Sunday 23 February 2014

Fear of Ridicule is ridiculous.

As the title suggests, my blog for this week targets those writers who fear ridicule or criticism for what they want to write (or publish). It was this week when I had a friend, give me their reasons why they don’t write seriously despite having some, frankly, great ideas that I’d love to read personally. Their reason being that they feared ridicule for the plot; well what am I supposed to say? I have written, and am probably publishing a book that will offend and be criticised by thousands despite my good intentions to gender equality and neutralisation of religion, it’s a simple theory which I put forth, with many, more complicated ones within making up the story, but this is a quick read blog, for a deeper discussion leave a comment below.
            I would like to say to the world, particularly to anyone out there who can write, wants to, but cannot find the courage to do so; that the world you create on a page, so long as you justify everything in its context you cannot be ridiculed. That is to say, you can’t be criticised critically, of course there will be many who will make you a dart board for their opinions, as I expect and relish with my own work. I direct you, reader, to my post on fantasy writing, and the words of Terry Pratchett, one of many sources of wisdom for my work. All is fair in writing, so long as it has purpose and reason, that one is one of mine.
            I would like to, if I may, encourage writers to plan their works before writing, I remember many years ago now, meeting a Scottish amateur horror, writer, whose method it was to write with no plan; I’m all for streams of consciousness and letting your imagination guide you, but this leaves a lot of room for plot holes and means a lot of needless editing later on. For me it’s best to get emotional as you plan and detach yourself in either the second editing or final editing phase, to be kind to your editor in principle.
            For me and many who were born to write, the act is therapeutic; and act of completing one’s self, some of us were never meant to write and publish, those who do deserve saluting. It takes a lot of courage to subject yourself to the ravages of the critics and the world alike. Personally, I admire those who came before me and aspire to be as good as those who write better than me now and in the future. We all are born with a story, but not everyone has the ability to write it themselves. We have enough poets and writers, but that does not mean those who want it enough can’t find their place where there was thought to be none. It’s all uncharted waters in a continuum where nothing is original. So write, and find that missing part of yourselves on the blank page.
That will do for today. Now get to your desks, to your favourite armchair, or find a spot where you aren’t too squeezed and can have enough light to see the page and write/read good people.
Until next time, read, write, live.

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My book is now available for pre-order at




Saturday 15 February 2014

Keeping up with the times

This week will be pretty short, I have been studying, training for an upcoming grading and working more on reading for university, in short, I’ve been swamped. This week I offer a reminder that everyone needs time to rest, no matter what the deadline, what the task, the aim, you cannot do your best if you don’t give yourself time to recover from the last battle.

            I’m very fortunate that I have office 2013, once I got my head around it, using it on the move eliminates a lot of bugs that plagued previous versions of word, though I did love office 2010. I still face on a daily basis the annoyance of my web pages not displaying properly, which I have no idea how to fix and of course the rest of the world giving me it’s worst.
            My book will no longer be released next week (the 19th) but on the first of March, for any of the Welsh population who may be following me, we know that this is St David’s day, appropriate in my opinion. So for the week, set yourself a goal (like me) and keep those increments small, those battles will all build up if you fight them all at once.

My usual hideaways


My book is now available for pre-order at


Friday 7 February 2014

Look back to remember why you’re going forwards

            Another week has gone by and therefore another post has been written, although in some hurry this week. Now I make a point to have my blog posts written well advance of when posting (especially if it’s a theoretical topic as they take some thinking about) but this one was last minute; this is because, this week I’ve felt worse than if I’d gone on holiday with a group of Germans. At the time it feels amazing, but the hangover isn’t something you want to talk about for a few years following. I’ve not been drinking, to clear that up, I’ve just been struck by a rather potent bout of influenza. However I’m nearly back to full strength again.
            This week I think it’s important to talk about how my mind has been able to look back over the last few years and realise all the efforts I’ve put into getting to where I am and how I could not have gotten here without having people I could depend on. Family, no matter how little you can see them and my friends, mostly the non-British ones have kept me on the straight and narrow in the course I’ve chosen; I suppose this means I’m dishing out a lot of Birthday presents for the next few years.
            I remember four years ago, when I started learning to write at a level that was not just considered childish fantasy; I began by learning poetry, reading different poets, different forms, and even over the last few years I’ve met many poets from around the world, much to my delight. Fiction has always been what I found hardest to write (or write well) but I’ve always wanted to go against what was natural to me and write fiction, after a few years, and many punctuation mistakes – that I still make all the time – I’m here with an editor cleaning up my multiple messes.
            So, in Eleven days from now, I hit the official launch date of my book, do I feel ready for the critics and those who misinterpret my work and disagree with me? No! But I made the commitment to start and finish this book, the edits and Nocturnal Press put their faith in it too, I suppose that means it was meant to be out there. Even now I’m working on another book (or few) to hopefully publish next year or so, we’ll just have to wait and see.
Until next time, I have a week of work to catch up on. So read, write, live.

My usual hideaways


My book is now available for pre-order at



A Bucket of Coffee and some hope

             Hello again, welcome back to my rather sporadic installments of the life of a young Author. The title of this entry speaks...