Eye problems, Mosquitoes and Hives, but apart from that it was a good holiday.

My writing plans have taken a knock back with problems with both my eyes having ulcerated and got infected from day one of my holiday. Fortunately it only slowed me down and not completely stopped me, so I got my first draft of Lifted complete and Ephesus is almost complete. Thank you Kindle for your adjustable font.

 It was a bit like reading Janet and John with my thumb operating the page turner at such a speed, in a way that took me back to my pinball days on the flipper buttons. Thankfully my Kindle didn't 'tilt' and I got through quite a bit of reading. I would have gone out of my mind not being able to read on holiday. I have added my holiday reads on the right hand column. Just scroll down.
Sleep deprivation was also a problem, due to our nightly visits from the local mosquito population. I think they are an essential component of the tourist industry for most countries. The local economy was making an absolute killing on their vast range of mosquito repellent products, all of which I bought and none of which worked. I was kicking myself for not putting my own arsenal together in the UK and bringing it over, but call me paranoid, but I think these were genetically modified designer mozzies resistant to anything short of a nuclear holocaust.
Finally, the flight home. I don't mind long haul flights at all. I think to myself, ten hours of sitting doing nothing at all except sheer indulgence, being wined, dined and in flight entertainment. I had decided in advance that I would shun the in flight movies and make my own entertainment reading a David Baldacci novel. However, I had a sudden attack attack of hives as soon as I got on the plane. My head appeared to be mutating, with large bumps appearing alarmingly fast. Soon my whole body was covered and the cabin crew were concerned whether I would be fit enough to fly. I said I did not feel unwell, but I was very uncomfortable. So much so that I couldn't sit still long enough to read. I gave up on that and tried to watch a movie, gave up on that, and just did lots of getting up and walking. Thankfully I had an aisle seat. No idea what the cause was, but I have had some blood tests since I've returned, and have completely recovered.

Buenos Dias from Mexico

Despite a shaky start to this holiday, including eye problems which needed medical attention, I have got off to a good start with my writing and my short story 'Lifted' is now complete.

It's all systems go to complete 'Ephesus' once and for all, and I'm enjoying the portability of using pen and paper. I carry my notebooks everywhere with me now, and it has become my preferred method of writing, for at least the first draft anyway.
Thank goodness for Kindle, as my reading has not slowed down due to the extra large font I was able to use with my impaired vision.

Thankfully I am on the mend and am now down to normal size reading.
I have a waterproof cover for my Kindle, which is great for reading in the pool.
The locals don't seem too impressed  (see below).

Elementary my dear.... What's On?

 I love reading as much as I love writing. I read more than what I write, but then I think that's how it should be. I've not always read crime and I've not always wrote comedy. My literary tastes are and always will be very eclectic. I remember in my youth, my guilty secret was Thomas Hardy. I read everything he wrote. It was like time travel for me. I've spent my life flitting from one genre to another, Dickens, Neville Shute, Harold Robbins, Denis Wheatley, Agatha Christie, JB Priestley, Stephen King, John Grisham, Tom Sharpe, Ben Elton. In recent years I'm fascinated with crime, yet all my life I have avoided Sherlock Holmes, both in print and on screen. I now have The Complete Sherlock Holmes downloaded on my eBook reader.
My What's On Guide embedded in the theatre part of my brain, is telling me that until further notice, my reading list will be a mixture of ancient and modern, i.e., Sherlock Holmes, contemporary fiction. Often I will review contemporary fiction, and often I have met the author whom I am reading.
I have to be honest, and state that I wasn't excited with the prospect of taking on such a huge chunk of life commitment to read Arthur Conan Doyle's most iconic detective in the world. The concept of Holmes and Watson sharing an apartment, in a very unequal partnership; Holmes ego against Dr Watson's subservient admiration for Holmes didn't sit well with me.

How wrong could I be? Switching from ancient to modern is not going to be easy, as I finish one adventure, it will be hard to wrench myself back into the 21st century.
A Study In Scarlet was Sherlock Holmes introduction into the world. The first couple of chapters set the scene how Dr Watson invalided from the Afghan Wars came to be introduced to Holmes who was looking for a room mate to share the cost of his Baker Street apartment.
The writing is timeless, and the incredible detail does not overburden my poor old brain one bit.
Conan Doyle's mastery of the written word and the intricacy of his crime writing based on logic rather than procedure is simply refreshing in this day and age.
Obviously I won't be reviewing someone who is up there with the gods of literature, but every now and again expect me to say WOW.

A Diet of Words

Currently I've got the bug for writing short stories. I've taken a short break from Ephesus, to do this and will pick up where I left off when I fly out to warmer climes. Short stories for me is a bit like snacking between meals. What with that and my reading and my audiobooks, not to mention blogging, I'm shamelessly getting fat on words. I hope it doesn't give me a serious case of verbal diarrhoea or even worse IVS (irritable vowel syndrome).
I've got competition fever again. Nice to have a deadline that's reasonably manageable for someone with a full time job. For me it's an apprentice piece that is going to get judged. The prize may be small but the kudos that comes from winning the prize is invaluable for the CV and getting known by publishers and literary agents.
I've got a great premise, and am about half way through the first draft. So I had better get on with it and finish it or I'll have to eat my words, and that wouldn't be good for the colon.

 

Double Giveaway

This offer has now expired. However, Henley's Ricotta retails at only £0.79 and Ushabti is £0.77. To purchase, please use the links below.

Click here for Henley's Ricotta

From tomorrow, Saturday, both Henley's and Ushabti are both available for free download.

I think this will be a good promotion to raise interest before the launch of my third book Ephesus.

I'm going on holiday next month, usually for me, a productive time for writing.

Click here for Ushabti

This offer is open for 4 days for Ushabti and 5 days for Henley's Ricotta. (I have no idea why they couldn't be the same, ask Amazon.)

I hope you enjoy either or both books. If you enjoy what you read, please leave me a review. It costs only a minute or two of your time and a sentence or two will do.

Happy reading.

Get Writing 2013

Back from Hatfield Uni for the Get Writing 2013 event, organised by Verulam Writer's Circle from St Albans. This year they even got the weather right with no rain or even snow. Smart move changing it from February to April.
After the opening address, Ayisha Malik, the managing editor of Cornerstones spoke about the merits of professional editing. It's something I will consider investing in very soon. Then it was time for the first workshop of the day, from journalist and self professed media whore Kelly Rose Bradford. Her workshop was called Being Your Own PR Machine. 
There is no room anymore for shrinking violets. Her message was to show off and promote the 'work me' than the 'normal me.' Adapt your profile to suit what you have to sell and promote yourself before you promote the product. I liked Kelly's confidence. She is a young woman who knows what she wants and knows how to go out there and get it.
Next was a seminar delivered by David Roden, writer, script editor, producer and director for the BBC. He brought along one of his proteges Frazer Flintham who had scaled the insurmountable slush pile of the BBC Writersroom and  has come through with several BBC radio and telly options taken up. David reads countless scripts and spoke about his frustrations about badly written or presented scripts and the joy of finding scripts with the required amount of dazzle. Lots of advice given which I eagerly copied down in my notebook, including don't blog... that's right he said DON'T BLOG. Why blog? he asked when you could be writing. Excuse me but I like my blog. It helps me flex my creative muscles, bounce ideas and network with some like-minded people.
Frazer Flintham held a workshop and got us writing about what we did yesterday. He succeed in drawing out of us reasonable accounts on what on the surface of things may have seemed fairly mundane and not worth writing about. All a bit soapish, but it works.
My last workshop was with crimewriter Lesley Horton who got us working when we had to plan a murder.
Great fun as you can imagine.
Two people who I was really happy to see was my companion for GW2012 and GW2013, Mike French, editor of a literary magazine and author of The Ascent of Isaac Steward and Blue Friday, recommended reading, and Ann Cleeves of Vera and Shetland fame, both of which have been televised. I cut short my lunch to buy books and sat down at an empty table to sit and read and who should come and join me but Ann. It was great to speak to her about her success, and then she delivered a talk in the main auditorium.

I didn't enter a short story this year, but I did manage to come third in the Twitter competition(no prize). The challenge was to write a story in no more than 140 characters and tweet it. I knew that VWC have a blog entitled  If Shakespeare... So my tweet went #GW13comp If Shakespeare... came back for one day, to attend a book signing at Get Writing: "Shall I compare me to Fifty Shades of Grey?"

Inspirations

Work commitments have got in the way at the moment, hence Fairfax is on the back burner, and my Bloguctivity output has taken a battering. To safeguard against the last of my creative marrow being sucked out of my bones by too much work, I have been listening to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Primary Phase, Special Edition, whilst in the bath or driving to and from work.
As a writer I know when something is inexorably good, when I find myself fighting the urge to recycle some of Douglas Adam's prose for myself. Sadly Douglas Adams died at the very young age of 49 twelve years ago. I was born the same year as Mr Adams, and know that no matter how hard I try I could never catch up with his level of comedy fiction greatness within this lifetime. But perhaps that is for the best. I need someone like him to inspire me to stretch beyond my comfortable limits.

And while I'm on the subject of inspiration, on April 20th I will be making the short trip to Hatfield to make my fourth visit to the Get Writing. This year Ann Cleeves, the writer of ITV's Vera BBC One's Shetland will be there.
I will post a full report of the event including the workshops I will be attending. If you are able to get down there, it's a great day out for around £50.00 with lunch included. There is also some 'Facetime' slots if you feel brave enough to pitch your work. Here's the link, http://vwc.org.uk/getwriting2013.php. Let me know if you're going and I'll have a coffee with you.

Any day now, I'm going to put both Henley's Ricotta and Ushabti out for free for a few days again. Watch this space and I'll let you know.