Further to my news that a short story I wrote is to be featured in Beyond the Horizon, a collection by Bamboccioni Books due out towards the end of July, I’ve been given permission to share the front cover with you. 
I think it’s rather lovely. Makes me feel a little fraudulent though – my story is a bit silly and would probably be more in tune with a raggedy illustration by Quentin Blake. Still, it makes me look good, so I’m not complaining!
Today being the 27th of the month, I am remarkably close to the half way point of the whole 12 books in 12 months fiasco (unless you count book 13, I suppose, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves).
Unfortunately this happens to be the point where progress has slowed down an embarrassing amount. I ought to be basically done with book six by now, yet I’ve only written about 10,000 words. Almost all of which is background and characterisation that I foresee myself editing down to maybe a few paragraphs in the final book. It’s the type of stuff that it makes sense to know as an author, but probably feels a bit long winded and boring to the reader. Pottermore, rather than the material a gripping plot is crafted from.
Continue reading “A Progress Report”
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This is an excerpt from what I’ve written for book six, but it’s really just background characterisation and I don’t think I’ll end up using much of it in the final draft. Still, thought I should point out I’ve written something…
Nicola woke up with her face stuck to the cheap plastic keyboard of her work PC. She rubbed her cheek to get rid of the indentations, but knew from experience it would take a while to return to normal.
The monitor in front of her stopped playing its screensaver, revealing a too-white document that was a mess of m’s and 8’s and ‘hn’s.
Still, at least she’d saved her story this time.
Continue reading “Book Six Excerpt”
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There’s a lot of hype around self publishing at the moment, related at least in part to John Locke (an American author, not to be confused with the father of liberalism or the bald sociopath in Lost) becoming the first self-published author to sell a million e-books for the Kindle. He’s put 9 titles out, the latest of which is How I Sold 1 million e-books in 5 months. A cynical man, then…
If the internet is any judge, people have mixed feelings on self publishing. This is because there’s a perception of it as a vanity project, as you’ve probably heard. I’m not sure who specifically thinks that, but I’ve read several blog posts assuring me most people do, and explaining why they are wrong. What a bold premise…
Continue reading “Not Another Article on Self Publishing (it is, though)”
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Well, I’m impossibly busy writing book six (by which I mean avoiding writing it), so I simply don’t have the time to read everything on the internet. Last night I watched Danny Dyer’s Deadliest Men instead of typing stuff up. It’s OK though, cause they were in Edinburgh, so it was, like, research, cause this book is Scottish. Plus Irvine Welsh was a talking head, and he’s a Scottish writer.
Anyway, that all smacks of excuse making, so here are some links to look at whilst I catch up with the last 40000 odd words.
- Patrick Ness on winning the Carnegie Medal and why the coalition has got it wrong on libraries. I hadn’t come across him before but his books sound ace so I’ll be rectifying that.
- The 30 harshest Author Insults in history – courtesy of the Scottish Book Trust on FB, who found it through Peggy at the Scottish Poetry Library. Check out H.G. Wells on George Bernard Shaw.
- Edinburgh writer Emily Dodd talks to STV about her first book which is being published next month.
- Brand new publishers Kohl Publishing are looking for people to write features for their website.
- The Katalina Playroom also want people to join The Writers Club Blog to write flash fiction, short stories and poetry.
- I blogged about the perils of the surprise full body massage attack on my personal blog.
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Sometimes when I’m not writing novels, I do short stories and flash fiction as well. I’ve been doing this for as long as I can remember, not for any particular purpose or audience, and the stories pop up on my personal blog when you least expect it.
Anyway a few months ago, I got an email from a friend of a friend, asking if I’d write one for him.
“I’m part of a team of recent graduates who have interned at various UK publishers, but are struggling to break into the industry due to shortage of jobs and high number of applicants for few junior positions,” he explained. That’s a story we all know by now…
Rather than give up, they decided to try their hand at small-scale publishing. The result is a company called Bamboccioni Books, and their first short story collection should be coming out next month. And my story is going to be in it, in print and everything, which is rather exciting, although since OKing the proof I’ve thought of several changes I’d make if I was writing it again… But such is life.
I’m not sure of the exact release date but will keep you posted. In the meantime you should probably check out their website.
12 Books in 12 Months 