hopefully, to remember.

And that's it. Three guidelines to help me every week. Which has left me curious about your own guidelines.

And So It Begins

2012-01-02T13:51:00.000Z

A New Year and a new novel, which I'm planning to launch in November.

I've been examining my writing style over the past few months and come to the conclusion that I don't write anything. Confused? Let me explain.

I don't write straight comedy, if that's not an oxymoron, but the novels aren't thrillers or SF/F either. They seem to be a mix of the three. While comedy novels have an element of the thriller about them (who did what to whom and why etc), they don't take the situation seriously, even when someone dies. I do tend to take it seriously, so it's not straightforward comedy writing.

Neither does my work come under the thriller heading as there is too much comedy in the writing (it makes me laugh anyway). There are also elements of SF and some fantasy too.

It's a bit like mixing Terry Pratchett, Tom Holt and Jim Butcher, with a dash Stephen Hunt, Gail Carriger and Douglas Adams mixed in...according to my rather large ego.

In effect I don't write anything as I am not classified. Certified maybe, but not classified. Is it arrogant to think I write my own genre? I aim my work at the SF/F Comedy market as that is the genre it fits in most easily, but I know in my heart that's not where it belongs.

Still, I have written the first draft of the first three chapters and it's looking good. 'What's it about' I hear you ask? As you ask so nicely I'll tell you.

Adam, a 700 year old wizard (give or take a few decades), knows that his replacement is due to arrive soon. It turns out to be a fourteen year old orphaned girl, who, depiste appearances, is quite willing to learn from Adam, especially as she likes his burgers. Every time a new wizard or witch comes along there are other wannabees ready to usurp the role and all have a perfect record of failure. Not that it stops them trying of course, and the current usurper has his sights set on world domination. First of all, he has to create an army of henchmen and women (no sex discrimination here), take control of Hitchin and avoid being arrested by the police for circulating fake Euros.

I have no idea what's going to happen as I haven't written it all yet, but Adam will win, the usurper will die and his henches will either die or be released from their magical bonds. Along the way there will be an unlikley heroine in the shape of a social worker called Carol and a likely villain in the shape of a social worker called Becky.

With that I wish you adieu and I shall see you on Wednesday.

A New Hope

2012-01-01T08:00:00.013Z

It's 2012 which means a new year and a new hope for the future. To that end, here's a song that I play on my mp3 which made me cry recently as it accurately portrays my feelings towards my past and towards my future. I'd never felt that way before when listening to this song, though given the tears I've been crying over the last month or so, I can't say I'm surpised.

I'm not a fan of Geri Halliwell as a person or a singer, but she hit the mark with this song and I'm grateful for it and I'm glad I judged the song and not the singer.

And So We Came To The End....of 2011

2011-12-23T18:40:00.000Z

This will be my last post of 2011, so I thought I'd leave you laughing/thinking with some witty/funny/humourous/thought-provoking pictures.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Lessons Learnt/Learned

2011-12-21T19:33:00.000Z

Wednesday is writing apprecaition day, AKA 101 things you always wanted to know about writing but were afraid to ask. This is what I've learnt this year.

1. Ask
I covered this is a recent post, but the simplest way to get published is to ask. Submitting a novel or short story is asking, but I also learnt to ask magazines if they would like me to write an article about converting a document to an ebook for them. This has had one happy knock on when I was asked by the magazine to do a follow up. Lesson 1, Don't be afraid to ask.

2. I know what I'm doing
Having faith in my writing is hard, but after the year I've had I've learnt to trust my instincts. I followed my gut when it came to turning a novel into a comedy thriller and it worked far better than the version that went before it. Lesson 2, Trust myself.

3. Don't give up
Somewhat obvious, but often a hard thing to follow through on. By not giving up on the book launch, even though it scared me, I got a book published. Lesson 3, Don't give up.

4. Three's a crowd
By working with a group of people, organising a book launch, and writing, is far easier. To my writer's group, thankyou. Lesson 4, Working with people makes things easier and more fun.

5. I'm worth something
It's fair to say that I'd never been lower than after my divorce and the final split. In the two years since I've realised that I am worth something, that I can do things and my memory isn't as bad as it has been painted. Lesson 5, I'm me and I'm proud of it.

Next year I'm going to learn the difference between learnt and learned.

What have you learnt this year, about your writing and yourself?

Year End WIP

2011-12-19T22:49:00.000Z

2011 is coming to an end and as this is the last week I shall be blogging till 2012, I thought I'd start with a review of the years achievements.

Writing
Aside from the published novel, there have been other successes. I set myself the goal of getting published in another magazine this year in addition to Hub. It didn't have to be a story, but someting valid and 'writerly' and achieved that with a short story on WritingRaw early on this year.

Since then, I've also got a column on WritingRaw about self-publishing and have had an article published in ACW, with a follow-up article due out in January. In addition to these, I've had two joke headlines published on Newsbiscuit.

The highlight has to be the book launch as it was my first, and won't be the last. I've started on the second novel, which will be finished by the summer if all goes well, and will be ready for launching next November.

All in all, a very good year, a lot of progress and lots of foundation laid for the future.

Personal
Aside from appearing in two stage plays this year, once as a psychotic encyclopeadia salesman and once as an American writer of bonkbusters, I came off anti-depressants in November. I'd been taking them under medical supervision since June 2009, after the final split with my ex-wife and separation from my children.

I've now settled into my new flat, got my finances sorted (mostly) and although I feel lonely sometimes, it's better than being locked into a loveless marriage. (If you happen to know any desperate, middle-aged, female millionaires, point them in my direction...if they have a weak heart, even better)

Things have still gone wrong this year, but on balance, the good has outweighed the bad. 2011 is a year I shall look back on with a smile, and it's the first time for a long while I can say that.

See you on Wednesday, when I shall write about some of the things I have learnt this year.

Friday Remembrance

2011-12-16T08:13:00.037Z

Today would have been my father's 80th birthday and my abiding memory of him is laughter. My dad loved to laugh and thanks to him I got to see some great comedy and to appreciate all comedy.

In memory of him I've trawled youtube for some great comedy moments that I shared with him in front of the television. I hope you enjoy them too.

Have a great weekend.

Read A Little To Learn A Lot.

2011-12-14T20:29:00.000Z

'Read other authors to learn how to write!' they say, but what happens when you hate the book?

One occupational hazard of being a writer is reading books that you hate in order to learn what another writer is doing well. There are people who don't like Stephen King (HERETICS!), but he is such a good writer that reading his books is highly recommended for any budding author. So what do you do? Read a little to learn a lot.

Get a 'recommended book', open it at random and read two chapters from that point. It's something you can do with any book and is what historians do when researching their subject matter.

If you want to know how different authors start their books, read the first chapters and if you want to know how they end them, read the last chapters. For descriptions of events and people or for dialogue, open the book at random. If you want to discover how they plot a book, well, you'll just have to read the whole thing, but skipping any descriptive paragraphs along the way.

As a Meerkat would say, 'simples'.

On my library shelves I have a lot of books that I haven't read or only partly read for this very reason, mostly bought from charity shops or second-hand bookshops. It is my anti-library, full of wonderful authors whose writing I don't like, awful authors whose writing leaves me cold and is a wonderful resource. It's also a fabulous excuse for hoarding books.

How's that for a Christmas present? An excuse to keep every book you've bought to build your own anti-library.

On the subject of the festive season, I'm not the most christmassy of people, so it does leave me a little cold. I love the good humour of people and the general merriment, but the gift giving and cards...BAH HUMBUG. (My apologies, dear reader, if you've already spent a fortune on a gift for me and have posted it)

To that end, here's one of my favourite Christmas songs, a lovely little ditty by Weird Al Yankovic called 'Christmas at Ground Zero'.

MERRY ANTI-CHRISTMAS

WIP

2011-12-12T14:31:00.000Z

It's Monday, therefore it must be a progress update.

I've started my second novel and have realised that I need to get some information from the first one to make sure I'm being consistent. To that end I've gone through the notes I made for the first book and am re-reading it to ensure I get my facts straight.

It also helps in other ways as I plan to write more books set in this galaxy, but not necessarily with the same people. Examples of this approach can be seen most obviously in the Discworld series, but also in the Harry Dresden books by Jim Butcher and books by Tom Holt, Gail Carriger and Stephen Hunt.

I should have it all done by Christmas, as well as outlining the plot of book 2, whose working title is now Apollo the Thirteenth.

Tonight, Starfish Publishing will be out on the razz, celebrating a great year for us all..we'll be at a Pizza Hut. We've got a publishing enterprise off the ground, sold a couple of books for REAL money and have made a lot of progress as writers.

Finally, I just HAVE to share this photo with you, courtesy of George Takei's facebook page.

See you on Wednesday.

Friday Fun

2011-12-09T21:58:00.000Z

Lots of pictures this week...most of them thanks to George Takei's Facebook account.

Who could really disagree with this?

I blame the examiner for asking the wrong question.

Ever get days when this seems like a realistic option?

All together now, Ahhhhhhhhhhh.

Would you invtie this man to your Christmas party?

Too true

Sometimes you just gotta admire people's creativity at Christmas

I'm wishing now!

This one is dedicated to every creative person on the planet

Have a great weekend.

Articles and Columns

2011-12-07T22:56:00.000Z

One of the hardest things to do as an 'Independent Author' is to keep yourself in the public eye, but there are two relatively easy ways to do so: articles and columns.

Writing articles on publishing isn't too difficult, especially if you do something that others don't, but getting them published is. So how? Ask. Email editors with a proposal and see if they bite.

Some time ago I approached the ACW magazine with an idea for an article. I planned to write about converting a book to the Kindle format and uploading it to Amazon. The editor liked the idea and asked me to write it and after submitting it, said she'd publish it.

Since the book launch I've written a piece for the local newspaper, and I'm waiting to hear back from another magazine about an article on the launch. Small bites, but it all helps.

Columns are more problematic as they require an editor to agree to publish several articles over an extended period of time. As it happens, I proposed an idea for a monthly column about self-publishing to WritingRaw.com and they jumped at it...in a nice way of course and it goes out on the first of the month.

How did I get these openings? I asked. I am also a member of ACW and have been reading WritingRaw for a couple of years which made it easier for me to propose the ideas as I had a good idea of what they wanted. Do you have any magazines about writing that you read on a regular basis that you could submit an idea to? A website you go to on a regular basis, an online magazine?

Just ask. Editors are used to people submitting ideas on spec, for most of them it's how they fill each issue, and if they are interested and publish the article, then it'll be easier the next time as you'll be a known quantity.

I've yet to have anything commissioned for payment, but every article keeps my name in the public eye, not to mention the writing experience it gives me.

Go email a friendly editor...or even an unfriendly one, and surprise yourself.

WIP Report

2011-12-05T22:29:00.000Z

Have a good weekend? I did. Lots of peace and quiet.

I've started working on the second novel now. It's at the planning stage, thinking of who's going to do what to whom, but the basic story has been decided upon.

Alan Radford, the almost hero of 'A Stitch In Time', goes to the moon with his wife and daughter to see the recently discovered Moon Lander Apollo 13 that had been buried under the dust. After proving it's a fake the lander chases him around the moon and tries to kill him.

Yes, I know that Apollo 13 never landed on the moon, that's the whole point. It's a fake. Who planted it there and why brings back our old friend Furteen and, naturally, Harold Kennedy is never far away from the action. Mae still speaks without taking a breath and Carla wants to fight the rampant machine in hand-to-hand combat for daring to assault her husband and, even worse, call him a liar.

It's a story I've had floating around in my mind for a while and I'm looking forward to writing it, something I shall start in the next few days.

In other news, Starfish Publishing have started to plan their next book launch for June 2012. We've had an idea to tie up with a local school, whereby they run a short story competition for the pupils and the publishable entries are compiled into a collection for sale via Amazon's Kindle. They keep the proceeds, we get a free hall for the evening and the PTFA get to run a cake/tea/drink stall to raise money for the school.

We may also be able to drag in other school departments. The art department can design book covers, the computer department can make book trailers and the PE teachers can go for a long run.

If we plan it so that the launch co-incides with the end of half-term, we'll catch the parents at the right time. One of our group knows an English teacher at the school and he's up for it so we're on our way.

Other than that, I've written an article for a magazine about the book launch and another for my regular column at WritingRaw.com.

Now for a cuppa and a sit down. See you on Wednesday.

Thought

2011-12-04T12:07:00.000Z

Another 'I don't normally post at the weekend' entry and another song. This time it's Run For Home, by Lindisfarne. It's a song I've always liked, but now the lyrics mean so much more than they did when I was a teenager: they encapsulate my life so far.

Friday Fun

2011-12-02T13:48:00.000Z

It's Friday and I'm feeling lazy, so here's a couple of pictures and a vdeo to make you chuckle, chortle, laugh or guffaw. Take your pick.

Enjoy your weekend.

Ebook Conversion

2011-11-30T08:15:00.002Z

If you're thinking of publishing an ebook, there's lots of software out there that will handle the process for you. Whichever you choose, you will still need to be aware of some things that can cause your book to look odd.

Paragraphs. Do NOT use tabs. Use the 'format-paragraph' option. If you use tabs the converted book will look a little odd and maybe even look weird.

New chapter. Use 'ctrl+enter' to start a new page and not the enter key. Also, do not have a line space after the last word of the previous chapter as this will often be added to the top of the next chapter.

Fonts. Unusual fonts don't translate well so stick with Times New Roman unless you have a good reason not to or fancy a non-serifed font.

Tabs. Treat tabs like a contagious disease.

If you want to see what formatting you already have in your document, search at the top of your processing software and look for an icon in the shape of a back-to-front 'IP'. Click on it and you can see the 'tabs' (arrows), 'enter' (back-to-front IP) and spaces (a '.' in the centre of the line). Remove those that you don't need.

See you on Friday.

The Book Launch

2011-11-28T12:22:00.000Z

I know you're all wondering how it went, so I'll tell you.

OK

Happy? What do you mean, 'no'? You want more details? Oh...alright then.

The plan. Set up the hall between 12 and 1pm ready for the hordes to descend on us at 1pm. Sign jacket artwork copies and flog...errr...sell them at £1 each and give away bookmarks to anyone who wanted one. At 2pm the three authors would get on stage and read extracts from their books and to thunderous applause take a bow. The whole shebang was due to end at 4pm and we'd be out by 4.30pm with a song in our hearts and a smile on each face.

What happened. What we planned, except for the thunderous applause and the sale of the signed artwork.

We'd invited over 150 people and though we knew that not all would attend, we were expecting more than did turn up. Still, this is our first ever book launch as a group so it's a lesson learned for future. How many did turn up? 20.

Selling the cover artwork was a stab in the dark anyway. We figured that if people were willing to buy an £8 book at a launch, they wouldn't mind paying £4 for an ebook plus £1 for a signed copy of the cover. Hmmmmm.

The readings were well received and were the best part of the afternoon. The applause wasn't thunderous, but it was more than polite and a definite highlight.

We were there for three hours, which was a bit optimistic in hindsight. Whether we shorten the period or put more activities in place next time is someting to discuss, but it will depend on numbers.

The biggest problem at the launch was not having any physical product to sell as there was nothing to see. That is a problem that we will have to overcome somehow, but we're not sure how at the moment. Partial printouts, small number of printed copies, CDs with a copy of the book and artwork?

We shall have a think about this and many other things tonight at our debrief, but one thing we have decided is that we want this to continue and we're already planning our next launch for June.

Friday Fun

2011-11-25T15:45:00.000Z

Book Launch on Sunday, so this is going to be short.

Oddbox. Includes the world leprachaun record, a lucky escape for a helicopter pilot and someone shouting Fenton, trying to stop his dog chasing deer.

From the BBC, preventing spit corrosion in India and the world's worst football team finally wins a game.

From Newsbiscuit, The Siri app develops an attitude problem and one student sends academia reeling by telling his professorsr that it's 'just your opinion'.

With that, I wish you au revoir. On Monday I shall be blogging from the mental home I'm going to check into on Sunday night.

59 Seconds...Or Less

2011-11-23T22:14:00.000Z

In case you hadn't been paying attention (shame on you), I have a book launch on Sunday, details of which you can get by clicking on the lovely picture on the right. It also means I haven't much time to do a blog, but I know how much you'd miss it if I didn't add one today.

To that end, here are some things that can help you change things in your life in less than 59 seconds...that's 59 seconds each, not together.

1 - Develop the gratitude attitude. List three things that you are grateful for or three events that have gone well over the last week. It'll help your happiness.

2 - Place a picture of a baby in your wallet. Doing so increases the chance of it being returned if lost by 30%. Doesn't matter whose baby it is, any baby will do.

3 - Hang a mirror in your kitchen. Seeing your own reflection will make you more aware of your body and you'll find that you'll more healthy food. (No I haven't done this. I'm too ashamed)

4 - Buy a pot plant for the office. Adding pot plants to an office (home or not) adds 15% to the number of creative ideas from men and helps women produce more original solutions to problems.

5 - Touch people lightly on the upper arm. Touching people lightly makes it more likely that people will agree to your request. It works for dating too.

6 - Write about your relationship. Partners who spend a few moments each week writing down their deepest thoughts and feelings about their relationship are 20% more likely to stay together. You don't have to tell your partner what you wrote...but you may want to.

7 - Deal with potential liars by closing your eyes or asking for an email. The most reliable clues (not certainties) to someone lying are using 'um' and 'er' a lot, lacking detail and avoiding self-reference (me, myself, I). People are also 20% less likely to lie in an email as it's written evidence.

8 - Praise children's effort over ability. Counter-intuitive this one, but if you praise their effort, they will keep trying regardless of the consequences, side-stepping the fear of failure.

9 - Visualise yourself doing, not achieving. People who visualise themselves taking the practical steps to achieve their goal are more likely to succeed.

10 - Consider your legacy. Spend a minute imagining a close friend standing by your grave and reflecting on your personal and professional legacy. It helps to identify long term goals and the degree to which you're progressing towards them.

All the above come from the conclusion of '59 Seconds - Think a little, change a lot' by Professor of Psychology, Richard Wiseman. It's an excellent book and thoroughly recommended...but it will take longer than 59 seconds to read.

See you on Friday.

The Launch

2011-11-21T22:02:00.000Z

Tonight we had our final writer's group meeting before the launch of our ebooks next Sunday...EEEEEEEEEKKKKK! And guess what? We're already looking ahead to May 2012 and our next launch.

So what have we done in preparation?
- hired room. We got it for free providing we get it covered by the local press.
- arranged for three articles to be done after the launch. One for the local paper, one for a local magazine and one for Writing Raw.
- books will be converted to the correct electronic format tomorrow and loaded to Amazon.
- advertising done with local newsagents and by distributing a few leaflets, not to mention inviting EVERYONE we know on Facebook as well as family and friends. We might even exceed the 100 target.
- got local library to send someone along to the launch
- arranged for A3 posters to be printed for each book cover.
- agreed on price for novels (£3.50)
- agreed on price for signed book cover art (£1) and signed bookmark (50p). Both will be printed on my laser printer. Unsigned bookmarks will be available for free.
- finished our mission statement for the website
- almost finished website. Just waiting on one author bio

Roll on next Sunday...and on Monday I'll update you on how it went. One last thing, we've arranged a date for our post-launch party.

Onto other updates, the play went as well as could be expected. Lines missed occasionally, chess pieces being whacked into the audience and the odd moment of (deliberate) comedy.

Want to know what I looked like in my costumes? OK. This is me in act 1.

In act 2...

Don't my chins look wonderful. And in case you're wondering I wasn't trying to look cool, I was feeling very uncomfortable.

See you on Wednesday.

Friday Fun

2011-11-18T16:39:00.000Z

OK. This is gonna be a quicky as I have a play to perform tonight and a book to edit.

First up, Oddbox. This week another surfing dog, a strange divorce ceremony and the Latin American Pole Dance Championship. Oh and there's a Hen Hotel too.

Elsehwere on the BBC, Hilary Clinton laughs...at a man in a loincloth, Dame Judi Dench is to appear in a school play and Justin Timberlake keeps a promise to date a US Marine.

From Newsbiscuit comes the headline, 'Gervais sees the joke as nine-foot lectern unveiled for Golden Globes awards' and the story about boy raised by moths.

Piccie time

What Australia is really like.

Who doesn't agree with this sentiment?

And finally, time to plug the Book Launch again. This time with Dawn's book cover for 'Son of Jack'.

Have a great weekend.

Reading to Learn

2011-11-16T23:36:00.000Z

'Read to Learn' is an oft given piece of advice to writers, but read what?

Reading within your chosen genre shows you what to look for as you write your masterpiece, but does it help you to write? Not always.

If you restrict yourself to your chosen genre, then you may end up repeating what others have done instead of creating something a little different in your own voice. If you read around, you will become a more balanced writer.

Want to inject some thrilling scenes into your romance? Read a thriller. Want to create a reliable scientific character? Read a biography of a scientist. Read history, read psychology, read horror and science fiction. Got a problem with dialogue? Read a play, film or tv script. Reading a bad book can help you highlight faults in your own writing.

DON'T get too hooked on technical books about the process of writing or you will end up with sixteen different ways of doing the same thing, none of which actually help you write YOUR way.

Read around, but if you're finding a book boring put it down and read something else. Don't read a book because you feel you ought to, read it for the right reason.

Read other genres, non-fiction, plays and anything else you can lay your hands on (news magazines are good if you want to write faced paced narrative) and let the knowledge seep into your mind. You'll be surprised how much you remember when you're writing your own little piece of history.

400

2011-11-14T14:49:00.000Z

Never mind 300 Spartan warriors, this is my 400th post. Wooohoo, yippeeeee, yaaayyyhaaaaayyyyyyyy.

OK, party over. Now, on with the updates.

At the beginning of the month (yes I know I should have told you then), Writing Raw published my first column about self-publishing (you can find it half way down on the left). It's an ongoing series about the highs and lows of self-publishing and the decisions that need to be made. The next column, due out at the beginning of December, will be about the launch and the promotion we've done.

I've not made much progress on the novel due to the impending play, which means I am cutting things close. I have set aside tomorrow morning to finish it off and nothing is going to get in the way of it, though I will take a break around 11am to go and see a lady about the room hire for the book launch.

Talking of the play, we will be performing this Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Knebworth Village Hall. You can see the video trailer on youtube, which also has booking information. For those of you flying in from the USA or other international destinations (such as Scotland), Knebworth is only 2 hours from Heathrow by taxi.

As you're going to be flying in from international destinations for the play, why not make a holiday of it. Stay for the week at the Ramada Cromwell Hotel, see Hertfordshire and wrap your holiday up by attending the book launch on Sunday 27th November, 1-4pm at the Cromwell Hotel. You can get to meet me and the other members of the North Herts Writers Circle, people who will be household names by next summer...in their own homes that is.

I shall see you all on Wednesday. In the meantime, I'll be learning lines, editing, updating the Starfish Publishing website and generally acting like a headless chicken. I'll leave you with the trailer for the play and the book trailer for 'Son of Jack', one of the three titles we'll be launching.

Friday Fun

I've written about inspiration before and where you can find it, but now I have something else: Books.

OK, that sounds obvious, but what kind of books? you ask. This one, 'B**llocks to Alton Towers'.

The profanity aside, this is a seriously entertaining book about typical British days out, the kind that don't involve being thrown around at 120 miles an hour held on to a piece of metal by some rigid plastic. Nor do they involve waiting in a queue in the rain for half an hour before you can get on said ride.

Most of them are unusual and, sadly, rarely visited, but give an insight into British life that is only glimpsed in passing and not known anywhere else in the world...unless the Brits colonised the place.

There's the lawnmower museum in Southport above a hardware store and a diesel train ride in Scotland that ends up at the Glenfiddich brewery. The diesel trains are 1970s BR stock complete with stickers, but the service is far better. Not that that was a particularly high mark to improve upon.

Then there are the sea battles between toy destroyers and battleships of the 20th century in Scarborough where grown men, in age if not in mind, shoot rockets at each other three times a week.

So what has this got to do with inspiration? Background characters. People that you only see once or twice, or who hold the secret key. With the information here, you can build hobbies and interests into your world that will make it seem more real.

Of course, this isn't the only book available. There are many others that can be found in the travel section of a book shop, often at knock down prices if you buy those that are a few years out of date. What they have are characters that will fill your world and your writing with personality, style and supreme oddness. In short, they'll make it real.

Have a hunt around and get inspired.

Monday WIP Report

2011-09-19T13:01:00.000+01:00

It's finished, done, complete. Now all I have to do is edit it.

The word count is currently 58,629, but that will change as I cut bits out, add other bits in, jazz up the descriptions and make some people even more insane than myself or the Vegetable Assassin. (If you haven't come across her blog before, please go there and catch up on her rants about life which will continue when she's back from holiday)

For those of you who are interested, which should be all of you, the last line of the book is 'get me a bucket of cold water', and with that I'll leave you to guess what's happening.

The wedding scene was a joy to write, as was the moment when...nah, I'll leave you in suspense. I've had some good feedback on the first few chapters which I shall take into account when editing even if I ignore it.

The website for Starfish Publishing Cupboard is coming on and we now have some pages to discuss and argue over, which you can see and comment on at:
www.starfishpc.co.uk/home.html
www.starfishpc.co.uk/home1.html
www.starfishpc.co.uk/home2.html
www.starfishpc.co.uk/home3.html
All of them are in the development stage and the layout will change a lot before we release the site in November, but I'm always open to ideas and massive amounts of praise. If nothing else, it gives us something to throw out when we get a better idea.

So if you have any ideas for a front page, number of pages, or what you would like to see on a publishing house/cupboard website, let me know in the comments section.

With that, I shall wish you adieu and see you on Wednesday when I shall be more serious and pass on some more helpful advice about writing and language.

Friday Fun

2011-09-16T10:49:00.000+01:00

First up: the oddbox. This week the highlight is a jet-powered school bus in America, but there's also the wife-carrying championships in Latvia and a drunken Elk.

Elsewehere on the BBC, a cat who was driven 17 miles...in a car engine and news that laughter is the best medicine. In some good news for the environment, the top 16 'green' companies are uncovered.

And now...ta-da-da-daaaaaaaaa...Newsbiscuit.

Top Headlines. In the wake of the (unsurprising) news that new British homes are too small for families, we've had 'cat concussions at all-time high in new housing estates'. Other headlines: 'Debt-riddled clockwork toy maker faces winding up order', 'Man with 20/20 vision sees cricket everywhere' (if you're American that one may pass you by), 'DJOKOVIC impossible to beat claims Scrabble champ' and finally 'Godot arrives'.

The major news stories of the week include the horrific story of Churchill the Dog and Madonna's new film not being what people expected.

In the blogsphere, Freya Morris has given her list of the top ten children's baddies.

On that note, I shall say goodbye to this week and not embarrass my middle son by telling anyone how he got his first hangover or who he groped. I'll save that for the future when I need to blackmail him.

Words Don't Come Easy

2011-09-14T14:48:00.000+01:00

First up, kudos if you can name the song the title of this blog came from and who performed it.

Words are the stock in trade of a writer, but that doesn't mean you need an encyclopeadic knowledge of the complete 20 volume Oxford English Dictionary, or even the pocket edition. In the words of Stephen King, 'you have what you need'.

It never hurts, though, to have other words available and other resources that don't cost a fortune. Aside from a decent dictionary and thesaurus, which I hope you have, a book on idioms and phrases would be useful, but not essential. Go into any decent bookshop and you'll find quite a few, whilst secondhand bookshops will have even more. Don't neglect older versions either, especially if you're writing historical fiction as knowing how they used words 'back in the day' will help add to the realism of your book.

The internet is full of useful sites.

Wikipedia is much maligned, but the entries on language and science tend to be accurate as they are less contentious than biographies and history. Not free from contention obviously, but less so.

The Inky Fool is a great blog that has a new word every day, and the author has a book out at the moment, just in time for Christmas. Isn't that strange?

If you feel like paying OED a subscription you can have online access to their 20 volume edition and its supplements.

Dictionary.com is another useful site allowing you to find definitions of many words. It also has a word of the day, a thesaurus and several other gimmicky things you may or may not like.

Words may not come easy, but there are always methods and resources to improve our vocabulary and knowledge. Have fun exploring and share some of your own sites and books below.

Monday Progress

2011-09-12T16:29:00.000+01:00

A Stitch In Time is the current title of the book but will no doubt change before I'm finished with it. If you have any ideas about a title based on what you know about the book, let me know. I'm always happy to pilfer...errr...accept help.

Chapter 11 is now finished and the book is at 55,000 words for the first proper draft, so all that remains is the wedding and the big fight. I've had some good feedback on the first four chapters from my writer's group which will help me with stage 2: the edit.

I've ended the threat from baddy number 2 in a manner which came as a surprise to me, leaving the chapter to end with the following conversation:

Another large section was released into space and Carla asked her cousin, “Are you going to rescue the Dagon?”
“At some point.”

Baddy number 1 has had his backside kicked around the main hall before being whisked away to some unknown place and time by his robot, and the three main characters are now looking forward to a life of familial bliss. As if I'm going to let that happen, this is fiction not reality. Oh yeah, no difference.

I don't think I'll need more than one chapter to wrap this up, but you never know what's lurking in the corners of my mind and you really don't want to find out. Believe me, it's horrible in there.

The ebook publishing cupboard is in the process of being filled with books. We have my one, two others being written and edited and some short stories to add to the pile for a collection. The website is being prepared with its new logos and we are expanding our ideas of where we can market the result as, I'm sure you all know, marketing is harder than writing.

With that, I shall wish you all adieu and promise to see you on Wednesday.

Friday Things

2011-09-09T12:49:00.000+01:00

First up on the tour of the weeks interesting things (interesting to me that is), is BBC's Oddbox. This week's edition contains the ginger festival in Breda, a flashmob doing the Hakka in New Zealand and the dog with the world's longest ears.

Also on the Beeb is a story about a drunken Elk that got caught in a tree, two chatbots (computer programs) having an argument and a set of fascinating photos from Astonomy Picture of the Year.

From the multi-talented writers of Newsbiscuit, the week has seen some absolute gems. A fleeing Gadaffi failing to escape charity collectors, a comedic comment on the files found at the Libyan leader's compound, and a scientific report stating that young women don't fancy middle-aged men.

Among the headlines to make it were, 'Gaddafi rues the appointment of Mark Thatcher as North African route consultant', 'New moon landing site photo reveals wheel clamp', 'Sweet and sour spare ribs with dark soy sauce heads Chinese super-rich list' and my personal favourite, 'High 50p tax rate damages economy, say highest-earning economists'.

In the blogsphere, Inky Fool continues to amaze with some words that I've never heard of before and there is some more publishing success from a fellow writer, whose prose you should check out.

With that, I shall sign off and wish you all a great weekend.

Who Is Your Muse?

2011-09-07T09:34:00.000+01:00

Stephen King, in his book 'On Writing' (yes that one again) describes his muse as a grumpy old bloke with a smoker's cough. My muse is altogether more delicate. Well sort of.

She looks middle aged, but as she is long dead her real age is a mystery, and one of her joys in life is annoying Douglas Adams by making him tea with boiled water instead of boiling water. She has a sly and wicked sense of humour which comes in handy when I'm writing and also when I'm reading.

I never had a muse before I turned my hand to writing comedy, which is probably a good sign that I'm now on the right track. She turned up after I'd started my re-write of my novel, about chapter 5, and has refused to leave me alone, bugging me to write until I do.

Thankfully she is used to keeping odd hours and is quite happy to turn up at 2am if that's when I feel the urge. She sits there in cotton pyjamas and pink bunny slippers reading a book, occasionally looking over my shoulder and correcting a few things. Why pyjamas? She thinks that a nightgown would distract me, though I think she overestimates her pulling power.

During the day she is casually dressed and is always telling me to take a break when I've finished a section or chapter and to think about the next part before I write. Sometimes I listen to her.

A slim brunette (dyed probably), she says the lines around her eyes are laughter lines: her life must have been a riot. Her name is unknown to me, but she is a wonderful person to have round when I'm writing, even when saying nothing.

Thankyou, my muse, for taking me this far.

Monday W.I.P-ing

2011-09-05T15:44:00.000+01:00

I'm nearly at the end of the first proper draft of this book and the wordcount, for those of you interested, is 51,000. To be precise it's 50,967, but what the heck.

Chapter 10 is done and the shooting didn't go as I had planned, but much better. Someone still got shot, but by a different person with a different weapon and instigated by someone not utterly insane.

Chapter 11 will now see the aliens arrive at the planet with a new weapon and...Nah I'm not telling you that. It does look as thought there will be at least two more chapters and maybe three as I have to get a wedding in as well as a fight involving the bride which she wins.

If you've ever seen Firefly/Serenity, imagine River, three times as big (Summer Glau is tiny), three times as old, far more attitude, the same fighting prowess and you'll get an idea of the bride. If you haven't seen Firefly/Serenity, go and watch it, then you'll know. The groom is more like her brother, but softer...much softer.

It's looking good and as I no longer have a word count to aim for I'm just letting the story take me where it will, providing it ends up where I want it to.

The ebook publishing is proceeding and the website design is coming along. Sadly, we have lost one novel due to personal problems, but we may well pick up another in its place.

That's all for now. Have a great couple of days and see you on Wednesday.

It's Firday

2011-09-02T16:18:00.001+01:00

OK, so it's really Friday, but whenever I try to type Friday, it usually ends up as Firday. Among other common mistakes are slef instead of self and fro instead of for.

Enough of the self-abasement, time for the humour.

The BBC, as usual has it's share of the odd, the wierd and the funny in the form of the Oddbox. 10 strange videos from the week, including a tomato festival, a cow in a shop and two reporters getting in trouble.

From elsewhere we have 20 suggestions for burying people, hopefully after they are dead, the scientific reason that men go bald and what the government does with the information it collects on you...and why they collect it.

Newsbiscuit time. Events in Libya are still proving fruitful, with the hunt for Gadaffi reaching into Tripoli's nightlife. Elsewhere, a programmer admits to have never seen 'The Matrix'. Headlines include 'Ned Kelly definitely dead say scientists', 'UK's summer 'coolest since 1993', say style gurus', 'Dying man regrets having so many regrets' and 'Librarian furious about noise at Reading festival'.

In the blogshpere, there is an interesting piece about the link between currants and brothels and one about creating a world of fairies.

Enjoy your weekend. I'm going to a party on Saturday night to see people I haven't seen in years.

A Peek Into The Future

2011-08-31T08:05:00.002+01:00

What will future publishing look like? No idea. But there are some hints as to how it might develop in an article about current and future publishing trends in SF.

One thing that springs out from the article is that the short form, the novella, is likely to grow in importance. There is some sense in this as our world gets faster and faster and attention spans get shorter. It's also worth remembering that the novella died out because of cost issues as much as anything else and older works by authors such as Asimov tended to be novellas.

Magazines are shifting onto the digital format and finding more subscribers that way, especially via Kindle, something the recent history of 'Asimov' shows. They have increased their subscriber base substantially whilst lowering their costs.

The article is well worth a read, whatever genre you write in, as it contains a lot of good information and some interesting guesswork.

W.I.P.

2011-08-29T23:22:00.000+01:00

WIP (West In Peace)

Not much to report on the novel this week, though chapter 10 is proceeding as well as can be expected. There will be a chapter 11, but I'm not sure about a chapter 12 as it depends on what needs tying up and what action needs to be there. In short, it's quite fluid...but fun.

I received some interesting feedback tonight from one of the group members which has been very helpful regarding the first chapter and it's problems, of which there are many. That there are problems wasn't a surprise, it is a first draft, but the nature of a couple of the probelms were. I'll write about them at a later date when I've started the main edit.

With regards to the ebook publishing, there has been yet another brainwave for marketing: local papers and parish newsletters. Local papers are ALWAYS on the lookout for stories, so as we are local and trying to beat the recession by setting up a company they should be interested. Parish newsletters will cost money, but hopefully not much.

As it was a bank holiday today, very little got done anywhere in the UK, so I'll see you all on Wednesday.

Friday Bits

2011-08-26T12:20:00.000+01:00

A whistle stop tour of the things that have made me laugh this week.

First up, the BBC's Oddbox. This week including mobile phone throwing (more of that please), dog yoga and land art. Also from good old Auntie is the list of the top ten jokes from the Edinburgh Comedy Festival.

The Daily Telegraph has an article about how much water women waste in the shower whilst shaving their legs, opon which subject I shall refrain from commenting.

And now: Newsbiscuit. The events in Libya have proved a rich goldmine for dark humour, such as Gadaffi's return from his annual holiday. Then there's the usual poking fun at the political decision making process.

Other headlines include, 'World's iPads stop wor', 'God sends hurricane iRene to avenge rise in Apple consumption', 'Catholics condemn " Pope Idol" reality TV show' and 'Scientists claim orange coloured, citrus tasting, fizzy ocean is just a fantasy'.

On that note, I'll wish you all a happy weekend, whilst I go and watch Cowboys and Aliens.

One Space or Two?

2011-08-24T12:28:00.000+01:00

When typing your manuscript, do you put one space between sentences or two?

My own habit is to put two spaces between sentences because it's what I was taught. I'm even doing it as I type this blog, even though I know the second space will be ignored by the HTML code.

Looking for an answer in the various books I have doesn't help as none of them cover the subject, not even the ones on punctuation (curse you Lynne Truss).

A search of the internet throws up various opinions, the most comprehensive of which can be found on Wikipedia in an article on sentence spacing. The upshot of this article is that single spacing is the current convention, but that double spacing is still used widely, even being taught in schools.

An interesting point to note is that in typesetting and printing a single space has ALWAYS been in use and that double spacing was introduced for typewriters.

Other sites suggest, nay insist, that one space is correct such as 'Grammar Girl'. The Chicago Manual of Style also states that one space should be used.

If you've already tapped the spacebar twice in your 250,000 word novel, do not worry for help is at hand with a simple tip using the find/replace function in your word processing software.

Which is correct? I'm leaning towards single, but habit forces me to use double. What is your opinion?

Time To Get The WIP Out

2011-08-22T12:19:00.001+01:00

W.I.P Progress
Monday 22nd August 2011
12.05pm
B.S.T.
PI Willoughby reporting...

It was an ordinary day in Britain, despite the unusual golden disc that hung in the sky, moving slowly from one horizon to the next. Some said it was a UFO, others that it was the sun. Having not seen the sun for many years I was inclined to believe the UFO stories.

Ignoring this apparition I took stock of my writing to date. Chapter 7 has been completed taking the word count to 40,000 and ends with the sentence, "I'm screwed." Chapter 8 is almost there, needing only a scene with the arch-villain a dastardly and evil person who goes by the name of Harold. This will add another 5,000 words give or take a few thousand.

I have also had inspiration for the wedding scene that takes place towards the end which will now involve a fist fight. There will also be a love scene with Harold and his robot. Unless I have a better idea...which shouldn't be difficult.

Tonight, the writer's group will meet again to discuss our ongoing project to set up a publishing cupboard. We now have some banner and logo ideas to discuss as well as the first part of one of our featured novels to read. If we have time, there will also be some writing exercises. Those that don't take part will be executed.

Addendum: 12:18pm B.S.T.

The disc has now been hidden by some typically British clouds, the ones that hate to see anyone boast about their brightness. They have quietly covered this unusual occurence and will no doubt send the population scuttling indoors by the application of their water cannons.

I am inside and safe and ready for my next case.

Friday Bits

2011-08-19T13:55:00.000+01:00

It's P.O.E.T.S day: Push Off Early, Tomorrow's Saturday.

As usual there is a helping of odd and fun stuff from BBC's Oddbox. This week including a swiss festival of amphibious cars, a moo-ing contest from the USA and a game of Farmer's Golf.

Newsbiscuit has kept me royally entertained with gems such as a community in shock when a child is told off being naughty; an academic rashly claiming that Jordan (Katie Price) doesn't write her own books; and sadness that Robin Hood has decided to resign.

In the blogshpere, my favourite entry of the week goes to the Vegetable Assassin for starting WW3 between the USA and Canada. Let the fireworks begin.

For writers there were some interesting posts, such as memorable first lines, and what it's like to live with a writer.

Of course dear old Auntie Beeb (BBC) has come up with the goods on pleasant and peculiar stories. Jersey Shore is being paid for its actors not to wear a fashion house's clothes, whilst a cow needed rescuing after it got it's head stuck in a ladder. Altogether now, SILLY COW!

Have a great weekend.

The Ever Changing Novel

2011-08-17T08:40:00.037+01:00

What makes the modern novel different and, I would say, more interesting than 18th and 19th century novels? Dialogue.

I have just finished reading Gulliver's Travels and it took me a while to read. I have also read Robinson Crusoe in the past few months and the one thing they had in common was a feeling of drudgery.

Why? No dialogue.

A quick comparison of the above two novels and any modern novel will show the difference is speech is rendered. Whereas modern novels have speech marks to indicate words spoken, followed by the ubiquitous said/asked, older novels have far less speech recorded speech and Gulliver's Travels has none at all.

What it does have is references to speech and an account of what was said. It tells, not shows.

Modern literary fiction has much in common with this older style of writing in having very little dialogue and a number of those pieces of modern fiction could easily have been written in the 19th century. Maybe that's not a bad thing, but I can't help wonder if it points to a staleness in literary fiction and it only survives because of 'the empror's new clothes' syndrome.

The point of this post is that the modren novel is heavy on dialogue and lighter on description than at anytime before. It may be that our generation has seen so much more of the world than our ancestors and we need less help to see the world the author is creating. Or it could be that we seek excitement in our lives, a continuation of the hectic pace at which life goes on around us. I don't know.

All I can say is that the key to the modern novel is in it's dialogue. To become successful and proficient in our writing, we shouldn't ignore the other skills that form part of our writing knowledge, but we will need to work on our dialogue more closely than the others.

The WIP

2011-08-15T12:16:00.000+01:00

It's Monday, so it must be a WIP update.

I've finished chapter 6 and have got the book up to 32,000 words. Two of the main characters have been 'making out' in the midst of a firefight and the Dagon ship has nearly fallen apart when the rust holding it together starts coming away whenever they fire their main weapon.

The main theme of this book, or so it seems to me, is the three people wanting to make a family despite all the opposition and problems. There are also some role reversals going on. The woman is the action hero, the man is the emotional one and the daughter is the logical thinker. If you want an analgoy, think Kirk, McCoy and Spock.

I've also allowed some minor characters to have their own voice (aren't I generous). The ship's captain, commander McLintock, is giving orders when they are attacked by the Dagon vessel, but no one is sure if they should fire on it in case the rust falls off and it disintigrates in a shower of dust.

I won't spoil it by telling you how the battle ends, but eveyone survives...more or less.

Chapter 6 ends with the line, "Got a bucket of water?"

In other news, the ebook venture is panning out nicely as one of our number is working on a logo and a banner for the website. She has already come up with a couple of designs as a starting point.

One thing we have to keep in mind when doing this is that the logo has to be recognisable and easy to print, both in colour and black and white. It's early days.

Enjoy your week. I'm going to try and work out how to separate the lovers. They've loosened so much clothing that one gust of wind will strip them naked, the thought of which gives their teenage daughter the creeps.

Friday...And It's A Riot

2011-08-12T09:11:00.000+01:00

You may have heard on the news that in the last few days we've a spot of bother in Britain. It's true. Despite this our gallow's humour is alive and well.

On newsbiscuit there have been plenty of joke headlines submitted:

- Bristol riots cause £16m worth of improvements
- Boris Johnson brings peace to London through medium of dance
- E-Looters target Amazon website by throwing bricks at own screens
- Police call in ex-NOTW journalists to hack rioters Blackberries
- Police allowed to shoot sociologists on sight.

There have also been a number of joke stories doing the rounds such as Looters apologise to locals for causing two days of visits by politicians. You can read some of the ones that didn't make it to the front page in the writer's room.

There was also an organised 'anti-riot' that encouraged people to stay in at night and at 8.30 make themselves a cup of tea. I don't need any encouragment to drink tea, so I was very happy to join in. You too can join the anti-riot as it's going to be on for a while yet.

Friends on the now ubiquitous facebook have joined in the humour with some 'comments' from Harry Redknapp, manager of Tottenham Hotspur.

- Harry Redknapp due to sign a new striker from Italy: Robatelli
- Harry Redknapp is disgusted at the riots in Tottenham. "All this looting and robbing and yet nobody has taken Robbie Keane"

But my favourite has to be this picture that shows the rioters and looters going too far.

Enjoy your weekend.

Keep Your Ideas

2011-08-10T21:13:00.000+01:00

When you have an idea that you can't make work on at the moment, what do you do with it? You should ALWAYS keep it.

Every writer has ideas that they can't use in their current work, but they all keep them for future use. Not because they could make a novel or even a short story out of them, but they can be springboards for other ideas.

Can't use that scene from a possible crime novel? Can you use the character in another story? Can some of the phrasing be used elsewhere? Is there anything in it that can give you an idea for something else?

The other advantage of keeping old ideas is that they can help you finish off a current piece by providing the link that you need, in much the same way as reading a novel can help you with a problem you're struggling with.

I have a folder of ideas next to my desk and some old fragments stored away on a file on my PC. They will not be thrown away. One day they could provide the answer to a question.

A Writing Update

2011-08-08T22:47:00.000+01:00

The novel is now past 20K words edited/revised and it's looking good. It's even making me laugh. I have, however, left in a sad moment for one of the characters as it seemed to fit the story at that point.

So chapter 4 is almost done with one character fighting off four marines and breaking limbs, whilst Alan befriends a marine in the only way men know how: rolling their eyes at the antics of a woman and her pet robot. I have also introduced the secondary villain who is everything a pantomime villain should be: flouncing around with a cape and a snarl, thinking the universe revolves around her.

Mae is fascinated by her parents and is having problems fitting in with sentient beings as she has been raised by robots. She still talks too much and is far too honest, so don't ask her if your bum looks big that outfit.

The eBook venture has moved several steps forward as we now have four novels being prepared for the launch and a better idea of what will go on the website. One of our number is a talented artist and will design our logo and website banner, whilst another will take care of the facebook and twitter accounts.

One feature of the website I'm looking forward to is the 'flash fiction' page. Every fortnight we will publish some fiction based on the group's writing exercises, so there will always be something new to read. When we get into the flow of this venture, we may publish it every week.

That's where we are now. See you on Wednesday.

Another Week, Another Friday

2011-08-05T15:11:00.000+01:00

To round off the week here are few things that have happenend.

Firstly, there's the BBC oddbox. 10 strange things from around the world including painted gorillas in Bristol and a nightmare walk around the CN Tower in Canada.

How do you make a nuclear reactor? Apparently you can do it in a kitchen, or at least you can in Sweden. A definite case of 'don't try this at home'. I'm surprised the news agencies haven't picked up on this one as the possibility for vegetable based headlines is enormous.

My children have gone to Germany for two weeks which means I get to have quiet evenings without the mental buzz of a hyperactive teenager around. Bliss.

Did you know that one in five of people who have smartphones use them whilst they are on the toilet? Nope, neither did I. The two obvious questions are 'why' and 'what are you doing with them'. I suppose it's no worse than reading the newspaper on the toilet as my grandfather did.

Finally, what books are you reading at the moment? My list is...
Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe
Berlin, Anthony Beevor
Time Out of Joint, Phillip K Dick
Heartless, Gail Carriger
Sophie's World, Jostein Gaarder

Have a great weekend.

Words And Phrases And Their Origins

2011-08-03T17:57:00.000+01:00

Four words/phrases and their origins

1 - Derby. In sporting terms when two local teams play against each other it's known as a derby. Why? The original football match was a violent affair, dating from medieval times, originally played between the parishes of Ashbourne, near Derby, on Shrove Tuesday every year...and yes, they still play it with the same rules. The term 'Local Derby' was soon attached to the game and it is now used for any occasion when local teams meet in a sporting contest.

2 - Keep Your Nose Clean. You probably won't be surprised that the term originated in relation to children with runny noses. It was first recorded in the USA in 1887 and was then applied to the adult world, with the meaning of keeping yourself smart and, by extension, not getting involved in crime.

3 - Break A Leg. This one comes from the Elizabethan stage and refers to the bowing at the end of the performance where they had a line of legs. If you broke that line of legs, it was to pick up money or flowers and it meant that the audience appreciated your performance.

4 - Bloke. The word is Romany in origin and in Britain is a term used for man. Americans have used it for 200 years to mean 'stupid idiot'. Another example of two countries separated by a common language.

If there are any phrases or word usages you would like to know about, ask in the comments section. I can't guarantee to answer them all, but I will try.

A Stitch In Time

2011-08-02T11:14:00.000+01:00

As of this week, every Monday will be a WIP introduction and update, so without further ado, and acknowledging that it's now Tuesday (slaps wrist), here we go.

...............................................

'A Stitch In Time' is a comedy SF novel set 400 years in the future, give or take a decade or so. If you want to be precise it's 2381. it focuses around three main characters, each with their own reasons to dislike Harold Kennedy.

Carla Neill, 39 years old, chubby, strong-willed and with more attitude than a room full of maiden aunts was exiled from Earth for giving birth outside of marriage 19 years ago...and she wants revenge on Harold. Preferably one that includes a blunt knife, no anaesthetic and a vasectomy.

Alan Radford is on another journey into the future and is now fed up with the whole shebang. A mild mannered man who wants nothing more than a quiet life surrounded by his books and a room full of creme eggs, he's about to come face to face with one of his biggest challenges. Finding someone who can make a good cup of tea.

Mae Clarke is their daughter. Born six mothns ago, she is, physically, 19 years old, has the knowledge of a 90 year old and the commonsense and social ability of a 5 year old. Filled with a desire to live happily ever after with parents who have never met and accompanied by a pet robot who has even less sense than she does, Mae is sent aboard the Dravid to fulfill her destiny. If only she knew what it was.

So far I have written or re-written 18,000 words and am on chapter 3. I'll give you more details next Monday.

......................

In other writing news, the eBook venture is proceeding apace. We have two novels out for consideration and we're working on short stories for a collection to be launched at the same time.

The website is being built, the twitter account will soon follow as will the facebook page. We're still limiting ourselves to the Kindle at the moment, but we shall expand to other eReaders, probably next year.

The biggest problem we have with other readers is the lack of opportunity to publish on them. Whereas Amazon make it easy to upload books, sell and earn income from them, other ereaders are more difficult, at least in the UK. Having said that, using the Kindle is a good way for us to test the water and learn from our mistakes.

See you on Wednesday.

Oops And A Thought

2011-07-30T09:49:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was a wee bit busy, so I hope you'll forgive the tardiness of the Friday posting. An emergency trip to the airport first thing in the morning, helping another person clear the rubbish out of their house and then giving her a break from family problems, followed by...I can't remember, but probably total flakyness and sleep.

On the subject of writing, where do you practice your writing and get feedback? I don't just use the writer's group, I also submit work to online sites and magazines. Most won't give feedback except for the form rejection, but some do.

If you write topical comedy, and it's always a good idea to stretch your wings a bit and try something different, try newsbiscuit.com. They don't pay, but to see some of your work in print is always a boost. I don't often contribute, but have had a couple of headlines published recently.

There's always the huffington post and I'm sure that there are others out there that encourage new writers to try their hand. If, like newsbiscuit, you submit via a forum, you can often get feedback from other contributors.

Look around and you'll find a whole world of places that you never knew existed.

Getting Help

2011-07-27T19:49:00.000+01:00

Who do you turn to when you're stuck? Who are your readers when you've finished writing your novel? If the answer to those questions is no-one, then you could be in trouble.

We all need help when writing, or doing anything for that matter. The help could be picking out spelling mistakes that both you and the spell-checker have missed, or suggestions for phrasing. Sometimes it's a general critique of a chapter, a story or a novel, or just someone to run an idea past. Whoever we are, we all need people we can trust to give an honest opinion on our work.

The most obvious answer is a writer's group. I'm lucky in that I have a local group that I can attend each week where we critique each other's work as well as practise our writing through exercises. There is a lot of support and we also email each other when we want something specific.

If you aren't lucky enough to live near a local group, then why not set up a yahoo or a facebook group and share that way?

Another way to meet fellow writers is to join a creative writing class and continue to meet after the course has ended, or see if any other writers are local enough to meet up once a month.

However you do it, you will need people no matter how famous you become. Stephen King has a group of several people he can pass a finished novel round and won't do anything else on it until he has received their feedback.

If you haven't got any help at the moment, see what groups are available or start your own.

Starting At The End

2011-07-25T15:28:00.000+01:00

When writing a book, it's common to start at the beginning and then work out what happens from there. But why not start at the end?

Beginning with the ending may make a lot of sense if you're writing a crime thriller as it allows you to know who done it, where, when and how. Once you know that, then you can build in your false leads when you continue writing the story from the beginning.

It could also work in other fields, for instance, to pick a genre out of thin air, Science Fiction Comedy...oh yes, that's what I write. By deciding what the ending will be, I will know where I am aiming to get, who to get there and what they will do once they arrive.

It's not something that I plan on doing a lot, but it is an interesting approach that is worth experimenting with, especially if I get stuck at some point in my writing.

Friday Thought: Why Kindle?

2011-07-22T14:52:00.000+01:00

Friends and I are going through the initial steps of publishing our work in eBook format and there is a lot to consider. The first decision we had to make was which format would we use? The answer to that was relatively easy: Kindle. The 'why Kindle', is more interesting and may be one of the problems with existing bookshops/chains.

Amazon allows anyone to upload their book for sale via their website, providing it passes a few tests, such as is it pornographic or a hate-filled rant, both of which would disqaulify you. You can then set your own royalty rate and wait for the cash to come in...or not. The beauty of this is, aside from time, there is no cost to the author and it is easy to do.

I looked at other UK book companies and found no similar system, not even in a beta phase or with a restricted use. Nor were there any similar systems in place for Sony's ereader or on B&N's website.

This is a puzzle. In an electronic age, with ebook sales accelerating, why aren't more companies taking this route? By encouraging people to use their website to sell ebooks, Amazon are virtually guaranteeing sales of their Kindle ereader.

I can't help but wonder whether the traditional publishers have got their heads around ebooks or the digital age. Amanda Hocking and a few others have shown what can be done when you sell direct via Kindle. If Waterstones, Barnes & Noble and Sony encourage authors to sell from their websites, as Amazon do, they may make the transition from the current, print dominated age, to the digital age as strong as they are now. If not, they may still survive, but in what state?

It promises to be an interesting few years ahead.

Waiting For The Muse

2011-07-20T18:30:00.000+01:00

Every writer has a muse, in fact every creative person has a muse. It's that indefinable thing that helps us write, paint or take photographs. But what if it's gone on holiday?

So far this year I haven't done much writing, but over the last few days I have managed to finish off chapter 1 rewrite and get half way through chapter 2. 10,000 words and counting. The reason is that my muse has also recovered from the past few months.

Aside from helping me with two play performances, it's also been helping me organise an ebook publishing idea with a few friends. We were both knackered. The other problem was that she didn't know when I was around and writing, which reminded me of something Stephen King wrote in his book 'On Writing'.

'If you want your muse to be around, make sure that you are around at the same time every day.'

I'm paraphrasing, but that was the essential message: Your muse is only as organised as you are. However, if you're balancing work, family and writing, how do you get your muse to work with you at odd times?

One method I tried, and succeeded with, was to go through a few mental and physical activites, whatever time it was, thereby providing my muse with a metaphorical phone call to come round. I would make some tea, start up the word processor, sit down and close my eyes whilst I focused on where I had got to last time, reading something if necessary. On really difficult days/nights I would read a few pages from a book first. I discovered tt's not just the regularity of time that brings on the muse, but also the regularity of events.

I write my blogs on Monday, Wednesday and Friday (mostly), and whatever time I sit down to compose them, my muse knows because of my pattern of behaviour. She then proceeds to remind me of all the great ideas I'd had for a blog entry over the predeeding days and hours.

I am also lucky that I don't have much work at the moment so can get into a morning routine to prepare myself and my muse for some writing.

If you don't have regular hours for being creative, try building a regular routine.

Rearranging Your Words

2011-07-19T10:02:00.001+01:00

Description makes or breaks a story, whether it is short or long. But how do you make sure that your prose isn't substandard?

First of all, never start a sentence with 'but' (ahem). Secondly rearrange the words in your sentences. For instance, if you start most sentences in the following way:

Paul walked to the door and searched for the handle.

Try doing this instead:

Walking to the door, Paul reached out to search for the handle.

By doing this, you can avoid having every sentence start the same way.

Happy writing.

Writer's Block...What I Do

2011-07-15T16:23:00.000+01:00

The short answer is that I go to sleep. The long answer...is that I go to sleep.

I had problem with my WIP last night, so I stopped what I was doing and went to sleep. This morning I knew what to do which sadly involved getting rid of some cherished comedy moments.

It must be said that I find sleep to be a very valuable method of problem solving in all areas of life, though not all. Going to sleep at the office won't endear me to anyone.

Sleep is a distraction, taking my mind off the problem at hand and leading me somewhere else, and that is part of its magic. Whilst I sleep, my mind reorganises my thoughts and finds answers for me and may work for you.

Next time you have writer's block, go for a snooze.

Self-Publishing and Marketing

2011-07-13T19:03:00.000+01:00

When you decide to self-publish, marketing your creation is always a problem. It's even more of a problem when your book is only available electronically, ruling out book signings.

This is a problem that I, and my writer's group, will be facing as we launch our publishing house. Well, I say publishing house, it's more of a cupboard really. We will only be publishing our own work, after it's been fully critiqued and edited, and the plan is to launch books once a year in November to catch Christmas. Initially they will only be available on Kindle, but we shall see where we go further down the line. We also plan to publish two short story magazines, probably once every three months.

So what advertising do we plan? We will have a website and a facebook page, through which we shall do most of our advertising. Then there will be youtube videos for each book and the publishing 'cupboard'. There is also an interesting idea of producing our own radio show for internet braodcast, but we don't know about that yet. One avenue that may well open up to us is advertising in local, parish newsletters for all of the books and magazines we publish.

We're looking at ways we CAN do things in bookstores, such as presentations on the books and a bit of public reading of our work, but the bricks and mortar approach is way down on the list of possible advertising, cost being the major factor.

A launch party will be one thing that we are going to look at, but as Michelle Davidson Argyle has shown, it's the author that has to pay for it.

Watch this space as we develop this idea further.

Time

2011-07-11T13:15:00.000+01:00

Getting to the point where you can give up your day job to become a full-time writer takes time...sometimes a lot of it.

Alastair Reynolds and Terry Pratchett already had several published novels under their belt before they could give up their day jobs and concentrate fully on writing.

Terry Pratchett had worked as a journalist and then as a press officer the Central Electricity Generating Board until 1987 when he became a full time writer. That was after the publication of the fourth discworld novel, Mort, and several other novels in the 70s.

Not exactly an overnight success story then.

Alastair Reynolds worked for the European Space Agency until 2004, and only took up writing full time after the success of four novels and several short stories.

In short, and this is the thought for today, financial success comes only after perseverence and may take time. The occasional instant success story is dwarfed by the long drawn out successes of people like Pratchett an Reynolds and the more common tales of struggle. If you're into writing for a quick buck...forget it.

A-Z thinking

2011-07-08T12:25:00.000+01:00

This is an idea I picked up from Naebsy: write down the first word that comes into your head when you read a letter. You can read her responses on her blog.

A - Action
B - Beautiful
C - Child
D - Dead
E - Earth
F - Fickle
G - Gorgeous
H - Happy
I - India
J - Julia
K - Knife
L - Laugh
M - Mania
N - Nonsense
O - Octave
P - Peaceful
Q - Queen
R - Robot
S - Sucker (My first thought was a word I won't print here)
T - Tea
U - Uniform
V - Very
W - Winkle
X - Xerxes
Y - Why
Z - Zedonk

I'm not sure what that list tells me, or anyone else about my state of mind at the moment. I can tell you that for X, it's an old standard I remember from Sesame street and for Z, I was reading about a new birth in a Chinese zoo that is the offspring from a Donkey and a Zebra.

Have great weekend and DO try this at home.

Blogging

2011-07-06T13:40:00.000+01:00

Do you ever read and respond to comments on your blog?

One thing I have been getting a little miffed about over the past few months is people not responding to comments I, or anyone else, have made on their blogs. If I've commented several days after the blog was written, or the blog is someone letting of steam or using it as a way to get their feelings out in the open instead of writing a diary that's fair enough.

If a blog, like mine, is open to comments and is partly, if not wholly, there to prmote you as an author, artist or whatever you are doing, shouldn't you take it seriouslly enough to respond?

I have only recently started to respond to every comment made as it dawned on me that I was getting annoyed at people, even though I never responded myself. A mite hypocrtical I thought.

Now I respond to every comment and make an effort to not be miffed or annoyed when others don't repond to mine...though with my ego that is difficult.

Come on, you know you want to tell me what's on your mind.

The Future Is...The Kindle

2011-07-04T15:16:00.000+01:00

My mother turned 73 yesterday. She regularly goes to America to see her grandchildren, visits Australia every now and then, works three mornings a week and does two art classes. Among the presents of chocolates and books, she also received a Kindle...and loves it.

As she is not the most tehnologically astute of people, the fact that my mother can easily use this piece of hardware set me thinking about the future of ebooks.

One of the arguments against Kindles and other ebook readers, is that people would be too scared of losing them...usually the same people who take a laptop everywhere. I don't think that is a relevant argument against them or an effective way of saying they are useless. Lots of things have been described a too expensive to take anywhere for fear of losing them, laptops being a prime example, but are still packed for when people do go out.

Mobile phones used to be large expensive items, but now people just buy a new one if they get lost as they are so cheap. The same will, in all likelihood, happen with the Kindle at some point in the next decade, especially as any book can now be converted for free and there are many 'classics' available for free on Amazon and other sites.

When people of my mother's generation take to something, like mobile phones, then you know the market has been cracked. It doesn't mean that paper is going to die next year, or even within the next decade, but it does mean it will at some point cease to be important and unless bookshops can find a way of selling ebooks to this kind of customer, then they will close. To quote Darwin, "It's not the strongest of the species that survive, but those most adaptable to change."

Odd.....Very Odd....Very, Very Odd

2011-07-01T10:32:00.000+01:00

I'm feeling a little lazy today. It's Friday, it's the first of the month and I've just seen some crazy scenes.

The BBC (yes, dear old, staid, dull Auntie Beeb) does a weekly compilation of some odd news items. This week there is the usual eclectic collection ranging from the 'Swamp Football' world cup, through some amazing sandcastles and a world hula hoop record to the world's ugliest dog...all together now, aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh.

If you want to see all these things, this is the link. If you don't, go and hide in a corner, pretend that there are no parts of the world that are fun and leave the rest of us alone.

Have a great weekend.

Iron Sharpens Iron

2011-06-29T16:17:00.000+01:00

On Monday I mentioned that I'd had an insight into my own creative process after a writer's group meeting. Yesterday proved just as revelatory.

I took an old woman...er...friend shopping as it was raining heavily, she needed stuff, she doesn't have a car and I do. As a thankyou, she treated me to a cup of tea in the cafe. OK, the cafe in Tesco's isn't that good, neither is the tea and wherever you sit you're directly under the loudspeaker they use to tell staff to go somewhere, but it is cheap.

We talked about each others book and whilst we were talking I had another epiphany: I have the conflict in the wrong place. My original idea was to have the conflict between the two blokes, but after the chat, in fact during the chat, it dawned on me that the bigger, more interesting and comedic conflict is between the kidnapper and the woman he impregnated who wants to rip his testicles out through his throat.

So I now know WHY my novel has stalled. It was heading the wrong way. With my new knowledge I shall be getting the novel back on track, as well as plotting out two radio comedy scripts and submitting a short story.

Never forget to talk about your book with other authors over tea/coffee/wine/cakes/biscuits as you never know what will come from those one on one chats.

The Festival Final & A New Novel

2011-06-27T21:54:00.000+01:00

We didn't do another rehearsal, but we did do a readthrough of the play beforehand, and on the night the play went even better.

As there was no time pressure (the evening was the showcase event) that worry was gone, and we were on first, so there was no waiting around biting fingernails. The play received its normal share of laughs and some extra ones, but from a smaller audience, and we waited until the very end to see Katie get her writer's award.

I have enjoyed the whole experience, not only of performing in a festival, but also performing on a bigger stage than normal and in front of a different audience, though I have to say that I am glad it's over. Why? So I can now conventrate on my writing again.

Which brings me to tonight's writer's group meeting. A while back we decided to plot a novel and after a week or two plumped for a crime story set around a stableyard. Tonight we plotted out the first three chapters and introduced some of the characters, as well as giving ourselves a rough draft of the next two chapters.

There are a lot of questions to answer, such as what the character's names are and how quickly do bodies decompose in a heap of horse manure. To that end a couple of our number are going to ask relatives in the police force about this as well as about police procedure. One will also enquire about getting a PCSO to come along one Monday to answer any questions about police procedure and what individuals would be charged with in the circumstances of the story.

The one problem we have had is focusing on our task. Keeping our eyes on plotting the novel can be hard going, especially as the detail can be very interesting and, sometimes, important to how the story goes.

For instance, the question of how long the body will take to decompose will impact on who gets arrested or not, or how they discover the identity of the dead person and how long it would take. That has not stopped us sketching out what will happen in chapters 4 & 5, but it does prevent us going any further or doing any writing on the forensics.

One of many things we have agreed on is that the story will not be driven by police officers investigating, but by the lead female and her view on the unfolding story and the characters and events taking place around her. It should avoid some of the more technical parts of some novels and allow us to focus on people.

I'd love to have your comments on the novel, and maybe some ideas for us to steal...er...pay homage to.

Enjoy the week.

We've Done It!

2011-06-24T22:40:00.000+01:00

Six weeks rehearsal, lots of nerves and a flat battery later and we won through to the Saturday of the St Albans Playwriting Festival. Believe me, I am excited.

Our writer/director gets her recognition, and deservedly so, as does our little drama group.

I was due to leave the flat at 4.30pm yesterday to meet everyone, and then to drive down to St Albans, and found that I had a flat battery. A damsel in shining armour came and rescued her knight in distress and we still got there in time.

The most nervous person was the writer/director/prompter and, as we were on second, she had even more time to be nervous.

The performance passed by with only a couple of minor hitches and a lot of laughter at the correct items, although there was a bout of laughter when I collapsed onto a sun lounger and showed the audience my large backside. Before you ask, I was clothed, I just had to lay across it as if I was drunk from the night before and decided that the funniest thing to do was to let the audience see my backside instead of my face...until I spoke.

We sat through the last play about the assassination of a future US president, and then listened to the adjudicator ask the audience what they thought about the three plays. After that we waited to hear if the play would be performed again.

This time my car's battery is fully charged, but I'm still excited and looking forward to performing this play again.

On Monday I'll let you know what section we won.

Have a great weekend. I will.

Change Happens

2011-06-22T11:33:00.000+01:00

Ebooks look set to take over from paperback and hardback in the near future, and like all changes there will be those who will fight it and condemn the change as not needed, not wanted, useless and other variations. There are also those who will say that the ebooks are one system crash from being lost forever. Hmmmmmmm. Ever seen what fire does to paper? Or water? Or time?

History is littered with changes in how we publish stories and I can imagine some similar tirades against them, such as those below.

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- "Paperbacks will never catch on. They're flimsy things that won't last a year and will never outsell hardbacks. They don't have the staying power or the beauty of a hard spine on a shelf."

- "Mr Guttenberg, people will never want printed books as they lack the aesthetic virtues of a hand-copied book, lovingly coloured by monks who know their job."

- "You want to abandon scrolls in favour of this...this...folio. Who ever heard of such nonsense. What about those whoso living is making the scroll holders for the temples and churches? What are they going to do now?"

- "You want to use paper made of pulped wood instead of animal skin? It'll never catch on. What about the risk of fire, or storage? And what will we do with all those animal skins, make shoes out of them?"

- "Papyrus? What's wrong with stone and clay? And have you thought about the environmental impact of replacing grain fields with these weeds? We'll all starve."

- "You want to write these stories down? Why, if you'll do that the human mind will turn to mush. What will happen if we don't have to remember things and just look it up in a book. No, the human brain is wired for our oral traditions, forget this immediately."

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Have a good day.

The Fat Lady Is Warming Up

2011-06-20T22:43:00.000+01:00

Last rehearsal...tick
Lines learnt...tick
Nerves conquered....errrrrrrrr.

On Thursday we perform Famous Island. We had a few glitches tonight, but nothing major and, thankfully, we have a small set to put up and take down: two chairs, one lounger and one table. Our props are in two boxes, we have our costumes ready and we have timed our changes. The singing hasn't quite begun, but the fat lady's practising the scales.

The more I practice the play, the better I get at it and the deeper I get to know my characters. Just the same as writing really. The more time I spend with my fictional characters, the better I know them and the easier it becomes to write for them.

And with that pearl of wisdom I'm off to bed. See you on Wednesday.

Working at Reading

2011-06-17T12:56:00.000+01:00

When you want to know more about a subject, say the history of Britain, do you read books on how to learn the subject, or do you read books on British history?

I suspect that all of you would say that you read books on the subject. So why do some people think that reading books about writing, or going to a creative writing course, is the only way to learn to write?

When we read a novel we are also learning how to write, about plotting, pace, characters, story etc. In other words, reading is part of a writer's work.

Remember that little piece of information whenever someone tells you to stop reading and do some work.

8 Days and Counting

2011-06-15T18:01:00.000+01:00

That's how long until I am on stage playing three people in a festival play...and my performance will be judged. EEEEEEEK!

I'm 95% there with my lines, as are the rest of the cast, and I'm still adjusting the performance for maximum comic effect. At least I hope it will be comic.

Last week I got a taste of performing at a festival when I was asked to prompt for one of KATS plays. We had been asked to perform a short piece as one of the contestants had pulled out and as the regular prompter for the play wasn't available and I was familiar with the play, I was asked.

The stage was bigger than I am used to but it was the atmosphere that I was looking at. Although I was only prompting I was certainly more nervous than normal and it will prepare me for next Thursday.

What was also apparent is that most plays in festivals are 'worthy' and 'giving a message'. If that carries on into the St Albans festival, we will probably be the only comedy which should go in our favour.

We now have two run-throughs on Thursday evening, a technical rehearsal at the theatre on Sunday and maybe two more rehearsals on Monday. If we win the under 25 section (that's the author under 25 section) then we perform again on Saturday.

Wish us luck.

Earning From Your Blog

2011-06-13T08:30:00.001+01:00

I hate the word 'monetising' so I'm not using it, but that is what I am talking about.

The simplest way of earning a little extra money from your blog is to advertise Amazon. You have to set up an associates account, but once you've done that, it's easy as you just add their widgets to your page. Then, everytime someone (including yourself as far as I know) buys something via the link on your blog, you get commission.

How do you add one of these little wonders? Go to your 'design' page by clicking on the link at the top of the page, add a gadget, select the javascript/html one and paste the amazon code into it.

On the left hand side of this page, you can see three links. The top one is for my kindle book which is a link to the amazon page. I created that one by using the 'picture' gadget and providing a link to the Amazon page. This one DOESN'T get me any commission, but as it leads to a sale I'm not too worried.

The other two are a 'carousel' and 'then picture cloud' which are available from the associates page. Amazon build them for you, all you have to do is select the books for the carousel and in the case of the cloud, the widget will base its recommendations on your choice of category (books - what else) and the frequency of the words on your blog.

What could be simpler?

It's unlikely to provide you with a mass amount of income, but as they say, every little helps.

Too Much Of A Good Thing

2011-06-10T21:38:00.000+01:00

I've spent most of the last two weeks reading books outside of my genre, specifically the last two books of the Night's Dawn trilogy by Peter F Hamilton.

As good as the series is, 3000 pages is a bit long and it's not something that I'm going to do again in a hurry. What I did learn from it was not to have too many storylines going on at once as you have to wrap them up at the end.

Hamilton had at least six going on, and those just were the ones that were still going at the end of the trilogy, and each of them had to be wrapped up neatly. It took him nearly 200 pages.

When you have multiple story lines that come together in one place at the end, this is not necessarily a problem, but when they all end in different places, then it becomes hard. I wasn't surprised to learn that the whole trilogy took over 6 years to write.

So, the thought for your WIP this weekend is, do you have too many plotlines going on in your book that will finish in different places at the end?

p.s. The trilogy suffered from 'male sex writing': Lots of times per night with the woman always satisfied.