I’ve been a bit bad at updating the blog recently. The ironic thing is that at those times when I do have a lot to blog about, I’m too busy to do so. I’m currently behind on everything. The test results have come back from the leg and there’s a ridiculous number of activities now happening ranging from referals to the hospital, to high risk of a repeat, to building the walking up again. So here are a collection of points, most of which are blog posts in their own right.
Category Archives: Writing
An Early JK Rowling Interview
I think it’s sometimes difficult to relate to JK Rowling’s success, so I found this early video of her from around the time between the first and second book’s launch really interesting. She talks excitedly about selling 30,000 books and getting published in 8 countries. Don’t get me wrong, that’s a massive achievement for any author and she has every right to be proud, but you just can;t help watching this video and thinking, “You have absolutely no idea what’s about to happen.”
A lesson, if you like, in how one shouldn’t try and predict their writing career
Download YouTube Video | YouTube Converter
Progress Update
So I’m not fun to be around, I’m a bit distant (and a bit grumpy). I have no social life to speak of, and coupled with working from home for the day job, I’m having to make a conscious effort to leave the house. Yes, this can only mean one thing… I am up to my neck in writing the next book.
Continue reading
The Four Realms Soundtrack – Maureen’s Theme
I listen to a lot of music when I write, the vast majority of it instrumental. Over the years of writing The Four Realms I have several go-to tracks if I need to envoke character. This track from Dr Who has made me think of Maureen since I first heard it, and I still play it before working on a Maureen chapter as prep for getting inside her head. What do you think? If you had to choose a piece of music for Maureen’s theme, what would you choose?
Download YouTube Video | YouTube Converter
Book Beard
So yesterday Gareth L Powell, author of Ack Ack Macaque, did this brilliant video giving four essential tips for writers. He also talked about the book beard, the idea that you stop shaving whilst writing a book.
Seeing as I am in the early stages of the next big block of writing on the new novel, and that I was overdue a shave anyway (the result of a lot of working from home on the day job due to the leg), I thought this could be a thing. However, given that the first book took me 13 years, and the real challenge of this book is me learning how to speed up my process without compromising quality, there are moments when I wonder if the beard will be long and grey before I finish.
New Fantasy Faction Article – Exploring Rural Landscape
My latest article for Fantasy Faction is now live. In Exploring Rural Landscape I advocate writers getting out into the countryside to make their rural scenes be that more believable. Be sure to check it out!
New Fantasy Faction Article On Tropes
My latest article for Fantasy Faction has gone live today. This month I look at tropes, what they are, what’s bad about them, what’s good about them and the risk of using them. Personally, I’m quite pleased with how this one turned out, so I hope you’ll all agree.
Check it out HERE
Fantasy Book Review Gives Four Realms A Fantastic Book Review
I can’t think of a better way to start the week than to get a good review, and I have to be honest and say that this one from Fantasy Book Review has brightened not only my day but the entire week. I’ve been blessed with some really excellent reviews for The Four Realms and I’m grateful to everyone who has taken the time to say what they liked and even what they disliked, but never did I think I would be seeing comments such as these. They make me very happy indeed.
“Imagine an action-packed fantasy book co-written by J. R. R. Tolkien, J. K. Rowling and H. P. Lovecraft – and then throw in some vampires, angels and demons, plus a healthy dose of science fiction then you should have an idea of what to expect from The Four Realms.”
and
“It is a fast-paced, complex novel that takes the category “cross-genre” to a whole new level.”
and
“It is so ambitious and the biggest praise that I can give is in saying that a story involving so many different sub-genres could easily have resulted in being the veritable dog’s dinner but the author has managed to pull it off, and with seeming ease.”
Check out the full review over at Fantasy Book Review (and look for an interview with me soon. I’m just finishing off the last few interview questions for them this morning).
New Article Live At GPSTracklog
My latest Geocaching article for GPStracklog has gone live, this month looking at how you can use your field notes together with GSAK to write and publish your logs super-fast. This will be of real benefit to Geocachers who’ve been looking to use the geocaching.com access publish logs feature in GSAK but never knew how to go about it.
Be sure to check it out.
New Fantasy Faction Article: Consider Worldbuilding
My latest article for Fantasy Faction has been published and this month it is all about Worldbuilding. I love all these little things to consider when building a world. I could have filled three articles full of suggestions and even then I’m sure there are things I could learn. The article encourages participation to expand the list of things to consider, so if you have a good suggestion, add a comment.
You can check out the article HERE