The news is full of the guy who won the contest for the “Best Job In The World” – as a caretaker of a tropical island, which was a brilliant PR campaign by the Queensland Tourist Board, by the way. Talk of the Nation, on NPR, is doing a call-in show, asking people what their… Continue reading Best Job In The World
Category: Write
Happily Hitched
It’s wedding season here in the US. Anyone who has ever listened to 1930s & 40s popular song knows that ‘moon’ and ‘June’ are synonymous with love — and it’s not just because they rhyme. In most of the States the weather is unbearably hot any time between June and October, so most weddings, with… Continue reading Happily Hitched
Fighting It
So, I wrote a children’s book. It’s a short, 6000 word chapter type book, like one of thos series books that early readers hoover up. My idea was to write a series of them. The first one went really well, and I think part of it was the simplicity. I used a published book as… Continue reading Fighting It
Working Writers – Scalzi and The Big Idea
I really like reading interviews with writers about how they sat down and wrote their latest book/story etc. I don’t so much like interviews where the interviewer gets all “I want to win a creative-non-fiction writing award so let me describe the sound of the gravel crunching under my feet as I walk up the… Continue reading Working Writers – Scalzi and The Big Idea
The Angriest Stoplight
I really enjoyed this short story. (Warning: there is Language. Bad language. And also very good language.) I love a good short story. And I foam at the mouth when I read a bad one: one of those ones that goes on and on and says nothing and entertains-you-not and leaves you wondering why in… Continue reading The Angriest Stoplight
Writing Challenges
Had some ideas for an entertaining blog entry last night, but when I sat down to write this morning, it all came out flat. So far this morning I’ve stumbled down to the kitchen, stood blinking in the darkness wondering where I was and what I was doing, grabbed two cups and some milk, made… Continue reading Writing Challenges
Creative Challenges
Creative Challenges are great for shaking up the routine, forcing you to be creative every day or every week, and flexing those imagination muscles. What is a creative challenge? National Novel Writer’s Month is probably the most ambitious and famous creative challenge: write a novel in a month (November). The idea is to force yourself… Continue reading Creative Challenges
New Story
I know, I know, you’ve got to finish stories as well as start them, but I couldn’t help starting a new story this morning. I blame Debbie, who asked me yesterday how my writing was going, and Russell T. Davis whose “The Writer’s Tale” I’m reading at the moment. It’s full of the joys and… Continue reading New Story
Writing Buzz
…since I was up, I decided I might as well finish off a bit of work that was looming over me, tapping me on the shoulder at inconvenient times and whispering…
Note To Self
When you have a project: start writing and keep writing. Eventually it clicks and starts to flow and you remember why you love to do this. It never fails. And I never fail to forget this.