Yesterday there was an article about Horrible Histories author Terry Deary on the Guardian books page, in which he was quoted as saying that libraries are effectively past it. I disagree with that view, and wanted to address some of his points. You can read the article here if you haven’t seen it yet. His original comments are in the Sunderland Echo.
Continue reading “On Terry Deary’s Sentimental Gush”
Not the weekend just past, or the weekend before that, but the weekend before that, I wrote another novel.
Well, that’s not strictly true – it was more of a novella, whose final word count was just over 24k. But that’s not bad going for less than 30 hours of work.
Continue reading “Novel In A Weekend”
Today is National Libraries Day 2013, which naturally got me to thinking of libraries I have loved and lost. It won’t come as any surprise, I suppose, that I wouldn’t be the person I am if it were not for libraries.
Continue reading “Libraries I Have Known”
WANTED: Eccentric Millionaire Patron
Role
The role of the Eccentric Millionaire Patron is to provide me with enough money to pay for rent, bills and food whilst I write daft stories full time. The job is comparatively hands off and could be done in conjunction with other work if that is the way the EMP rolls. If not, it would probably suit minor royalty or an aristocrat.
The EMP needs to trust in my ability to produce work when given the opportunity to get on with it uninterrupted, without constantly nipping at me to ask whether I am finished or how it’s going. Having said that, throwing in the odd arbitrary deadline certainly wouldn’t hurt as I enjoy being challenged. Not 12 books in 12 months though, that’s already been done.
The job will generally require 2-3 hours input a week. However, it would be advantageous if the candidate had lots of contacts in the publishing industry to support my efforts at networking, so some evening work may be required when literary events appear.
The Organisation
Ali was established in 1985, and set up the 12 Books in 12 Months project in 2011. Her purpose is to supply high quality stories for or about children and arts journalism, as well as multimedia content for hyperlocal news websites. She is currently completing a major transformational change programme focused on persuading someone to help her write full time, thus maximising her impact through the delivery of more efficient and effective manuscripts and copy.
Qualifications/skills
Essential:
Desirable:
*you don’t need to be proficient in Microsoft at all, but it is in all job descriptions written in the last 15 years so far be it from me to leave it out.
A couple of days ago I was nominated for the Very Inspiring Blogger award by the Book Polygamist, which was lovely – if a little unexpected, given the deterioration of the blog over the past couple of months.
I will do the requisite post with 7 facts and blogs that inspire me this week, but today I thought I would say something inspiring to help you all through this miserable Monday (seriously, it’s horrible today, like living inside a bad cloud).
Continue reading “What Inspires You?”
Having not entered the Pictonaut Challenge (to write a 1000 word short story based on a picture found at The Rogue Verbumancer’s blog) for a couple of months, I thought I would get in a bit early with January’s one. Initially the picture didn’t fill me with ideas. ‘Cowboys,’ I thought, ‘and horse bums. Oh.’ Then I thought, what about the person seeing the picture – the one watching them plod away. Who is she? There was never any question in my mind over the fact it was a she.
So I wrote about her, and why the others were leaving, and thought my tale quite OK (although over the word limit a bit). Then, reading it back this week, it occurred to me it owes a lot to The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey, which I read towards the end of last year. That is a lovely book, which I would certainly recommend – particularly if you like my story and want to read something in the same setting and better written…
Continue reading “Plodding On: January Pictonaut Challenge”
12 Books in 12 Months 