Monthly Archives: June 2013

Book Review: Blind Sight (through the eyes of Leocardo Reyes) by Ermisenda Alvarez

I am proud once again to be able to promote more self-published work. This, an interesting co-written novel that tells a story from one half of two main characters. The other half is written by Eliabeth Hawthorne and you can see the girls joint blog here.

The premise features on Odette Reyes, a girl blind from birth who suddenly and inexplicably begins to draw. Not just simple drawings but as good as any skilled artist. Yet, she cannot see the images that she is creating, shocking her brother Leocardo who wants to understand how she is able to do this. The two now live on an island known for having magical properties and even the experts are at a loss to explain what is going on here. Continue reading →

James White 2013

Realising I missed last year’s entry, I ended up entering 50% Match? into the ArcFinity competition. It didn’t win which means I am free to shake it up a bit, give it another thorough edit and enter it into another competition. It had always been intended for The James White Award and that is exactly what I will put in in for this time.

Deadline is 31st January 2014.

The James White Award is open to previously unpublished stories of 6000 words or less by non-professional authors from anywhere in the world, but the stories must be written in English. Stories are judged anonymously so names should be removed from manuscripts. You may enter online (strongly preferred) or by post but all entries must be accompanied by a completed entry form. Manuscripts will not be returned. The organisers strongly recommend you read, in full, the rules below before entering.

Continue reading →

Wrong Word Wednesday #6

Every week I will demonstrate an example of poor English where a different word is used from the one intended. Sometimes this creates a grammatically incorrect sentence. Unfortunately, the mistake is usually so pervasive that we all do it and such errors are usually made by those who should know better – journalists working for national or global media outlets such as newspapers and television.

This is one that everybody makes these days but it should be one that everybody knows is wrong.

Did you literally laugh your head off? Do you literally die inside when you broke up with your last boyfriend/girlfriend? Continue reading →

Voynich Manuscript Study Published

The Voynich Manuscript

wikimedia.org

For the linguists and theoretical code geeks (are there such people?) around here, the mysterious Voynich Manuscript has always baffled language experts and code breakers since it came to light a century ago. Dating to the middle ages, it is a bizarre compilation of strange language, what appears to be herbal medicine recipes, illustrations of plants that nobody can identify and a strange code that nobody can identify a cipher for. Continue reading →

Update on “The Weight of Reason”

weight of reason 2

So I have my cover, I’ve decided to go with the dusty orange font as I think that worked better than the terracotta (I was worried about whether it would show up particularly well on the older monochrome Kindle models). I also have my blurb, thank you for everybody who offered their comments. I’ve gone with the Dan Brown style conspiracy thriller angle. Continue reading →

Wrong Word Wednesday #5

Every week I will demonstrate an example of poor English where a different word is used from the one intended. Sometimes this creates a grammatically incorrect sentence. Unfortunately, the mistake is usually so pervasive that we all do it and such errors are usually made by those who should know better – journalists working for national or global media outlets such as newspapers and television. Continue reading →

I think I have my cover

So I’ve spent the weekend fiddling around with some more potential covers and I think I’ve found my secondary font… Agency FB (for author name and subtitle “a novelette”).

Here’s a selection of covers I’ve been playing around with. I like the dusky orange colour, I think it fits quite well but just for curiosity I produced a similar one in a terracotta as well as yellow (though part of me still wants to go for a silvery white). I’m not so keen on the yellow and much prefer the other two. I also think the title is a little obtrusive at the larger size. I will definitely choose a variation of one of these covers now so any last minute advice would be appreciated. Continue reading →

Book Review: Write Copy, Make Money by Andy Maslen

Andy Maslen is the name in copywriting and is a must-read for anybody thinking of, or, just starting out on the road to writing for a living. It was recommended to me by another freelance writer way back in February when we were discussing my plans to leave work and give it a shot at being a freelance writer. I’ve been copywriting since the end of last year and though I’d heard of Maslen and Sunfish and seen his books, I hadn’t thought about investing in some of his work to help me on this precarious road.

Let me make one thing clear: it is not going to teach you the tricks on how to become a copywriter, there are no instructions on the proper placement of SEO terms or even how to become a good writer, it is purely about the business of setting up as a freelance copywriter. So here you will find instruction on the mechanics of business, your working day, taxes, writing and pitching, not on how to write that perfect headline. Continue reading →

I Write for a Doctor Who fanblog now… Doctor Who fanblogs are cool

Steady on girls…

scyfilove.com

Yes! One of my regular writing gigs is now to write short articles for a new Doctor Who fansite. I am part of a small team and the site is well-produced – not a huge amount there at the moment but hopefully it will grow over time. This is very much a labour of love for me and I’m pleased to be able to keep on top of writing about Who during the off-season. That doesn’t mean my content here will stop – I will just be writing about different things all the while getting excited about the 50th anniversary episode.

So, if anybody is interested here’s the blog