Mad Iguana

Yay, CJ! More good news, whatever pace it comes at! Congratulations!

As the frog said, ‘Read it.’ I’m not that big on historical fiction and it took me a while to get into An Argument of Blood (though it turned out to be worth it), but A Black Matter for the King is a corker and had me gripped from first to last.

Aelfgifa (can’t do the dipthong) is a really compelling character, which is all the more impressive…[Read more]

Is this the kind of thing peeps meant? Still needs a tweak or two, yet, but…

By Tilda’s twenty-sixth attempt to produce an illuminorb, Silviu’s patience was wearing thin.

“Concentrate, Tilda,” the Ambakian powermage snapped.

“I am concentrating.” Tilda rubbed her palm against her trouser leg. It felt hot; surely she must’ve been close to…[Read more]

Yeah. I recommend not posting Thompson’s regime as writing advice

So would I.

‘We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a saltshaker half-full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers… Also, a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether, and two dozen amyls.’

Er, no…

Anquetil had a comment for that, too – it was something along the lines of ‘you expect us to do what we do on mineral water alone?’

If there was a performance enhancing drug for writing, I’d be sorely tempted by it right now. (Not sure Hunter S Thompson’s idea of such a thing counts, btw)

He left out ‘Take the dope, take the dope, take the dope.’ Though i’m not sure what the equivalent would be for writers.

Thanks Jonathan, Raine – more food for thought!

Glad you’d read on, though… 😉

So glad to hear this, Claire. I don’t recall hearing anything from you since you blogged on the Cloud about your first meeting with your agent, and that seems ages ago (though yes, glacial pace is about it). I’ve been wondering what happened, so this is all the more welcome. Congratulations.

Well that’s just unreasonable WB 😉

Jacques Anquetil, first five time winner of the Tour de France was once asked what advice he’d give aspiring bike racers. ‘Ride a bike, ride a bike, ride a bike’ was his answer. The equivalent for aspiring writers could be ‘write a book, write a book, write a book’.

*air punch* Yes, publishing moves at a glacial pace but this is a fabulous stride forwards – at last. I saw your lovely agent at York, though we didn’t have a chance to chat. I do know how much she adores you though. (Don’t we all!) xx

ps – I’d love to catch up on your story of getting an agent, if you fancied sharing? I know there are so many different paths and I’d love to hear what yours was like x

Oh my goodness, this is brilliant! Congratulations to you! (And to your agent)

Huge congratulations CJ. Faberoo

How about: if you want the book to exist, you have to actually write it…

I am clearly stealing all my tips from people who can put them much better than I can!!

Thanks GG, it’s a great idea isn’t it? I don’t have any control over the deadline unfortunately, it’s not a zine I have any involvement in. But people have another two weeks to submit something, and as it’s for 250 word flash, there should be a bit of time to get something in