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Athelstone posted an update 7 years, 6 months ago
I’m trying, guys. PLEASE be careful who you make friends with
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Daedalus replied to the topic My Publishing Nightmare – the story of a book deal gone bad (Part 1) in the forum Blogs 7 years, 6 months ago
I’d hate to think that, @richardb – the truth is that it’s not that hard to avoid what happened to me. If you pursue the agent route, most of it is irrelevant anyway, although you obviously have to do your research into any agents who offer to represent you. In 99% of cases, just being aware of the possible problems means you can avoid…[Read more]
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RichardB replied to the topic My Publishing Nightmare – the story of a book deal gone bad (Part 1) in the forum Blogs 7 years, 6 months ago
I think you’ve put me off trying to get published for life…
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Daedalus replied to the topic My Publishing Nightmare – the story of a book deal gone bad (Part 1) in the forum Blogs 7 years, 6 months ago
Thanks both. I think I probably did just about everything wrong that I could have done, but that doesn’t excuse the behaviour, or the performance, of the publisher. Caveat Scriptor…
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Daedalus started the topic My Publishing Nightmare – the story of a book deal gone bad (Part 1) in the forum Blogs 7 years, 6 months ago
Those of you who were on the Word Cloud before it evaporated may remember I had a bit of trouble with one of my novels and was taking legal action to recover the rights. I wrote a blog on it when I was still deep in the midst of the process, and now it is all mercifully resolved, I thought it was time to update. This turned into a mammoth essay…[Read more]
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RichardB posted an update 7 years, 6 months ago
Emma Darwin’s latest blog is one of her shortest – and most inspiring.
https://emmadarwin.typepad.com/thisitchofwriting/2019/01/as-a-mentor-and-teacher-and-writer-and-reader-theres-something-i-want-to-say-to-you.html-
Yes, yes, yes. Thanks for drawing my attention to it.
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Thanks @richardb
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Yes indeed. Need a duvet cover with it on. Or window blind..
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Touché!
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Raine posted an update 7 years, 6 months ago
I need a snow census. Who has snow?
I am suffering my annual I LIVE IN SCOTLAND AND DONT HAVE SNOW temper tantrum. I live on the coast, sticking out into the north sea, low level. So its a) dry and b) more salt in the air than oxygen most of the time. And c) that is profoundly unfair.-
Ditto Raine. We live on the coast and snow is a once every twenty year for half a day thing here. Glasgow had snow yesterday though but it melted during the day and I haven’t had an update today.
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We still have a heavy frost, but no snow. Might have some tomorrow morning, apparently.
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No snow. West Suffolk.
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Tiny sprinkling of snow first thing this morning in Cotswolds over a heavy frost. All gone now.
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About half an inch when I got up this morning. All melted now, BUT I can see the Brecon Beacons from my window, and they’re still covered.
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No snow (thank goodness). Essex. Had a few flakes last night but they didn’t settle.
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Got light covering of snow on the Isle of Lewis. Several snow showers but not layering up.
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You have all made me feel much better! 😂 i will cease sulking! High of 2deg here today but stubbornly un snowy.
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Not a snowflake in sight apart from myself. However, I do have foxes in the garden who are raising the temperature like billy-ho!
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I live in the highest village in England and we have a light dusting. However lots of ice – needed to put my foot to the car to open its door today.
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Just a light dusting here.
@Janette, do you write Flash fiction?-
@janette, I had to do some serious door-wrestling too. Whilst thinking ‘how hard can you yank on a door handle before you snap it off?’
And @athelstone, glad to hear the foxes are feeling spring-like, despite all evidence to the contrary! -
@johnalty, I do like to write flash fiction, however at the moment I’ve had to put my blinkers on and concentrate on my current WIP as an agent has asked for the full once I do some requested adjustments. Sorry it rules me out of current comps at least, but I’m hoping it will all be worth it.
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Wow, good luck with that.
Actually I wasn’t drumming up business for the comp, it was a bit of silliness based on the claim by Flash, in the Peak District, to be the highest village in England.-
Sorry, John, I should amend my previous statement to ‘one of the highest’, though at 1200ft above sea-level, we’re pretty damned high.
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Gah! WoW @janette, that is fantastic news!!!! Well done! I’m keeping fingers crossed that she loves it….
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Woke to a thin crunchy layer on Thursday; mostly gone by teatime. We’re ~ a dozen miles from the east coast.
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We had a flurry of snow and lots of sleet. I am almost on the beach, and lots of salt on our windows. For a day Ballard Down was covered in snow which cast an unusual light over the bay but all gone in two days. None settled in the garden.
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Raine posted an update in the group
December SloMo 7 years, 6 months agoJanuary update from Fife – Last week I thought that a) I’d never ever in the universe get to the end of the huge wip edits, b) not hit the word count target. And c) not get to write a short for RwaV in time. And d) just meh, really.
But since then, got to end of edits, hitting my word target, and now am mid first RwaV target with DAYS left in…[Read more]-
Wahey! I’ve been working on RWAV too, today, and it’s started to come together. Got an idea for the sting in the tail, too…
Feels good to be able to feel a bit of success in our plans, doesn’t it?
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It so does, @squidge. Celebrate those mini-successes. 🙂
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Ooo! A sting! That sounds great, especially since you were worried your plot was a little linear before. Fab!!
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Poop though, I don’t think I’m going to make the RWaV deadline. I will gracefully bow out, but GOOD LUCK to everyone xx
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Oh, such a shame you aren’t going to make it @philippaeast, I always look forward to reading your stories. But understandable, given the Monster Edit of Doom. 😀
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Well done, @raine! I’m so proud of you, as i know what a daunting task it felt. AND getting that word count down. RESULT! (How do you think you did it, BTW? There might be a useful lesson for all us us about cutting / reducing)
I know what you mean about how impossible it can seem. I honestly couldn’t see how I was supposed to achieve these edits.…[Read more]-
Thank-you @philippaeast. It was a good feeling writing that new word count into my cover letter! I did it partly by stripping out a character, which meant a bit of structural shenanigans but did streamline bits of the plot. I also cut out a minor PoV. But a lot came from just line edits, which is quite scary re how much there was that I could cut.…[Read more]
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Love it! Some big, brave cuts, and then all those little trims of fat round out prose too. And I LOVE a good bit of motivational number crunching!! Well done again. What are the next steps for you, once you are happy with your edited draft?
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John S Alty posted an update 7 years, 6 months ago
Looks like judging the January competition will be an easy task.
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I suspect it’s because many of us are desperately trying to beat our RWAV stories into submission!
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Aye, that’s the likely thing. And my judging late didn’t help. Could always think about extending the comp to the end of Feb?
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It doesn’t bother me at all to have no takers. I know everyone is absorbed with RWAV. Real life intrudes as well. Priorities.
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Have started a submission. Now I’ve admitted it I’d better get on with it 🙂
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Regarding that Raine, how would Denizens feel about making it a two-monthly comp? I suppose Christmas plus Winter Challenge is going to make Nov-Dec-Jan most difficult for most people, so it might not be a problem in the normal run of things to keep it monthly
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Or even a quarterly competition. Maybe we could look at a judging panel, too. It needs new life breathing into it, somehow.
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Possibly. It might just be the time of year – there were ebbs and flows on the Cloud too, and with a smaller pool of people here we’ll always feel it more acutely when people are busy. But I’ll open a thread, and we can put those suggestions to people and get a sense of what might boost participation a bit.
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Daedalus started the topic Delilah S Dawson on developing an idea in the forum The Writers' Lifeboat 7 years, 6 months ago
An epic Twitter thread from author Delilah S Dawson on developing an idea. She does a lot of these and there’s always a lot of interesting stuff in them, so she’s worth following if you’re on Twitter
For today's #TenThings, let's talk about HOW TO DEVELOP A BOOK IDEA. Because they never arrive fully formed, do they? We get a tiny glimmer, if we're lucky. I hope these tips will help you turn your ideas into fully-fleshed stories.
— Delilah S. Dawson (@DelilahSDawson) January 18, 2019
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Raine posted an update 7 years, 6 months ago
PSA: from an initial 120k behemoth, I now have a 98k mildly rotund wip. 🎉🎉🎉
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Yee-ha!!
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Sounds good!
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Excellent!
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You did it! Yay for word diets!
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Hooray!
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Sandra posted an update 7 years, 6 months ago
So much of editing is removing the superfluous, I wonder why the hell I put it in there in the first place.
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I look at it as like scaffolding. You need it to construct the story, but taking it away is part of the process
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I see it more like all those tatty bits of pale blue plastic wrapping, shredded and blowing in the wind.
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Haha yeah, that too
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It’s like a dissection. You need to rummage around to know what’s what, then you can start cutting away…
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And fingers crossed you don’t snip anything vital …
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Daedalus replied to the topic TSS Cambridge Short Story in the forum Competitions, Open calls and Writing Opportunities 7 years, 6 months ago
Well done all! Let’s hope a Denizen wins
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Sandra replied to the topic TSS Cambridge Short Story in the forum Competitions, Open calls and Writing Opportunities 7 years, 6 months ago
Thanks for this, Word limit ought to mean it wouldn’t need much tweaking.
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Raine posted an update 7 years, 6 months ago
End of first week of term time. How are people bearing up?
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Daedalus started the topic TSS Cambridge Short Story in the forum Competitions, Open calls and Writing Opportunities 7 years, 6 months ago
The TSS Publishing Cambridge Short Story Prize is closing for entries soon, and is apparently short of the number it needs to run the competition. So if Denizens put in an entry, it would surely have a good chance of success, and help TSS make the competition happen. It’s a 2,000-3,000 word limit, so if anyone had any previous Cloud Challenge…[Read more]
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Sandra replied to the topic Monthly comp – December 2018 in the forum Monthly Competition 7 years, 6 months ago
Congratulations John, well deserved, and thanks Raine for the judgement and nice comments – hope Life takes an uplift for you.
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Athelstone replied to the topic Speed Kills: Salisbury, 1906 in the forum Blogs 7 years, 6 months ago
Richard, your narrative quality is spot on again. Brilliant read.
Daeds, when I was knee-high to the proverbial grasshopper, we had a mix of streamliners and more conventional looking engines pulling the expresses that rolled into Newbury from London Victoria. I always hoped it would be a streamlined engine that would carry me off to exotic…[Read more]
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RichardB replied to the topic Speed Kills: Salisbury, 1906 in the forum Blogs 7 years, 6 months ago
The usual reason given is for ease of maintenance in WWII. The streamlined casings were a diktat from the LMS publicity department (the LNER’s got them so we must have them too), and the Chief Mechanical Engineer referred to the batch of five un-streamlined ones he insisted on building ‘for comparison’ as ‘proper’ones.
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No intention of doing any such thing in this case, Athers.
Quite right too 🙂
I wonder if it’d be an idea to insist on a profile for joiners? Can be faked, of course, but is a bit more of a nuisance to compile plus enables a bit more of an informed choice as to whether or not to befriend.
The problem is not insisting on a profile. The problem is the necessary custom code to make it visible. It’s being looked into at any rate.
Ah … thanks, Jules.
Sorry! I was one of the trusting culprits who made friends. It just seemed unkind to refuse. I’ve learned my lesson now.
Not a culprit at all. The name on the profile gave nothing away and I was the first to accept because I thought it was somebody I’d met recently and told about the site (I only knew her first name). Anyway, Jules has sorted “her” out now.
Oo er. ‘She’ must be sore!
Sore bot?
😀