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This is fascinating.

My grandfather, on my mother’s side, worked on the railways but I know virtually nothing of what he did, to my embarrassment. I gather he was responsible for maintenance of a section of track, and when he started, had something to do with using horses to shunt rolling stock into and out of sidings, this being before that…[Read more]

Another fascinating blog Richard. And unlike so many of them, where there were obvious risks being taken or safety features omitted, with this one it’s so unlikely as to surely have been unforseeable. Do you think the signalmen were reassured by all the built-in the safety features that nothing like that could have happened, freeing them to run t…[Read more]

Sounds like my kind of novella, Stevie 😁

That’s definitely one of the problems Bella – people, self included, really want these things to go well and can easily blind themselves to the problems. There’s that siren voice of ‘yes, but you’ll be published…’ – as if that means anything by itself

Go for it, Stevie. I bet you can knock out more words in 5 months than you think. And worst case scenario, you’ll still have the makings of a story if you don’t hit the deadline.

Thanks @philippaeast – you’re most welcome. I feel very silly having made all these avoidable errors, but I wouldn’t want anyone else to fall into the same trap. Mostly I don’t want people to get stuck with publishers who act in bad faith.

Would you mind retweeting the link the next time you’re on Twitter? Just to get the highest circulation…[Read more]

And you’re doing brilliantly at it John 😉

Congrats and good luck both – John, don’t do yourself down, you have a talent with the short story

I’ve just published Part 2

My Publishing Nightmare – the story of a book deal gone bad (Part 2)

Queer, Asexual, Intergender and Pansexual. These all sort of fall under a Non-binary umbrella but the acronym includes the separate forms.

Congrats @johnalty and @elle – that’s great news and I’ll keep fingers crossed for teh next stage – when is the short list announced?

Brilliant – thanks John and well done Jonathan, a tour-de-force of purple prose

@philippaeast this is brilliant. You are fab, and you deserve all this success. And like Daeds says, it is so valuable to see the non-glossy version of people’s experiences, although I know it takes bravery to tell it. There are too many stories from authors who knew someone who knew an agent and tada! they were taken on, so it is heartening to…[Read more]

I think you’re right to be absolutely honest and not gloss over the difficulties and how emotionally taxing success can be. As writers we need to hear it and be under no illusions (and I think it would be nice if readers were a bit more aware of that too – a fellow writer and illustrator tells me his daughter’s friends refuse to accept that’s what…[Read more]

Wow, what a ride! Really illuminating blog. This stuff is difficult, isn’t it? Sounds as though you made absolutely the right choice. Heart/gut has to inform head in these circumstances. Loved reading about it, looking forward to the next stage

Ahead

I cannot look ahead.

There is no ahead. There is only now, and I can’t handle it. He is tearing up the carpet. Chomping the furniture. Treating my arm as a chew toy.

And he’s there. Always. Always having to be watched. Placated. Fed. I am tiptoeing around the edge of my own life. If I slip I will fall off.

Virtually the only place tha…[Read more]