Lessons from Kickstarter Part 1: Don’t go off half-cocked

November 30, 2011

The last 18 months has taught me a lot about Kickstarter and putting together my own self-publishing project. This is the first of a series of blog posts in which I’ll go through what I’ve learnt, partly in case it’s of interest to anyone else but also to codify it in my own head so […]

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Anne McCaffrey

November 23, 2011

It was with great sadness that I read today of Anne McCaffrey’s death. I remember the very moment that I discovered Anne McCaffrey’s work. I was standing in my aunt and uncle’s dining room after some family gathering, almost on the way out of the door, when my uncle picked a book off his shelf […]

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Five copies of Argleton available for libraries

November 23, 2011

ALL COPIES HAVE NOW BEEN CLAIMED! Thank you all for your interest. Fourteen libraries have requested copies and although I was only going to give out five books, I’ve just checked and I’ve enough for all fifteen libraries (including DigitalMaverick’s). All copies will be sent out in the next few days. Back when I was […]

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Win a copy of Argleton

November 4, 2011

I have decided to give away one paperback copy of Argleton to a random person on my Writing & Bookbinding mailing list, just as soon as it hits 100 subscribers! Yay! Note that this doesn’t automatically go to the 100th person, because that wouldn’t be fair to everyone who signed up in the beginning. Rather, once […]

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Thinking about an author’s needs

October 17, 2011

The whole discussion about what the British Fantasy Society could morph into after its recent crisis set me to thinking about what, as an emerging author, I need and where I get those needs met (if I do at all). I’m a bit of an edge case, because right now I’m more interested in getting […]

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What to do with the British Fantasy Society?

October 11, 2011

I don’t know much about the British Fantasy Society, other than what I’ve gleaned from their website or at FantasyCon last year. In many ways, I’m in a poor position to pass any comment whatsoever on what they should or shouldn’t do after the recent controversy around the British Fantasy Awards. I’m not even in […]

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Emily Cummins – my Ada Lovelace Day Heroine

October 7, 2011

Cross posted from Strange Attractor. Today is Ada Lovelace Day, the annual celebration of the achievements of women in science, tech, engineering and maths. As the Tweets flow thick and fast and the new website holds its ground, it’s time for me to think about my own contribution. This year I have chosen Emily Cummins […]

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Novelising a script

September 18, 2011

I was talking to a friend about my upcoming writing projects, one of which includes novelising Tag, the screenplay I wrote seven years ago. I got to thinking about some of the pitfalls of a taking a script as a basis of a novel. I have already had one stab at writing the novel version […]

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Argleton on Kindle and GoodReads

September 15, 2011

If you use GoodReads to keep track of your book reading habits, then you might be pleased to hear that Argleton now has it’s own page. So far, it has four rating, averaging 4 and a bit stars, and two reviews, so do go and add yours! I’ve also chucked it up on the various […]

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Unexpected rough seas

September 14, 2011

Hello, all the new people who’ve come here from BoingBoing or Kickstarter or Twitter. It’s nice to see you! You’ll have to excuse me for a moment, though, because this blog post contains 100% unadulterated and somewhat self-pitying me, and not much about Argleton (though I have plans… I do have plans.) I’m writing this partly […]

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Want to read Argleton?

August 28, 2011

Well, now you can! You can from that page download html, txt or PDF versions, or just read it here on CnV. It’s published under a Creative Commons licence, so feel free to share! And remember, if you enjoy it, please do consider signing up to my writing and bookbinding newsletter (or sign up in […]

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Phew

August 19, 2011

I’m almost too tired to write this, in fact, I am too tired to write this, but I’m going to write it anyway, even if I don’t quite know where it’s going. The last couple of months have been particularly intense and I feel like I am very much out of brain. Firstly, I finally […]

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In praise of the cliché

June 25, 2011

Suzannah Windsor Freeman, writer of Write It Sideways, has a post about how important it is to avoid cliché in writing. She splits clichés into three main types: Overused expressions Hackneyed plots Stereotypical characters And she gives her readers some good advice on how to avoid them. But clichés aren’t all bad. The human brain […]

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Taking off my overcoat

June 15, 2011

I always used to think that blogging was for the terminally under-employed or the terminally not-very-happy-with-life-right-now’ed. Certainly that was true of me when I started this blog and at various stages throughout its history. Indeed, I often combined both conditions into one great big fugue of skint unhappiness, and was verbose with it. These days, […]

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Happy Birthday!

May 12, 2011

It’s not only Kevin’s birthday today, but also that of Grabbity, Sir Izacat Mewton and their siblings Emo, Davina, Bob, Loki, Pancho & Mowgli, who are two years old. Hare to believe we’ve had so many years of wonderful furry purry madness, and that’s just Kevin! Still, happy birthday to all three other lifeforms in […]

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