18 September 2014
Words from the wise
Top advice for all would-be writers and authors. “You keep your tools sharp by working all the time. We are professionals. You can’t wait for inspiration. I try to do it every day. When something good comes, you have to be prepared to polish it, carve it and chisel it; that’s the work.” – Troubadour Leonard… Continue Reading
Top advice for all would-be writers and authors. “You keep your tools sharp by working all the time. We are professionals. You can’t wait for inspiration. I try to do it every day. When something good comes, you have to be prepared to polish it, carve it and chisel it; that’s the work.” – Troubadour Leonard… Continue Reading
9 September 2014
Rowling along regardless
It had to happen eventually: I have ventured into the many-worded world of the writer known as JK Rowling. I say “known as” because, fortuitously for the maintenance of her ever-growing wealth, she was revealed (with PR precision timing) as labouring also under the name of Robert Galbraith. It is through her use of this… Continue Reading
As yet another birthday approaches (the years are clearly getting shorter) two questions persist in engaging my ailing brain: why am I slowing down … and how much longer have I got? They are not issues that those of lesser years will understand; that only comes with age, and therein lies the rub. Here I… Continue Reading
Today I have been handed a 107,000-word manuscript for assessment … and it provides an object lesson for so many would-be writers. It comes to me as a PDF. Why? At this early stage, a simple text document is all that is required. Why go to the trouble of creating a format that is impractical… Continue Reading
OK, size does matter. Well, it may do in certain circumstances. But in books? Is a blockbuster of many hundreds of pages any better than a slim volume containing less than 50,000 words? On indie writer websites there often seems to be a boastful preoccupation with the sheer size of a work we are being… Continue Reading
Despicable though it is that personal websites are being hacked and the material widely distributed, it is difficult to have much sympathy for the “personalities” who suffer such indignities. If you do allow yourself to be photographed in the all-together, why post the results on the internet if they are intended strictly for private consumption?… Continue Reading
When the question was first posed I wanted to yell “No” at my computer. In fact, I think I did, secure in the privacy of my own home. It is a question that confronts users of the internet almost every day. And one that continues to irritate the pedant in me. Will I accept cookies? No, I will… Continue Reading
Today, like many other Facebook users, I received a request to share a post. It featured a picture of a clean-cut looking young man, neatly attired and with a pleasant, open face. His name was provided, along with a few words alleging that he was visiting animal rescue centres with the specific aim of obtaining… Continue Reading
Relationships are funny things, and not in a humorous way. They are even more difficult and complex than relations and, God knows, they’re tricky enough to deal with. But relationships, they’re a real hornet’s nest. We dive into them carefree and unthinking, full of the joie de vivre of the new and buoyed by expectations… Continue Reading
Ah, the irony of it all. The past few days have seen a deluge of posts on a Facebook group’s site populated by Australian authors. The focus of their attention has been a single word: zephyr. A writer who had penned the line a zephyr of wind caressed the land was asking if there could be… Continue Reading
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