Freedom From The Mundane

Image: Lizzy Siddal

And so, the madness is over for another year. Edinburgh is slowly returning to normality as all 250+ venues go back to what they did before—sell, display or hire out. Temporary venues disappear (goodbye Udderbelly) and backrooms and shops turn their attention back to quieter afternoons. Charlotte Square has emptied of readers and [...]

September 2nd, 2010 | Tags: Books, Charlotte Square, dreams, Edinburgh Book Festival, Fiction, GDR's, Resolutions, social networking, Twitter, writers, Writing, writing goals | Category: Edinburgh: the City & the Festivals, Fiction, Poetry, Writing, Writing Process | Comments (1)

Image: Ed Fest Guide

Finally, it is here. The 2010 Edinburgh International Book Festival will begin in a little under two hours, and in a little under three my first of over thirty events shall begin. Between today and August 30th, I’ll be treading the famous boards in the Charlotte Square village for all but four [...]

August 14th, 2010 | Tags: Allan Brown, authors, Books, Charlotte Square, Edinburgh Book Festival, GDR's, Goals Dreams and Resolutions, literature, Philip Pullman, poets, Reading, writers, Writing | Category: Books, Edinburgh: the City & the Festivals, Fiction, Poetry, Publishing and Marketing, Reading, Writing, Writing Process | Comments (2)

Image: British Council

I logged on to the Edinburgh Book Festival website first thing yesterday morning, but my hopes of an early scan of the 2010 events programme was dashed when I found out it was a 12 noon launch. I had to wait. It was tortuous.
Eventually the EBF launch press release was announced and by [...]

June 18th, 2010 | Tags: Amazon, America, authors, book sales, Books, chapbooks, Charlotte Square, Clark's Bar, e-books, Edinburgh Book Festival, Edinburgh: the City & the Festivals, Family, Fringe Fantastic, Gail Galbraith, Kindle, lager, parents, Paul Auster, Photography, pint, Poetry, poets, Poolside Poetry, promotion code, royalties, Silly Poems for Wee People Vol.2, special offer, U.S.A., weekend, writers | Category: Books, Day Job, Edinburgh: the City & the Festivals, Family, Fiction, Photography, Poetry, Publishing and Marketing, Reading, Sport, Writing, Writing Process | Comments (2)

Image: Dennis Wong

Yesterday was the kind of Saturday I’ve needed for quite some time. If I could have wished for a better feeling come the twilight of the afternoon, then I got what I desired. It was a nice day but not all that exciting. It was low level boring stuff to most, but for [...]

January 17th, 2010 | Tags: alarms, Arab Strap, Boots, chapbook, Coffee, computers, DVD, Edinburgh: the City & the Festivals, Editing, External Hard Drive, Freelance, iPod, Me Time, moleskin notepad, movie, PC World, pizza, poems, Poetry, Publishing and Marketing, Samuel L Jackson, Saturday, Scotland's Treasure, scrabble, security, Starbucks, Ten Years of Tears, Tesco, The Cleaner, writers, Writing | Category: Edinburgh: the City & the Festivals, Family, Film & TV, Food, Drink, and Bevvy, I.T., Music, Poetry, Publishing and Marketing, Reading, Travel, Writing, Writing Process | Comments (2)

Image: DK Images

Today is the day! The Edinburgh Book Festival begins in around 90 minutes (as I type this) and my excitement this morning is palpable. For readers, the book fest is a great thing—for writers, it is out of this world!
But just like last year, after a fortnight of warm and sunny weather, it [...]

August 15th, 2009 | Tags: book lovers, Books, Charlotte Square, Edinburgh Book Festival, readers, Reading, writers, Writing | Category: Books, Edinburgh: the City & the Festivals, Fiction, Internet, Reading, Writing | Leave a comment

Image: BorisWatch.com

Yesterday’s blog tour stop over at Cate Master’s was a great success. Cate gave me a special interview plus the spot came with a free giveaway of a copy of STELLA. It’s open until Sunday so you can still be in with a chance of winning, you only have to point your browser to [...]

June 19th, 2009 | Tags: 2-Tone, 30th anniversary, blog tour, Blogging, Boris Johnson, Cate Masters, computers, Day Job, debate, discussion, drinks, Edinburgh Book Festival, Family, friends, I.T., in the groove, Interview, macaroni and cheese, marriage, Open University, psyched, Publishing and Marketing, ska, skanking, The Beat, writers, Writing | Category: Books, Day Job, Edinburgh: the City & the Festivals, Fiction, Food, Drink, and Bevvy, I.T., Interviews, Publishing and Marketing, Writing | Comments (2)