So I ran into Ian Rankin the other night...

Evening troops,

The wife's watching the Girls Aloud programme on ITV so I thought I'd knock off a quick blog post.

It was our second wedding anniversary on Thursday and we went to Preston where Ian Rankin was doing an appearance to promote his new book Standing in another man's grave.

We hadn't planned it to be our anniversary night out obviously but I'm glad it worked out that way.

We've seen him before in Lancaster and he's a pretty effortless speaker, very laid back as if you're listening to someone in a pub over a pint.

Afterwards we dutifully joined the queue, bought a book and had it signed by the man himself. I've attached a pic. He wrote Happy Anniversary in it too, which the wife liked.

For anyone interested, there's a programme on Boxing Day called Doors Open. It's an Ian Rankin story and Stephen Fry is in it. Probably worth a look.

Right, that's all for now. I've got a few projects on tonight and then, at about 2AM, it's the Rolling Stones pay per view live from New York on Sky. It's gonna be a late one.

By the way, sales are slow this month in America so if you're reading this over there feel free to dive in and make a purchase.

What does Christmas mean to you?

Evening gang,

A regular reader, trusted associate and long time colleague pointed out today I'd been a bit slack on the blogging lately. I pointed out I've been hard at work editing my soon to be published new novel The Trust. Interestingly, said colleague is the inspiration behind one of the central characters. Sadly that character is a murderous lunatic. Still, I'll let him see an advance copy and if he's happy with it then he can have a signed one.

Oh, and just so we're clear. There's no evidence to suggest he is murderous. But of course, the clever ones don't leave a trail.

Anyway, we've got the tree up at the homestead and a big old sod it is too. Have a look...

 

Which brings me nicely to tonight's topic. I'm not a massive fan of Christmas as a whole. I loved it when I was a kid. Always got lots of presents, loved being off school etc. But now I'm in a position where I can just buy any gift I might fancy so from a purely material point of view Christmas has no benefit. I also have a job which doesn't really enable me to have any time off aside from Christmas Day and Boxing Day so it's not like I'm at home watching lots of festive tele either.

 

So what is Christmas to me? Well I do like buying stuff for the wife. And I do like having a nice tree. I also quite like going out for festive lunch with the family, especially since my parents always pay. But this year it also marks an occasion. This year marks my transition from my existing job, which I loathe, to my new job, which I pray will be better. It's certainly more cash, which is nice.

 

I was at Lancaster Cathedral at the weekend. It was the annual Light up a Life service for St John's Hospice and the wife asked me to go and help clear up afterwards. I also wrote two of the readings used in the service which, I'm told, were very well received. To the folk at this service Christmas is all about remembering loved ones, missing folk and rebuildng their lives which seems a lot more important that presents and a smart tree.

 

I also went to visit the wife's grandmother at the weekend. We had a nice lunch and she gave us a chest of drawers. She also said she no longer puts up a Christmas tree as it's too much like hard work and she goes away for the holiday rather than spend it with any family. That struck me as quite sad that she'd rather be with strangers than family. Mind you, I've met them and I'd be tempted to go away on my own as well!

 

So all this has got me thinking. What does Christmas mean to everyone? Family, tree, presents, church, being on your own, time off work?

 

As for me, I'll be hoping to publish the new book in time to tap into all the new ereaders which people will receive at Christmas. Keep watching for updates!

Until next time...



What did you do today?

Evening folks,

Regular readers will know I often wander off topic so tonight I'm going to start right on topic and see where we end up.

Today I got up at 11:30AM. I ambled downstairs, flicked on the kettle, made a brew and then switched on the laptop. I cracked on with the editing on my book, working title The Trust, and it went really rather well.

Just as an aside (here we go, off topic alert!) I'm almost halfway through the second draft and still hopeful the book will be available before Christmas. You might recall it's a book from my back catalogue (2006 or there abouts). I'd anticipated tidying it up and publishing it before returning to my main project which was editing the newly written follow up to The 24 Hour Jazz Cafe. But The Trust has developed into much more than I'd imagined. The plot is strong and the themes are still very topical, to the extent that I was reading a relevant piece in todays edition of the i newspaper.

So, in short, I'm taking my time on the editing until it's just right. If this means publishing after Christmas then so be it. It's a winner though and I'll start revealing plot details in coming weeks.

Anyway, let's return to the topic. After an hour or so of editing the phone rings. It's the wife. She's out and about doing stuff and wants to know if I want to go out for lunch. Neeldess to say I do. So she picks me up and we mooch into town, have a very pleasant lunch at Sun Street Cafe (where I perused the i newspaper mentioned earlier). After this we picked up her oldest niece and went to watch Silver Linings Playbook at the local cinema.

I was expecting very little, although I like Bradley Cooper a lot. But the film is actually very good, well cast, pretty well written and both Cooper and the female lead Jennifer Lawrence are very good in their portryals of folk with mental issues. Sadly the cost for three of us with one popcorn was £27!!! Madness.

My evening consisted of roast chicken for tea, an episode of The Hour and now I'm blogging about it all.

Now to meander off topic again. The Stones gig on Thurday night was epic! Wildly expensive but they really know how to put on a show. That said, Bruce Springsteen has announced UK dates next year. He is known for playing at least three hours, has a stellar back catalogue. Ticket price £55-68. The Stones? £250. Hmm.

Tomorrow's plan? More editing before the drudgery of the day job on Monday. There was something else I was going to mention but I've lost my thread.

Last of all, I'm not getting any joy reader wise from Wattpad. I might well stick something else on there but to be honest I think I might let it go. We shall see.

Until then...

Book editing and The Rolling Stones

Evening gang,

How's things? It seems that where I live is about the only place in the country not to be flooded. The down side of that is I have no excuse not to go to work. But I am counting the days now, and todays number is 23.

Anyway, regular readers will know that I was aiming to have two new books out for Christmas. Tonight's announcement is...that's not going to happen. I know, I know, you're all upset. But fear not. It's something to look forward to in the new year.

Both books are written it's the editing that's taking the time. I'm about half way through the second draft of what is currently called The Trust. It's one from the back catalogue but it's better than I remembered and as I've started playing with it the story has developed further and I've started tweaking character relationships and moving scenes to - hopefully - make it all better. Anyway, the word count currently stands at 83,500. I reckon it might end up around 85,000 by the time I'm done which is a bit more than I usually average but there's a lot going on in this book.

I'm planning on taking a couple of days away from the editing to launch a revised version of my short story The Storyteller in time for Christmas. It's a little bit of money for old rope but I'd be daft not to promote my festive book at this time of year.

I'll also be taking a couple of days off to dash down to London to see The Rolling Stones at the O2 on Thusday night. Unless you've been on the moon you'll be aware that they did a triumphant show last weekend at the O2 featuring original member Bill Wyman and later member Mick Taylor. The reviews have been superb, especially for Mick Jagger. Yes, the ticker prices are ludicrous (we paid £250 a ticket plus hotel plus travel!!) but sometimes, just sometimes, you have to worry about the money another day. I'll be having a quiet Christmas as a result of this concert but it'll be worth it.

Anyway, I'm currently battling some sort of cold so I'm going to edit another few pages then slump on the couch with a brew and watch tele.

PS Sales are slow this month because I'lve not done any promo so if you could spread the word for me. Thanks

How do the writers demonstrate the disturbed mind in their work?

Evening folks,

The rewrite is progressing quite well so I won't bore you with that. Sales are slow but I haven't done any promo for weeks. On the plus side a chap at work is about to start reading a paperback copy of The 24 Hour Jazz Cafe.

In other news I came home tonight to a request from the wife. Her oldest niece has to do some sort of essay based test on Thursday which answers the question I've used as the title of this post. The texts in question are Macbeth and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Now this might seem odd, or not, but it was actually thoroughly interesting. I have the necessary qualifications to help with this sort of thing in terms of related exam results and degrees but it's not every day someone asks for my help writing an essay.

I do have a decent working knowledge of both books but obviously I don't read them regularly. Anyway, I had a quick flick through my copies of both, then a quick look on Google, made some notes and rang the girl. Apparently the class had never studied Jekyll and Hyde which doesn't bode well for the essay but I have to admit her knowledge of Shakespeare's text was pretty good and she had a good grasp of the relevant themes.

Anyway, I talked her through my ideas, kept it simple, suggested she compare and contrast, use the obvious character elements, the environment and then back up her points with relevant quotes. It seems I must have done something right as she posted a Twitter message later saying it made sense now and asked if she could make notes and then email it tomorrow for feedback. Needless to say the wife is delighted with my efforts.

For my part it was great to delve into the books again and I actually wrote four pages of notes on the topic and could happily have written the essay. Pity I spend my days dealing in numbers and figures rather than words. Ho hum.

Anyway, time for bed. Until next time...

French sales, choking and chimney sweeps

Evening gang!

Exciting news. I've only gone and sold a copy of Playground Cool in France. Why is this a big deal? I suppose it's not in the wider context but I generally sell sod all in Europe unless I'm doing a promo of some sort. Whoever you are...merci! You see what I did there?

In other news, as per my previous post I was struggling creatively so me and the wife went to watch Skyfall the other night. Blimey it's good. Good story, plenty in it for the long term Bond fan, some brave decisions in terms of key characters and all the usual stunt madness you'd expect. Top drawer.

We also went to our local pub for tea the night after which was excellent as ever. A particular highlight was a woman choking. Hang on! I don't mean that it was a highlight to see her choking obviously. You see, I live in a bit of a leafy village full of doctors and retired well to do types. I'm the youngest person on my street by a distance, and the poorest. So the village pub is generally filled with these folk on a nightly basis and it's a bit of a running joke with my friends i.e. the best place to collapse is in my pub because half the NHS are in there every night. So this woman suddenly jumps up from her tea, clearly struggling and immediately someone says "Don't worry love, there's a doctor sat there" and points to the table next to ours.

Anyway the lady was fine, blockage cleared, she sat down and carried on with her tea. It rather summed up where I live and supported the running joke. If you need a doctor, head for the pub.

So after so much entertainment I was all refreshed and ready for some writing. A big help in getting me back into the mood was the superb Imagine the other night featuring Ian Rankin. Today I edited thirty plus pages and am aiming to do the same tomorrow. Good times.

Speaking of Ian Rankin, my tickets arrived today. For our wedding anniversary the wife is taking me to Preston to a reading and signing with my fave writer. Hurrah! Well done wife.

Did I mention we had the chimney swept as well? What a life I lead.

Anyway, enough rambling. Bottom line is, the muse has returned and the book is back on track.

Night folks.

How do you manage distractions?

Evening gang,

I've been away, but now I'm back.

Pardon the dodgy quote from The Shining but I went to a special Halloween screening last Wednesday and it was awesome. It was the extended US version and it remains one of my favourite films and both the film and particularly the book have been a constant source of inspiration.

Examples? Okay. In my book All the fun of the fair the bar in the Narracott hotel is called the Overlook after the hotel in King's book. The scene in the ballroom is based on the party scenes in The Shining. Ben Torrance, in my book Playground Cool, takes his name from Jack in the Stephen King original. There's more but I'd have to refer to the books themselves to remind myself. The point is, it's one of the best stories King has written and, even though the film differs from the book, it's powerful largely because of the central performance by Jack Nicholson and the awesome camera work.

As regular readers will know I've got two books on the verge of publication yet the editing process has stalled. Why? Too much else going on coupled with a little bit of writing fatigue. I wrote the sequel to the Jazz Cafe in a matter of months while working full time. I then started to edit a book from the back catalogue days later.

End result? I stare at the pages and nothing happens. It's occurred before and I know I just need time to recharge. I never know how long but all of a sudden it will hit me and I won't be able to keep up. But for now we appear to be done. Does this mean the books won't be out before Christmas? Maybe it does. But that's okay. You can't force it. Or you can, but the result will never be quite right.

So that's it in a nutshell. I'm now distracted. Trips to the cinema, the local pub, work is frantic and driving me mad and I lack the motivation in the evening to write. But only for now.

My question is this? How do you manage your distractions? Work, kids, tele, life. Stuff gets in the way. This stuff is fine for everyone else, that's their life. But to us writers all that is research, background noise, a distraction from the real purpose. But when the words won't flow it can be very hard to turn off X Factor or not sink another beer. Yet when I'm in the middle of a story the tele could be on full blast and I wouldn't even notice.

So for tonight I'm just going to write this blog piece and that will be enough. Tomorrow I'll chalk off another day at work and pray for a lottery win to end that particular misery. I'll keep doing that until one day the words turn up and drag me off on the next leg of our adventure.

On the plus side there's plenty of football on the box this week and we're planning a trip to see Skyfall later in the week so it's all good.

Carry on...

PS While I was just on Amazon UK grabbing the links for this blog I noticed I've now got 9 reviews for the Jazz Cafe, 8 of which are 5*. The other is a 3* and it's tone is totally different to the other reviews which makes me wonder if it's from someone I've upset. Or I'm just unable to accept someone was not totally in love with my book. Either way, it's great to know folk like what I'm doing.