It 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 …
Category: Musings
Summer Thoughts
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 - …
To Be Correct…
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 …
Catching Up
I've not posted for a while. Today I'm catching-up with a miscellany of stuff, good and bad. I spent a week in the UK visiting my mother and returned depressed at the toll late-stage Alzheimer's is having on that wonderful woman. Then I heard that my 11 year old nephew had succumbed to cancer. It …
Writing Fakes
In London, the Dulwich Picture Gallery (est. 1817) is running a competition. It claims to be displaying 269 genuine paintings by such Masters as Rembrandt, Rubens, Poussin... It is also displaying one known fake painting, commissioned by the Gallery itself. The game is to spot which is the fake. One has to assume that the …
Writing In Freefall?
The Legend NASA invested millions of dollars developing a ball-point pen that would work in micro-gravity. The ink flows only if there is sufficient gravity pulling it towards the tip. To test this, try writing on your ceiling and see how many pages of "War and Peace" you manage. The Russians solved this …
Writing While Swimming
I have decided to exercise regularly in 2015. The treadmill in the den is too easy to walk away from when inspiration strikes. Not so with swimming - once you're in the water it's hard to walk away and immediately start typing. Oh, and in the cause of precision, when I say "regularly", I should …
Quick Fixes To Attract Publishers
Last time, I covered the need for an unpublished author to demonstrate a large Following for his/her as-yet-unpublished work and ended with the tantalising hint of a Quick Fix... Remember, you need a big Following to catch the eye of a publisher and encourage that eye to glance at your life's work manuscript, currently sitting …
How To Spot A Winner
Last time, I considered "Failing To Spot A Winner" in the entertainment industry. Now, let's look at the reverse of the coin. How To Spot "Potential Success" Today, a publisher will assess the potential of an unknown author's manuscript by checking "Social Network Following", before glancing at the work. The assumption is that a huge …
Failing To Spot A Winner
. The traditional publishing industry does not exactly have 100% record of identifying books carrying the stamp of massive popularity and commercial success. Consider this list of best-sellers from various genres and their initial rejection totals (source: "How Stuff Works"): Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (38) Dune by Frank Herbert (20) Carrie by Stephen King (30) Dubliners …
Andy McKell, Speculative Fiction Author 
You must be logged in to post a comment.