http://chocolateandvodka.com bubbling enthusiasm for $arbitrary_topic Tue, 17 Aug 2010 11:45:36 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en We live in a world of abundance, a fact which scares silly anyone whose business relies on scarcity. Predictably, we now frequently see attempts to recreate scarcity, many of which are absurd (cf. most newspaper efforts) and some of which are smart. The use of limited editions to create a desirable ... http://chocolateandvodka.com/2010/08/17/the-limiting-nature-of-limited-editions/ I'm going up to Sheffield in November to speak at Interesting North, a day-long conference where people talk about their passions (rather than their work). I, for one, will be going way off piste: Suw is a writer, collaboration strategist and lapsed geologist. Earlier this year she followed, in considerable detail, the ... http://chocolateandvodka.com/2010/08/17/interesting-north-eyjafjallajokull/ Sean Cregan (aka John Rickards, Mr Nameless Horror) and I had a chat on Friday afternoon on Skype about his book, The Levels, which came out yesterday in paperback. Sean describes The Levels as "Cyberpunk without the cyber", and it's somewhere roughly in the thriller genre. It's not the sort of book ... http://chocolateandvodka.com/2010/08/10/sean-cregan-and-an-unfortunate-incident-in-the-levels/ Great piece by Craig Mod about using Kickstarter as seed capital to not only ?fund a book, ?Art Space Tokyo, but also start a publishing think tank, PRE/POST. The essay is most comprehensive - with graphs! - and anyone interested in using Kickstarter to raise money should read it. I hope to ... http://chocolateandvodka.com/2010/08/01/art-space-tokyo-and-kickstarter/ At midnight on Wednesday, my Argleton Kickstarter project closed, funded to a level of 173%. I'm very happy and excited, and not a little bit scared! But now I am able to spend half my time working on Argleton (the rest working on client stuff). The project's success was largely due ... http://chocolateandvodka.com/2010/07/30/argleton-fully-funded/ ?Just a quick note to let you know that my Kickstarter project, Argleton, is going to close in 12 hours so if you want to be a part of it, join up now! We've already reached 100% so the project is definitely going ahead, but the more people get involved, the ... http://chocolateandvodka.com/2010/07/28/argleton-kickstarter-project-closes-in-12-hours/ This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below: Password: http://chocolateandvodka.com/2010/07/26/argleton-geolocation-puzzle/ It's very exciting to say that, due to being included in Kickstarter's first newsletter, my Argleton project is now fully funded! Yay! There are seven days to go, however, so if you'd like to be involved and receive a copy of the finished book, you can still pre-order any of ... http://chocolateandvodka.com/2010/07/21/seven-days-left-to-join-argleton/ This is the first-ish draft of the first scene of my upcoming novelette, Argleton. I think it's fair to say that everything is subject to change between here and the final draft, but I hope that this gives you a taste for what the rest will be like. If you ... http://chocolateandvodka.com/2010/07/06/argleton-fields/ I had a really great conversation with Syd the other day about conflict in storytelling. She brought up a very important point: Where does the conflict in your story come from? We were watching, sort of, Short Circuit 2, and getting very annoyed at the bad guys and their petty bickering.? Shallow ... http://chocolateandvodka.com/2010/07/02/where-does-conflict-come-from/ My frequent co-conspirator, Vince, recently invited me to write a post for Un:Bound, a blog he contributes to, on the Argleton project. I couldn't possibly say no, so I said yes! And here is it: Guest Post | Crowdfunding... I go into a bit more detail as to my motivations, ... http://chocolateandvodka.com/2010/06/29/argleton-on-unbound/ "Show, don't tell" is one of the most common axioms in writing these days. Whilst it's useful to question whether you are engaging in 'telling' when you could more effectively 'show', it's also important not to end up tying yourself into knots trying to show what would be better told. Rather ... http://chocolateandvodka.com/2010/06/29/a-show-and-tell-show-and-tell/ If you're interested in digital rights, copyright and digital activism, you really need to grab a ticket to ORGCon on Saturday July 24 at City University. The schedule is really starting to shape up, with keynotes and panels from Jamie Boyle, Cory Doctorow, and Tom Watson. Tickets prices are: Free if you ... http://chocolateandvodka.com/2010/06/24/orgcon-a-day-of-digital-rights-on-july-24/ My Argleton Kickstarter project is now 52% funded, which is very exciting indeed! If you're interested in supporting it financially, that would be wonderful, but if you're feeling a bit skint right now, you can still help by spreading the word for me. If you had over to the Kickstarter page, ... http://chocolateandvodka.com/2010/06/18/argleton-help-spread-the-word/ The other week when I was preparing the book blocks for my most recent set of notebooks, I realised how hard it is to neatly trim thick blocks. These notebooks are about the same size as I think my Argleton book will be, but they were very difficult to trim ... http://chocolateandvodka.com/2010/06/16/object-of-my-desire-a-ream-cutter/ This hand-made tome is the kind of book I can only aspire to make! Created by Ross MacDonald as a prop for The House at the End of the Lane, a film by Steve Smith, this is a gloriously OTT book. The interior is filled with collages of images and ... http://chocolateandvodka.com/2010/06/10/walpurgisnacht-the-handbook/ Over on Kickstarter, they say that projects with an introductory video end up raising "way more money" than those without. Well, it has taken me a while but I've finally managed to get this all important video together for Argleton. I have no real experience with making videos, but ... http://chocolateandvodka.com/2010/06/08/argleton-video/ It's a wee bit nerve-wrecking, but I have finally set up and launched my first Kickstarter project, Argleton: A story of maps, maths and motorways. Argleton: A story of maps, maths and motorways Matt is fascinated by the story of Argleton, the unreal town that appeared on GeeMaps but which doesn't actually ... http://chocolateandvodka.com/2010/05/31/argleton-a-story-of-maps-maths-and-motorways/ I haven't had much time to spend playing with all the new bookbinding-related toys I got for my birthday, but I have managed to get a couple of new booklets made. Here's a look at how I'm progressing. I really do need to get on to a one-day course soon ... http://chocolateandvodka.com/2010/05/24/bookbinding-progress/ Via new Twitter friend Robert McIntosh, Kevin and I find ourselves taking part in The Big Tasting 2010, an online/live tasting event from Waitrose and Vini Portugal (on Twitter as @VPwine). The big day itself is Monday 12th April, with live streaming of the tasting from Lords Cricket Ground at ... http://chocolateandvodka.com/2010/04/06/the-big-tasting-2010/