Category: Writing

Oct 2, 2010 by

new review!

Lovely, lovely review from Coffee Time Romance for Tease. I’m really glad they enjoyed it. I’m going to pay the $5 to have the book linked from the review (now that’s a canny business plan – free, independent reviews, but charge for additional promo opportunities. Hats off to CTR!)

Reviews for Tease vary from 3* to4.5*. So far no one’s hated it, and everyone seems to appreciate the stylistic choice of Tease being mute, though not everyone’s as keen on Barnabas. Which is fair enough! If I ever do another edition, there are some thing I will make more explicit, like the fact Barnabas didn’t grow up in Tremanhir, and has spent the vast majority of his life in boarding school (I see him as early twenties in the text, and he’ll have been at boarding school from age 7 to 18). I might even go so far as to tie it down to a time period, but I kinda like the fact it could be set any time from the 60s onwards.

Anyway, I’m off to Wales in a couple of hours. I had an idea of spending the whole train journey working on Space Romance, but it turns out it’s three separate trains, which is a bit more awkward for writing. Still, I’m very much in the mood now 🙂 This just about caps my weird week, really.

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Sep 27, 2010 by

Motivation Monday

I’m not feeling terribly motivated myself, after a very strange weekend. All Sunday at work people were congratulting me for a job I recently applied for but hadn’t heard back about yet, so today I went and asked our HR person: I hadn’t got the job. So where did the rumour come from?

Anyway, I’m off to Wales next weekend, so hopefully that one will go a little better! Will probably be sans internet until I get back, alas. I’ll just have to be some kind of productive.

Publishing: The BookSeller claims that eBooks sales are actually beginning to cannibalise print sales, and it’s no real surprise to note that Romance is one of the genres it cites as an example. Jane at Dear Author discusses what she thinks is coming next for ebooks.

InsPiring: A French man swims the English Channel (la Manche, in French). Oh, and he did this without arms or legs, having had them amputated 16 years ago. Well, he has prosthetic legs, but it’s still pretty inspiring!

Interest-Piquing: Banned Books Week is underway, with articles from The Guardian, the BBC and the Independent (and probably The Times, but oh look, paywall!). It’s a reminder that I still need to read Catcher in the Rye, though at least between this time last year and now I’ve managed to get around to To Kill a Mockingbird.

Procrastination: Play with Spider. I’ve had the same spider reappear three times in my living room. I know it’s the same one because it’s freaking huge. This time I decided that rather than put it out in the garden I’d take it for a walk down the street, so it can go inhabit someone else’s living room.

Edit: making the past few days no less strange, though generally better, I have received a fairly large cheque from the Inland Revenue, since apparantly they massively overtaxed me last year. Like, take a holiday abroad cheque.

In Monday Motivation
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Sep 23, 2010 by

Marian Perera on publishing with Samhain

cover for Before The Storm, by Marian PereraThis week’s interview is with Marian Perera, who published Before The Storm with Samhain. This is probably the last interview for a while, since work’s making life a little hectic!

In Dagran society, Alex is the lowest of the low—a “mare”, an object to be used by the nobility. When her owner, Stephen Garnath, gifts her to his greatest rival, she begins plotting her path to freedom. Nothing and no one will ever control her again. Not her degrading past, and certainly not her growing attraction to a man reputed to be an even crueler master than Garnath.

Robert Demeresna is instantly suspicious of such a generous gift. Yet she comes to him armed with only her sharp mind—a potent weapon he can use to defend his people from the enemy. And underneath, an unbreakable spirit that besieges the walls of his heart.

Slowly, Robert chips away at Alex’s defenses, striking sparks that make her begin to believe even a lowly whore like her could be worthy of him. Until Garnath springs a trap so cleverly hidden, war is unleashed before either of them sees it coming. A new kind of war fought with steam engines, explosives—and magic with a killing edge…

Continue Reading

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Sep 21, 2010 by

The two certainties in life: Death and HMRC

Registering as self-employed is simultaneously very hard and very easy. You swear at the website for over an hour, call the most relevant number you find, listen to a recorded message giving you a long list of numbers you should have called instead, call the most relevant one from the list, sit on hold for some time, answer a lot of security questions for a nice lady in return for yet another numbers, plow throw a push-button menu, and speak to a nice man who sets everything up for you in ten minutes.

I still don’t have my ITIN from the US, but they have until April now. And I’ve manage to register in time to avoid a fine, not that the length of time is specified anywhere. And I’m probably going to be below the threshhold to pay tax on my writing earnings (ÂŁ5000, roughly) anyway, so this nice man is also sending me an exemption form.

I should probably pay in the nice cheque from Loose Id some time soon!

So now I’m going to watch Dinnerladies anddrink a cocktail of my own devising (sloe vodka, brandy, lemonade, peaches and oranges) and reading my free copy of the Guardian. It’s almost like being some kind of grown up.

“You teeter on the thrush threshold, threatening to thrash.”

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Sep 20, 2010 by

Motivation Monday

As this appear, I’ll be in a job interview. I’ve spent the last few days drawing romans and religious symbols in preparation 🙂 Love the day job.

Publishing: Hachette’s moving to agency pricing within the UK. I guess now’s the time to find out whether it’s legal under UK competition laws.

Interest-Piquing: How to build a viking long ship. Well, there’s a long, dark winter ahead of us…

InsPiring: Draw your own earrings. I haven’t had a go yet, but I’m going to treat myself soon 🙂

Procrastination: A History of the World in 100 objects; or All the Things the British Nicked and Kept While Empire Building. I really hope the podcast is available to download outside the UK, because it’s a wonderful piece of broadcasting and a great way to make washing up feel worthwhile (the podcasts at about 10 minutes each). The hundredth object in the radio show will be revealed on October 22nd, but museums and individuals around the UK are adding more to the site all the time.

In Monday Motivation
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