Freedom From The Mundane

My head was a veritable hive of buzzing nonsense today. After the intensity of last week’s Muse Conference, a high load of freelance work, and coping with a busy day job, I ended up sleeping in slightly this morning. Waking up to rain and gales battering the window didn’t enthuse me much either, so I [...]

October 20th, 2008 | Tags: agents, Black Plague, cinema, De Niro, Edinburgh: the City & the Festivals, Editing, novellas, novels, Pacino, publishers, Research, Sleep, submission, tired | Category: Edinburgh: the City & the Festivals, Fiction, Film & TV, Publishing and Marketing, Writing, Writing Process | Comments (1)

Last night’s chat was great fun. A lot of people showed up for Devon’s dialogue chat and I managed to get a couple of questions in myself. Devon is one of those tutors that offer full and interesting answers to all the questions, which are packed with lots of useful advice. You [...]

October 18th, 2008 | Tags: articles, beer, bevy, Edinburgh: the City & the Festivals, event, Food, Drink, and Bevvy, Freelance, friends, Indian cuisine, Muse Conference, online chat, submission, workshops | Category: Edinburgh: the City & the Festivals, Food, Drink, and Bevvy, Freelance, Writing, Writing Process | Comments (2)

I needed to stir things up slightly this morning so I kicked things off by working on what I never managed to yesterday – the NaNo outline. And I’ve hit a snag that may have to wait until November before I attempt to discover why. I have a great premise and story, but [...]

October 16th, 2008 | Tags: articles, Freelance, head blown off, Muse Conference, NaNoWriMo, submission, workshop, Writing | Category: Freelance, Writing, Writing Process | Comments (3)

This last week has knocked me right off my schedule for GitG, and I’m now roughly 11,000 words behind. So I’ve upped my daily target for the rest of September to 3,000 words per day in order to get it finished by the end of the month – including making up the 3k I lost [...]

September 24th, 2008 | Tags: article, book, Day Job, Fiction, Freelance, I.T., novella, office, office politics, plan, schedule, Six Nations Rugby, submission, Website, Writing | Category: Day Job, I.T., Writing | Comments (1)

Rather miraculously, I managed to get myself up and into the day job before 8:30 this morning. Considering I had a belly full of beer and vodka last night, followed by 5 hours of broken sleep, I think I deserve some kind of prize for my efforts – a Blue Peter badge or such like, [...]

August 15th, 2008 | Tags: Chambers Dictionary, Chinese meal, Day Job, Fiction, Jeremy Paxman, novel, opinion, Publishing and Marketing, Robert Burns, Scotland, short story, submission, Writing | Category: Day Job, Editorial Comment, Food, Drink, and Bevvy, Publishing and Marketing, Scotland, Writing, Writing Process | Comments (1)

It’s that time of the month again: the literary dabs, if you will. (I suspect only Scottish readers will get that poor gag). Before I go into my losses and achievements for July, here’s something to make anyone who has to sit in the office of a corporate maze smile, as we slide every gleefully [...]

July 31st, 2008 | Tags: agents, babies, British Gas, Bulgaria, Day Job, Family, Fiction, Freelance, friends, GDR's, gigs, novella, submission, Website, Writing | Category: Editorial Comment | Leave a comment