Category Archives: Writing

UK branch of adot-com. Five years here, with noheating each winter. One of the amusing things about working for my company — the EMEA offices of a Silicon Valley .com — is that despite being based in a modern business … Continue reading →

Cold room, poor heating.The local astronomymeeting was great fun. Astronomy is one of my many interests, and tonight was the Astrobasics meeting for my local society, Reading Astronomical Society. The Astrobasics meetings take place at a wetland nature reserve close … Continue reading →

On the way to workmy podcasts remind me thatI should be writing! It has been a number of years since I’ve listened to the radio in my car, and it’s rare that I listen to music anymore while driving. Since … Continue reading →

Last night I went throughthe writing markets. Cast thenet. Waiting game starts. I spent last night polishing up a couple of short stories and going through the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook 2010 looking for suitable markets for them. There were … Continue reading →

It amazes mehow some people can’t abidea moment’s silence. One of my colleagues, and a good friend outside the workplace, is a naturally nervous person who has at least one leg jittering and bobbing all day, every day. On some … Continue reading →

While I’ve never been an avid reader of poetry or haiku, earlier this month I set myself the challenge of writing a haiku every day. I suppose my lack of interest in these writing forms comes down to two reasons: … Continue reading →

On the subject of pantsing and first lines, I thought I’d share an interesting literary magazine with you called The First Line. At the start of each year, they put up on their website the first sentence of a story … Continue reading →

Among the many the things I’m striving to achieve in my writing career, I am currently trying to get my head around the concept of pre-planned writing. As a lifelong pantser, an instinctive technique that has served me well in … Continue reading →

Early last year I realised that in order to maximise my chances of getting my work published I’d need to determine who published what, how to contact them and what to send them, i.e. publishers and submission guidelines. You may … Continue reading →

Every now and then we come across something that puts us at a loss for words — either because it’s appalling short-sighted or because it’s so incredibly insightful. The following short film by Mexican film-maker Alonso Alvarez Barreda, Historia de … Continue reading →