Let me tell you a story... about a story. Or maybe it's about a writer. Seven years ago I started to write a story. It grew like topsy. I was squeezing an epic series spanning thousands of years into a single novel. So I found break-points and spread the tale over three, then four, books with yet …
Tag: Work In Progress
March On
So here we are, heading for the Ides of March and the world is in the grip of Corvid-19, the rebranded Coronavirus. First off: my sympathies go to all those affected and their families. A flowery writer could spout about fear-filled streets, but I'll avoid that. My personal and very selfish focus is on the …
A Winter’s Tale
February I look out the window at the storm-wracked forest beyond the rainsoaked fields and long for Spring. My personal "writing place" is my garden patio in the sunshine with rock music on my headphones and coffee within reach. Sitting in my attic office with artificial lighting to compensate for the all-day, gray-sky dullness outside …
Almost February?
Wow, time flies! I am SO glad I renamed this an "occasional blog" a while ago. Luckily, the world ducked Father Time's scythe as December slipped into January, despite Middle East issues, although China's upcoming New Year of the Rat (starts January 25, 2020) is plagued with spreading Coronavirus problems and Australia is still beset …
Heading for Year-End
First off, belated HAPPY THANKSGIVING from snowy Luxembourg! No, there wasn't this much snow, yet, but it's a lovely photo of the town in midwinter. NovaCon Sci-Fi Convention in Nottingham, UK Was this a convention to remember! I got serious food poisoning on the way there and my (newish) car broke down on the way …
Onward and Upward
It's a sunny day here in Luxembourg. The heatwave has eased, the rain has stopped, and it's perfect weather for sitting out on the patio and pouring thoughts and words into my laptop. I started looking through my Scrivener folder of "Unfinished Works". More accurately, it should be called, "Started and Stalled". Some authors struggle …
Mid-Year Thoughts
Here we go again, sliding past the year's halfway point - the longest day (or the shortest day if you're Down Under). The Earth just clocked-up another 470 million km (282 million miles) - a half orbit of the sun - since a cold and snowy December 31st. And what's changed? Well... the UK is …
April & May
BSFA Ytterbium Chocaholics and parents might have noticed it was Easter again last month. To me, that meant eating chocolate at the British Science Fiction Association's Annual Convention! Code-named Ytterbium, it was held this year at London Heathrow's Park Inn. As always, I rolled up ready to meet old friends, make new ones, and …
Winter Is Coming
No, not another "Game of Thrones" review. It's snowing in Luxembourg, Halloween is here and there's only 55 days left to Christmas at time of writing. (To keep track of how time's running out for your gift shopping, click here.) And it's been another month of ups and downs in a writer's life... A Short Story Published "Your …
Struggling Author
It's been a long month. Apart from the usual writerly stuff (you know, the stuff a writer thinks s/he's going to be doing like... er... writing) authors across the world have been struggling with Amazon's widespread and apparently random deletion and blocking of reviews and trying to navigate the European Union's new GDPR law. Read …
Andy McKell, Speculative Fiction Author 
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