Quick Tips: Goals
I keep having people ask how I work: how do I get my ideas down on paper? How do I write so quickly? Well, I work one hour at a time. In 50 minutes I can type 1,000 words, and that is most of a scene, usually. Then I’ll take a ten minute break, during which I … Continue reading
Day Jobs
There is a different mindset in Britain compared with more entrepreneurial nations like America. In Britain we have always been pigeonholed at an early age. Men would learn a trade, serve an apprenticeship with a leatherworker, cordwainer, butcher or smith, or perhaps, if he was lucky, he might get a post with a bank and … Continue reading
Football’s Over – Yippee!
I know. It’s rather immature (mind you, no one’s ever accused me of maturity), but I so detest football, that I cannot help a little frisson of delight that the damn nonsense is over for a while. My poor son is a perfectly ordinary lad. He enjoys all kinds of sports: he adores cricket, swimming, … Continue reading
The Research Into Author Incomes
I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s worth reconsidering this week. The Authors Licensing and Collecting Society is a marvellous organisation that helps authors by collecting odd amounts of money. For example, I recently had some few pounds because someone in Germany had been copying pages from one of my novels for use in classes in … Continue reading
A New Character
It is always hard to invent stories. First, you have to invent people, who have to feel real, well-rounded characters with lives and motivations of their own. Then you have to create a world in which they can live, and infuse that with logic and atmosphere. Finally, you need to take those people (and the … Continue reading
Complaints and Reviews
I’m just back from a trip to Belstone, talking on video about BELLADONNA AT BELSTONE. And while talking about BaB, I was struck by some of the things that stick in my mind. It’s not the usual old rant. There are people, generally, who love to point out errors in an author’s research, for example. … Continue reading
Conferences – and other ways to waste time!
Yesterday I went all the way up to Bristol to attend a conference with the Society of Authors, all about the weird and wonderful brave new world we inhabit. The main thing was, the Society wanted to brief we authors on how to sell our books more efficiently and achieve better sales. A praiseworthy ambition! The … Continue reading
A Very Belated Apology to America!
This is a terrible confession: after writing a nice piece about America in my newsletter, I completely forgot to put this version up on the web. So, with profuse apologies to all my American friends – here it is at last! America There are times when certain friends of mine make me wince and … Continue reading
The End of the First AsparaWriting Festival!
And so, after a year of planning and working on the basic ideas, the AsparaWriting Festival is finally over. It’s been a really rewarding experience. The whole concept was, and is, to create a festival for unpublished but enthusiastic writers. We wanted to set it up, first: so that aspiring writers could come and learn … Continue reading
Krupp Can Wait
FIRE ON THE RUNWAY by Mel Bradshaw, Dundurn Toronto ISBN 978 1459703353 priced at £11.99 for paperback I was fortunate enough to be invited as the International Guest of Honour at the Bloody Words festival in Toronto this month. It was a huge honour, but more to the point, it was a great joy to … Continue reading
writerlywitterings 