Category Musings

Dec 20 2016

What’s With Wattpad?

I heard a few good things about Wattpad during 2014.

Wikipedia (December 20, 2016) says…

“Wattpad is an online storytelling community where users post written works such as articles, stories, fan fiction, and poems, either through the website or the mobile app…

As of April 2014: [Yes, 2014]

  • 85% of its traffic and usage comes from mobile devices,
  • the site has 35 million unique visitors per month,
  • there are over 100,000 story uploads per day,
  • there have been over two million writers.

… According to the profiles visible on the site, many of these authors are teenagers.”

I took a look and found it full of YA, Romance and Undead Fantasy (not my genres), mostly written by teens. Still, I thought I’d give it a try and uploaded some short stories (horror, hard scifi…) to test the waters. I had a reasonable readership response, but few Likes or comments. Okay (shrug), I’m not Rowling or Atwood or Howey (yet). I’m not going to get swarms of eager readers seeking out every word I electronically utter (yet).

Persevering, I tried a novel.

Continue reading →

Oct 27 2016

A Beginner’s Tale #3

Large FoJIt has been a long journey, but here I stand on the verge of publishing my first novel.

I always wanted to write, but my first High School English teacher convinced me I was barely literate. I think he resented me being taller than him, as a later (taller) teacher promoted me from bottom of the class to (almost) pole position.

Too late!

It was my final year of school and my small fantasies had been strangled. Hurrah for education! Continue reading →

Apr 24 2016

Plot Sketch #4635

So Many Ideas, So Little Time…

(I have too short a lifespan to produce a full story from every idea I get, so will occasionally throw up out a plot sketch so you can see what you are missing…)

Plot Sketch #4635

Earth is the only planet in the galaxy where Continue reading →

Nov 9 2015

So Many Whys

questionI recently re-watched “Prometheus“, the movie. It was a “non-prequel” to the hit “Alien” movie franchise. Like many, (humourously here with adult language) I was left with more questions than answers. Sadly, some of those questions appear to concern plot-holes, or at least plot-weaknesses. However,  Continue reading →

Sep 13 2015

Writing in Groups

 

teachers-23820_1280I kept reading about them in the blogosphere. Everyone recommends them: Writers’ Groups!

So how do you find one? Especially if you live in the small, non-English-speaking country of Luxembourg. So I filed it away as yet more writerly advice I couldn’t take, like nationwide bookshop signings, getting into libraries… Perhaps I could find a critique group online, someday… I really had to get searching… When I had time…

But then I found one. Or rather, it found me. Continue reading →

Sep 9 2015

So That Was August

augustIt was a month of ups. It was a month of downs.

It was a time for looking forward and a time for looking back.

I was delighted that my youngest daughter has taken up her place in the UK, where her two sisters already study and work. But it leaves the house rather empty as the seasons begin to turn from glorious summer to a grey-skied and chilly early autumn. Continue reading →

Jul 2 2015

Summer Thoughts

1000px-Paris_Night

The longest day of 2015 is already history to my dear readers in the Northern Hemisphere (21st June 2015 at 16:38 GMT, in case you missed it). Summer is starting to ebb away as the days grow shorter. Start buying your winter clothes. (Except in the Southern Hemisphere, where the days are growing longer – because the Earth is tilted and it goes around the sun. I’ll come back to that, below.) Continue reading →

Jun 21 2015

To Be Correct…

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I need some help – with political correctness.

As a Starter, Here’s a Joke

A newly-qualified doctor from a highly privileged background sets up a practice in a poor area. An elderly, working-class female patient arrives and explains she has “problems with my…”. Embarrassment overcomes her and she leans forward. “Down there,” she whispers. He begins examining her feet. Continue reading →