While there is no magic formula, there are certain recurring themes in the ‘How I Made It’ stories of successful writers. They all had absolute faith. They all wrote with almost religious zeal and they all refused to take ‘No’ for an answer from life. Most drew upon their own personal experiences and few seem …
Month: January 2012
Sinclair Macleod’s bit o’ banter
Of all the Tweets I’d read, Sinclair Macleod’s were the only ones to reference Irn Bru, Haggis and Glasgow. I was intrigued, having a fondness for the Dear Green Place myself, after working for a boss based there. In fact, so proudly Glaswegian was she that she referred to Edinburgh simply as ‘the other place’. …
I’d just like to thank…
Well, all of you really. (The ones who voted, anyway!) I’m thrilled to announce that The Silent Hills won its general short story category in the recent Preditors & Editors Readers’ Poll: http://www.critters.org/predpoll/final_tally_shortstory.ht Needless to say – but I’ll say it anyway – everyone at Musa Publishing is delighted with the result, especially as The …
Keeping a Promise
Somewhere back in the Cretaceous Period (i.e. in my late teens), I had an idea for a long story. In essence it was about two friends who followed very different paths in life and how those paths crossed in the future. It was set in a sci-fi / fantasy context and drew on my emerging …
Context
Context is a wonderful thing. Take that image, for example. Just a random pile of coins that I snatched out of my pocket and slammed down. Now notice how many are upright on the edge. Is that typical? I don’t know because I’d never done it before. It reminded me of the one, single time …
Should some acquaintance be forgot?
Like the two-headed god, Janus, who looks to the past and the future, I like to use the new year to both review what has been and prepare for what will be. Here are some ideas for things – and people – to set aside in the coming year 1. Email. By which I mean: …