tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31158454332782519232011-11-28T06:22:53.254ZGraeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.comBlogger1451100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-46321517553736477642011-09-30T12:08:00.000+01:002011-09-30T12:09:49.401+01:00

Titles, like covers are exceedingly important to a book, yet often overlooked as a topic for discussion and thought. Having studied the syllabuses of a good number of creative writing courses, for example, and flicked through any number of ‘how to’ books, I cannot recall ever having seen lectures or chapters devoted to this. Yet a title, a handful of words, when put together with an image can be

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-82960241892813213462011-08-30T12:38:00.000+01:002011-08-30T12:40:43.906+01:00

You can tell I’m feeling a bit better (always a relative term with me). I’m angry. I have just listened to another of what is fast becoming the latest trend amongst a certain class of successful writer. That is, a long, whining, truly pathetic moan about how much they hate writing, about how difficult it is, about how it is ruining their life. The answer is simple you gobshites. Give it up.

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-90527857352612628152011-07-13T19:27:00.001+01:002011-07-13T19:29:00.677+01:00

I will mark today with a post as it has been a good day. Politicians, sections of the press, and the police, have been caught with their pants down pissing on the rest of us and we got so fed up with we have flicked their collective todgers with a wet towel. They are scrambling to outdo each other in proving their moral rectitude. I have no confidence that it will last or that anything radical

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-27336988011590444222011-05-31T13:43:00.000+01:002011-05-31T13:44:01.167+01:00

It is coming up to sixteen years since I received my first offer of publication (a book that has recently gone into a second edition). Since then I’ve had a number of other books published, put out work of my own (yes, folks, self-publishing), and published other people. Yet it still surprises me, on a daily basis, that people other than my mum buy my books. Complete strangers log on to online

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-90940434288787661962011-04-30T13:59:00.003+01:002011-04-30T14:04:55.887+01:00

Mourning the loss of one of the great writers of the twentieth century.Joanna Russ (22 February 1937 – 29 April 2011)

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-74725625777449783842011-04-04T11:43:00.001+01:002011-04-04T11:43:53.822+01:00

I am in the middle of writing a little book report. Literally. I have just broken off because this thought came to me whilst writing a sentence.I am, of course, using a word processor. But I am old enough to remember when it was written by hand; revised by hand; typed up; corrected and, if needs be, literally cut up and pasted back together in the required order; then retyped; and checked. If you

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-70692161476112162642011-04-02T18:53:00.004+01:002011-04-02T19:00:53.007+01:00

A month rushes by and I slink back in here knowing blogging acquaintances who have racked up thirty or more entries since my last one. So what have I been doing? What excitement has kept me from the keyboard? What delights have distracted me? Nothing. Not a sausage. I’m drifting. True, I am working on a set of four shorts stories. True, I’m waiting on a submission. True, I have been busy packing

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-92050961155303149702011-03-18T14:08:00.002Z2011-03-18T14:23:07.658Z

Well, here she is. Charlie's first full outing outing in all its glory. It will take a little while to feed through to retailers, but it is already listed at The Book Depository, Amazon, Waterstones, and Foyles. You can place your order now to be certain that as soon as they receive stocks, they'll pass a copy on to you.

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-71379906919196069902011-03-01T15:51:00.000Z2011-03-01T15:52:13.188Z

…a book that is. Not reading the last page and wondering what to pick up next, but typing the equivalent of FIN at the end of whichever draft is the one you finally decide has to be the last.It is a bitter-sweet experience. Especially after reading the bloody thing for the umpteenth time through various drafts and proofs (in which you still find typos, right up to the moment they have to pry the

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-74222295971399082742011-02-08T14:35:00.001Z2011-02-08T14:37:50.364Z

A disappointing level of reading accomplished, largely because I have been spending all day proof-reading and indexing. Come the evening (when I read the most), I have for the most part been putting my feet up and watching DVDs.I have managed to read a few short stories as a warm up to the main reading project of the year (Dubliners) and some lighter stuff, but I was struck today by how much and

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-10747514981287982042011-01-24T18:44:00.001Z2011-01-24T18:47:32.190Z

Yes, I’m still in the land of the living.And a chance encounter with a photocopy found whilst tidying a folder set me thinking. It is forty years (-ish) since I did my A Level literature course. I sat the exam in the summer of 1972, so I would have been part way into the first year (pauses to take socks off and use toes for counting) – possibly. It was literature, after all, not

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-76349410632067302602010-11-07T12:03:00.002Z2010-11-07T12:05:26.855Z

The last phrase of my previous blog could not have been more prophetic. It has slipped out (an entirely apposite way of doing business as far as the current UK government is concerned - they are all so slimy things cannot help but slip out, slide out, ooze disgustingly around our feet giving off a bad smell…) Sorry, where was I (apart from expressing a loathing so deep it makes me physically ill)

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-25671292853979904982010-11-04T11:35:00.000Z2010-11-04T11:36:05.692Z

I recently received a little brown envelope containing a slip of paper. It was from the Royal Society of Literature informing me that I hadn’t won a short story competition. It went on to list those who had.One of the names looked familiar so I did an online search. And was left more than a little annoyed.Before I go any further, let me say that I had no expectation of winning this competition,

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-81454549478680259412010-10-10T19:55:00.001+01:002010-10-10T19:56:03.585+01:00

...who would like you to go here for a sneak preview of the cover of Thin Reflections.

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-8697053415696652882010-09-20T16:12:00.002+01:002010-09-20T16:14:37.630+01:00

I had written a long diatribe about the state of the arts, but it came across as the rant of a miserable old git. So I'm not going to post it in the spirit of not wishing to sound like a stuck recording.That is all.

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-37864448336167639392010-09-01T14:02:00.002+01:002010-09-01T14:10:52.835+01:00

Living. Reading. Writing. All that stuff. Keeps me out of trouble.Of note is the fact that today I took delivery of a copy The Man Who Knew Too Much (Sexton Blake Library 350). This completes my collection of Sexton Blake's known to have been written in whole or in part by Jack Trevor Story.If you know nothing about Sexton Blake (shame on you), then a visit here will enlighten you.If you know

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-66401133618535557822010-08-05T15:29:00.002+01:002010-08-05T18:31:06.652+01:00

Anyone who has been here before will know that I’m not above the odd grumble about the state of the publishing industry. There’s a lot good about it. Still. Despite everything it seems to have done to drive itself into the ground.But here is a perfect example of what it gets so wrong.Read this review.Go to this site.This is a wonderful book. It is well-written, well-crafted, entertaining,

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-54788327490057193222010-07-01T20:26:00.002+01:002010-07-01T20:28:54.269+01:00

Bloody hell it's dusty in here. And the cobwebs. And mouse shit.I've been busy. Not looked in for a while.But just to let my reader know that my story Four Rings of Light has now been published in the latest edition of Exterminating Angel.Er...That is all.[Wanders off looking for a broom and duster]

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-42661936676741899972010-05-26T12:14:00.002+01:002010-05-26T12:29:15.906+01:00

...down the word mine hacking away at the ink face.Some good news. I finally got a copy of the Jack Trevor Story I had been after. One of the missing copies turned up after having been round the country several times (or maybe just stuck down the back of a sorting office trolley for a few months). Anyway, worth the wait.Then I got my copy of Into The Media Web (as a reward for lots of typing).

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-62479969933116651382010-04-22T14:44:00.002+01:002010-04-22T14:55:51.155+01:00

Three times this year I have tracked down an affordable copy of a book by Jack Trevor Story that I do not own. And for the third time this year I have just given up on seeing it delivered. Who or what is out there making sure that I never get to see this book? Very strange.

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-91959667856526737912010-04-16T12:08:00.003+01:002010-04-20T09:02:40.263+01:00

Still beavering away. I now have another of my books done. This one is nearly ready to send to the publisher (I just have a few bits to tweak to bring it in line with the house style). That leaves the other museum book to do and then back to the very rough draft of the Druid book to kick it into shape.It's all very humdrum, which is mostly what writing is about. Yes, there is a huge thrill in

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-8453230427219859432010-03-20T10:26:00.002Z2010-03-20T10:35:17.894Z

Please read this: http://blog.authorsrights.org.uk/2010/03/19/the-digital-economy-bill-demands-full-democratic-scrutiny/ and look at the rest of the site.It may same complicated and, certainly, law making seems designed to put people off (which is why such poorly drafted legislation gets through), but it is important.In a kind of panic, probably prompted by big industry putting the squeeze on

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-45436852622903618662010-03-04T11:13:00.002Z2010-03-04T11:19:49.176Z

Busy just at the moment. Museum books on the go. Druid book on back burner. Short story completed (although it will need a bit of work as I tried to do something tricksy with tense and I'll need to think about how well that works). Health a bit dodgy.On a different note, I was heartened the other day, however, by statements from two people. The first was an actor who said he was always drawn to

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-24767345758749246012010-02-02T16:42:00.002Z2010-02-02T16:58:50.063Z

Twice in one day, what's the world coming to?Jolly bit of news here about The Borribles.This has put a smile on my face. The Borribles books by Michael de Larrabeiti have long been a favourite of mine and deserve a bit of recognition.It is clear that one or two people fail to see any merit in them because they are, according to Wikipedia (that accurate fount of all knowledge), young adult books.

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-10287463231395269772010-02-02T14:49:00.004Z2010-02-02T15:06:38.040Z

...haven't written anything for ages and I still get an award. Or maybe it's because I haven't written anything for ages.Thanks Carol.I nominate the Novel Racers as recipients of this; fine bloggers one and all.I also have to tell you about five things I like to do.1 - Writing. This may come as a surprise to some folk, especially given the amount of spleen that gets vented on this blog. But I do

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-33203006758440787382010-01-22T12:05:00.000Z2010-01-22T12:06:16.023Z

2010Where did that come from?Sneaky bugger.

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-73935318976822768862009-12-30T15:30:00.005Z2009-12-30T16:16:27.371Z

M John Harrison's comments here on the recently screened BBC adaptation of Day of the Triffids (with which I heartily concur - I gave up in disgust after about twenty minutes) started me thinking. I admit this was an effort given the cold, an excess of chocolate, and days of wrestling with an intransigent manuscript and making no progress, but given also the excess of things televisual it was

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-46400520937334976392009-12-20T18:50:00.004Z2009-12-20T19:11:41.317Z

For anyone who is interested, I reached my target of reading 100 books this year. That was the John Buchan. I've since read another and have a couple more lined up. My to-be-read pile (a full bookcase) has 134 books on it, so I'm running 16 months behind myself (I blame the LHC).Flags out!A post without me whingeing.

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-5580626932400200042009-12-18T19:31:00.001Z2009-12-18T19:31:41.324Z

Michael Moorcock.

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-43829175262613479612009-12-14T15:15:00.003Z2009-12-18T16:42:22.236Z

Well… almost. Plenty of circuses. Very little bread. Make we should all just eat cake?We went shopping the other day. Not the weekly stock-up-the-larder scrum, but a let’s-go-to-the-big-town-and-see-if-there-any-treats scrum. We needn’t have bothered. It was a scrum (no disappointment there), but treats? It’s the same old stuff with a bit of tinsel (and not much of that in evidence – it gets in

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-89070864518573793972009-11-11T19:25:00.002Z2009-11-11T19:27:02.824Z

Suddenly. 9 November 2009. May she rest always in sunshine.

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-4700990515187188352009-11-03T21:40:00.002Z2009-11-03T22:11:16.867Z

I have probably mentioned this before, but music is very important to me. I listen to it a lot, especially when I'm first drafting. Finding the right stuff to key a mood or emotional atmosphere is very important. It's one reason I have a fondness for instrumental pieces. Lyrics can be distracting, although with songs I know well I can put them in the background, even sing along without it

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-19858329858472970112009-10-19T17:02:00.002+01:002009-10-19T17:03:32.344+01:00

Writing and depression. Not easy bedfellows, even though artistic endeavour does seem to have some connection with extreme states of mind.Depression is a dark cloud muddying the waters, all the filth that you hoped was lying undisturbed on the bottom, compacting into immovable layers, gets swirled up by some passing thought or incident. There is no real way of knowing what is going to do it. It’s

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-3093827712575429972009-10-12T12:01:00.000+01:002009-10-12T12:02:29.968+01:00

Well, that’s another short ‘review’ over on grumbooks. And while I was writing it, it struck me that my reading habits go through cycles. Sometimes, as now, I have several books on the go. I read a couple of chapters of one, move on to another, read a bit of that, then pick up yet another book. They are invariably variable. If I have three or more on the go, one will be non-fiction, one a

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-63595276425089536482009-10-07T18:54:00.003+01:002009-10-07T19:02:07.326+01:00

Goodness. A new keyboard (one of those compact ones that does away with all those numbers on the right hand side you never use) and a new monitor stand that puts the monitor at a comfortable correct level. The trouble is, I have become so used to leaning my head forward to look down toward the monitor, I'm getting a neck ache by sitting in the correct position. Plus, it's further from the

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-16446656685377684262009-10-03T14:09:00.003+01:002009-10-03T14:15:46.912+01:00

...at the state of this place. You leave it alone for a few weeks and what happens? Dust, damp, colonization, the growth of civilizations, empires, conflict, war, mutually assured destruction. Carbon dust glows in the dark. A breeze blows some of it into the air revealing the remains of a city. The particles spark in the dim light like stars, swirling, slowly coalescing. I decide to withdraw as I

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-37019328382444343592009-09-04T16:59:00.002+01:002009-09-04T17:14:34.887+01:00

As I have nothing interesting, provocative, saucy, or useful to say just now (brain wiped out by all the writing I’ve been doing), I thought you might enjoy the following that myself and some snuggly friends composed in a fit of literary procrastination a little while ago.The premis is simple. Look at book titles. Remove a single letter to change the title and add a pithy resumé of the new

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-88882147395664736222009-08-14T13:52:00.002+01:002009-08-14T14:01:33.454+01:00

Re my previous post, I have just gone through my bookmarks and deleted my links to the culture/literature pages of the daily papers.It was liberating and depressing in equal measure. Depressing, because it reminded me of just how low these sections had sunk (and just how few of them there were in any case). Liberating, because if I want to go and wade in the sewerage, I will have to make a bit

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-58299144557482881652009-08-11T11:46:00.003+01:002009-08-11T12:42:08.791+01:00

I've been very busy over the last few months (and more). Writing. So I've not had a great deal of time to write about writing.This morning, however, while doing my weekly major back-up, I did what I usually do - trawl through the book sections of the websites of the more respectable UK newspapers. I do it once a week and, to be honest, I don't know why I bother any more.Quite aside from the

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-83438893920439776942009-08-08T19:17:00.003+01:002009-08-08T19:21:05.814+01:00

Hmm. Sounds like that might be a title worth developing.Living in limbo just now. Waiting for this. Waiting for that. Everything placed in the hands of other people who then decide your fate.But never mind. I am still writing, so I am remaining relatively sane.That's it, really.Enthralling stuff, eh?

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-22923032016026201942009-07-19T16:43:00.003+01:002009-07-20T21:39:53.700+01:00

...not drowning.Again, just passing through. I'm making the most of the urge to write and, consequently, not spending much time keeping this blog up to date.Having just put a quarterly magazine to bed, I'm back to the latest novel. There was a moment I faltered because the word count looked exceedingly thin. But then I realised that all I was doing was transcribing a screenplay I had dashed off

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-23002145344015932542009-06-24T18:38:00.002+01:002009-06-24T18:40:50.059+01:00

Busy doing things with words (or possibly to words - they do seem to be cowering in a corner and whimpering at the moment).Suffering from the heat (this is Scotland, dammit, it has no right climbing into the 70s).Checking out...

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-92005164677639701282009-06-02T13:37:00.004+01:002009-06-02T14:40:48.881+01:00

Not much pyschology, actually. Poking around inside my head is more akin to trying to unblock the waste disposal unit, unpleasant (and certainly not somewhere you want to be sticking your fingers) but necessary if you don't want all that gunge backing up and an evil smell lingering about the place. In a manner of speaking.Creatively, I've had a good year so far. A whole novel drafted (even if it

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-11089581370470298372009-05-27T23:56:00.002+01:002009-05-27T23:58:38.018+01:00

I have just the first draft of Stealing into Winter. 31 January to 27 May. 69,181 words. I think that deserves a cup of tea.

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-5563946682796840392009-05-21T14:28:00.000+01:002009-05-21T14:29:29.295+01:00

Salt Publishing. One of the good guys. They publish high quality work. They publish in areas neglected by many other publishers. And they have been hit.If you go here, you’ll see the details and how you can help.There has been some discussion about whether they should have been so frank. Well, for what my opinion is worth, I think they have got this just right. They are being honest and

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-32921336956781717382009-05-13T16:00:00.001+01:002009-05-13T16:01:25.934+01:00

It seems that certain sections of the publishing industry are worried. About bloody time, you might think. Unfortunately they are not worried that they are over producing and that much of what they are pushing onto the shelves of bookstores is pap. That would be too much to hope for. No. It seems they are worrying that a certain, prominent ‘book club’ run on a daytime TV show by a couple whose

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-16013877613257139842009-05-08T17:04:00.002+01:002009-05-08T17:12:43.584+01:00

Here's something that has puzzled me a lot over the years.How long does it take an agent/editor to decide whether they want to take on a book or not? I only ask because they can sit on your submission for months, yet the minute you send a letter/email asking if they've had a chance to look at it yet you invariably get an immediate reply saying the book is not right for them.Or is it they just

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-12068848495199668002009-05-04T19:53:00.003+01:002009-05-04T20:03:49.867+01:00

I've not posted much of late as I've been busy drafting Jeniche. This has been using up all of my limited supply of energy so not much else is getting written.It is an interesting experience as it is very much 'seat of the pants' writing. I set an artificial structure for the book. Three parts, eleven chapters in each part. This worked fine for the first two parts, but when I came to sketch the

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-54301056537509997332009-04-19T21:23:00.002+01:002009-04-20T10:06:11.555+01:00

James Graham Ballard15 November 1930 - 19 April 2009My thoughts are with his devoted partner Claire Walsh and with his three children: James, Fay, and Beatrice.We have lost a truly remarkable writer whose work outranks, by far, that of any other British writer of the latter part of the twentieth century.

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-11583925557341156122009-04-11T22:53:00.002+01:002009-04-11T22:58:11.056+01:00

A short story of mine has appeared here in OFF Magazine. Some of the formatting went AWOL towards the end (a heading should be in bold and isn't), but it's mostly intact.Great story (of course it is, Graeme) and the magazine is well worth a look as well.

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-37382400365477273622009-04-04T18:46:00.001+01:002009-04-04T18:48:24.478+01:00

Having just finished re-reading J G Ballard’s The Crystal World and spent a morning looking at new books, blogs, reviews, and the like; it struck me that writers no longer have time.Ballard didn’t really hit his stride as a novelist until Crash (having already found a unique voice as a short story writer), which was his fifth, sixth, or fourth novel (depending on how you define ‘novel’ and

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-78217321640932752552009-03-27T16:01:00.003Z2009-03-27T16:02:02.314Z

Just passed the halfway mark in my latest effort. Going to put my feet up for the rest of the day.

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-78271025658869377352009-03-25T13:34:00.001Z2009-03-25T13:37:58.416Z

Had another… well, let’s call it a rejection. At least I know who the tosser is who scrawled illegibly on my covering letter, because they did it on my covering letter – which had their address on it.Today I had a submission returned. My covering letter wasn’t in with it. Just my synopsis, writing CV, and sample chapters. No illegible scrawl. No letter saying ‘blah di blah, not right for us in

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-18455363111379871742009-03-17T12:08:00.002Z2009-03-17T12:45:23.210Z

These days, if you want an agent or editor to consider your work (especially if you are an unknown like me), the manuscript has to be word perfect. Don't you dare have a spelling mistake, or a typo, or the teensiest bit of iffy grammar. Don't even think about bucking convention and daring to use anything so out of fashion as dialect (despite the fact that this faddish dislike amongst agents has

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-1840753791149131162009-03-10T19:48:00.003Z2009-03-10T20:11:01.126Z

I don't know what Twitter is (other than a vague sense of something electronic) and I don't much care. I have enough trouble keeping up with new-fangled stuff like pigeon post.However, it appears that a number of literary agents have been using Twitter to play a 'game'. They have been publishing (anonymously) the worst of the pitches they have had for books. Apparently the intention is to educate

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-3124326324864536892009-03-07T20:31:00.003Z2009-03-07T20:35:08.735Z

Well, I may not be able to sell them, but I can write them.I have just finished the first draft of the first part (of three) of my latest work. 23000 words in four weeks - with lots of interruptions. Once I get my head straight, I might get even quicker.And I'm beginning to wonder if I might not manage to draft two novels this year (having already prepared detailed notes for another).I am now

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-35068272933907455052009-03-06T14:23:00.001Z2009-03-06T14:23:45.357Z

It’s Charlie’s birthday today. And another rejection for her book flopped through the door and hit the porch floor with a smack that sounds just like the palm of a hand making contact with a cheek. To add insult to injury (or maybe someone somewhere has a dark sense of humour) the only other post for me was Help the Aged trying to tout a funeral plan. Reminds of that witty riposte, “Fuck off and

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-24791327028748919952009-02-25T17:44:00.003Z2009-02-25T18:04:47.093Z

Gosh. Two shiny awards from two lovely people, Sue and Cathy. And even better, they are not for being curmudgeonly or grumptious. I would like to cheat a bit and, for all the support they have given me, offer the Friends Award to the Novel Racers - a finer bunch of... well... racing novelists, you could not hope to meet.And the Best Blog Thinker Award goes to Alison Shaffer for her two blogs

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-84972407376290007462009-02-25T14:44:00.003Z2009-02-25T14:53:16.226Z

...it can be done.Another rejection today (they are coming in thick and fast).But this one one was printed with my name handwritten in at the top (and spelled correctly) and an apology for it being a standard rejection.It will have taken that agency no longer to produce than an illegible scrawl, yet it showed a level of courtesy that helps soften the blow (although I had no real expectation that

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-22644517852143085712009-02-24T12:39:00.001Z2009-02-24T12:41:13.280Z

Another rejection today from an agent. Well, I assume it is a rejection. My submission came back exactly as I sent it with the addition of an illegible scrawl (some of it crossed out) across part of my covering letter. Hence the sigh. For all I know it could be an offer to represent me.Now, this makes me cross. And it is not the first time I’ve had this in a long career of writing. It makes me

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-71032525980685446402009-02-23T12:18:00.000Z2009-02-23T12:19:04.613Z

This might be a joke. It might not.I am an addict. I am addicted to writing. And to reading. The reading bit I can cope with (apart from the times I pick up a book that is poorly written and rant about how such a piece of garbage ever made it into print). It is the writing bit I have problems with.And today I am desperate for a cure. I want to be free of the compulsion that drives me to sit down

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-83724372134473497192009-02-19T20:07:00.003Z2009-02-19T20:29:44.837Z

I'm writing another novel (yeah, all right, hardly a surprise is it). I had intended to plunge straight into The Mirror That Is Made, which is the second of Charlie Cornelius's books. But it requires extensive research. I'm doing some of the background at the moment, but I'm going to need to do some very specific stuff as well. And at the moment, the money and the energy just aren't there (it

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-59665434890239170042009-02-18T20:52:00.004Z2009-02-25T18:09:12.723Z

By god, it's dusty in here. Cobwebs in the corners. Woodlice partying along the skirting board.I have, to put it bluntly, had a bastard couple of months. I have been writing, but not felt much like coming in here and waving it about in public - so to speak.Not only have I lost my brother, my beloved little cat was discovered to have had a tumour - the sort that you know nothing about until it is

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-54514723218152412132009-01-25T15:37:00.004Z2009-01-25T20:18:10.266Z

I am not, in the usual run of things, a meme/list person. I mean, have you seen The Guardian's feeble attempt at 1000 books we should all read? Pathetic. How can you have a list of must-read crime books without a mention of Margery Allingham? And that's not just because I like her books. She has long been acknowledge as one of the four queens of crime fiction and was certainly the most inventive

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-89503880248324717742009-01-12T14:48:00.002Z2009-01-12T15:04:38.643Z

What with everything (to which can be added a chest infection and a touch of food poisoning), I haven't felt much like posting, writing, or doing very much at all except vegging in front of the TV with some DVDs and reading.So, nothing really exciting to write about.Thin Reflections has picked up a few rejections (so nothing unexpected there) and I'm getting my strength up to package a few more

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-13796446583635197312008-12-30T15:32:00.002Z2008-12-30T15:45:40.762Z

A lot of good people have gone from my life this year: writers, artists, thinkers who have influenced my life.None of them compare with my dear brother, Alan, who died on 27th December.Cheers, mate.And thanks for everything.

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-48675413949725985572008-12-25T17:54:00.002Z2008-12-25T17:56:22.040Z

Perhaps it would be (darkly) appropriate if we paused a moment to remember his life and his work.

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-38250714188211013882008-12-23T17:03:00.000Z2008-12-23T17:04:34.958Z

In front of me, the pile of rejections of Thin Reflections grows. And I have just been reading a forum conversation in which an extremely well known and respected author has been discussing the problems of getting a work published. And I have recently been reflecting on my own chequered and none too (financially) successful writing career. Methinks I should have stayed in bed.So what does get me

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-51195120219399136772008-12-22T09:44:00.002Z2008-12-22T10:04:04.297Z

Here was something pleasing to see on an otherwise dreech, I-missed-the-party-but-still-have-a-hangover type of morning. Three of the top five blogs are mine (including this one). And I only have three (well two as I just manage the third for Charlie). Once you look at the actual figures it's not quite so impressive, but who cares. I don't.

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-8786355908723755092008-12-19T11:01:00.001Z2008-12-19T11:02:39.977Z

...Michael Moorcock. Have a great day (and many more).

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-24030026671167622062008-12-18T14:28:00.002Z2008-12-18T14:32:20.168Z

Apropos waterfalls, I thought you might enjoy this. The whole film is worth watching. Indeed, I think anything by Keaton is worth watching.

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-33810786601038751202008-12-05T11:20:00.000Z2008-12-05T11:21:21.329Z

For those who do not know (and there’s more here), Jim Cawthorn was an illustrator; for me, one of the greatest. His work for New Worlds magazine and his illustrations for Mike Moorcock’s work are masterpieces of the genre. He was undoubtedly one of the people who helped shape my own imagination, for which he will ever have my thanks and respect. My condolences to his family and friends.

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-89981502675620030812008-12-04T16:21:00.000Z2008-12-04T16:22:23.902Z

I have dropped, suddenly, into a deep low.I’m not good at life. Hey, I’m a writer; I’m supposed to be a mess of neuroses.And right now… You know that bit in films when people are happily drifting in a boat and begin to realize that the noise they hear might just be a waterfall. When they try to start the motor, you just know it’s not going to work.That’s how I feel, just now. Don’t know why. I’ve

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-60497673911603040922008-12-01T11:39:00.002Z2008-12-01T12:25:31.287Z

Readers of grumbooks will know that I have recently re-read Alan Moore’s V for Vendetta. And as a result I hauled The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen off the shelf (so to speak) to provide a contrast to other reading matter. And blow me down if yesterday evening I am not pointed toward an interview with Alan Moore from a few years ago.It is curious, although not altogether surprising, that such

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-23531723027471893902008-11-25T23:24:00.000Z2008-11-25T23:25:27.718Z

I finished reading a book the other day (no surprises so far). It had a cover that was a perfect illustration (sorry about that) of a discussion I had followed some weeks ago. Namely, what is the cover of a book for (apart from protecting the pages that is)? Which is a clumsy way of saying I haven’t been much impressed with book covers of late. There have been some stunning ones, but on the whole

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-76014130897587709072008-11-16T14:58:00.002Z2008-11-16T15:01:50.331Z

My computer broke. Blue screen of death. I now have the laptop configured and will be rebuilding the desktop (sounds grand, eh).Until normal service is resumed, here is a small piece for your entertainment/bemusement**Delete as appropriate.

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-486080808780688832008-11-04T15:03:00.000Z2008-11-04T15:04:40.880Z

I have reached the half way point in my first conscious re-write. Conscious as in deliberate, that is, rather than the ‘being awake’ kind (although being awake does help).My ‘first’ draft of a piece of work is never quite that. I am able to suppress my inner editor sufficiently to get words on paper, but I do like a draft I can read and understand when I come back to it. So, as I write, I change

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-37261753835175892172008-10-30T18:34:00.004Z2008-10-30T18:51:47.253Z

Nailed the little b*st*rd to the canvas. As it were.I mentioned in earlier post about coming across stuff and thinking, "Did I write that?" It works three ways.1 - Wow, that's good, did I write that? (Disbelief)2 - Wow, that's crap, did I write that? (Resignation)3 - Wow, I don't remember writing this at all. (Old age?)I had several of No 3 today. Whole sections I simply don't remember writing.

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-25192833733552344342008-10-28T21:02:00.002Z2008-10-28T21:05:36.537Z

I have spent the whole day (with one or two pleasant interruptions) wrestling with one paragraph. The first two sentences both contain the word 'but'. They have been re-written, re-ordered, thesaurused to death. For now, the paragraph has won and I am retiring to my corner.

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-78369588667352956402008-10-17T19:23:00.003+01:002008-10-18T11:39:44.833+01:00

My private resolution to post on a more regular basis is staggering a bit. Already.Everything.Happening.At once.So here's one I made earlier, posted on someone else's blog (waves at Alison).I try to keep my inner editor gagged and tied to a chair in a different room; work right through a first draft. Well, that's the theory. The guy is a regular Houdini, turns up out of nowhere and starts

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-27019354564754575132008-10-16T19:53:00.002+01:002008-10-16T20:04:03.887+01:00

I just wanted to pay a small tribute to the science fiction writer Barrington J Bayley. He was a writer of enormous talent who produced work of startling originality. We went drinking when I lived in Telford in the late '70s and he was great company - witty, intelligent, and very kind. It has always been a wonder to me that he was not better known and his work more widely appreciated. A short

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-91702453485658801772008-10-15T14:09:00.001+01:002008-10-15T14:10:25.749+01:00

Wielding the red pen. Crossing out. Scribbling. Staring at sentences wondering what the hell they mean (doubly depressing because you know you meant something when you wrote them). And sometime, just sometimes, thinking, “Wow. Did I write that?”It took me a while to get ruthless with this rewrite. There seemed little to do with the first few chapters except correct typos. It took a while to get

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-68580456345227451982008-10-04T14:25:00.003+01:002008-10-04T14:31:27.347+01:00

The euphoria of finishing the draft of Thin Reflections has subsided (although I was chuffed to get a copy from Lulu, seeing it in book form is a blast).It is still raining. Heavily.I have to edit GreenWay in time for the November deadline.I have to do a heavy rewrite of Thin Reflections (and I want to do this fairly quickly as I want to get it out to agents).And today is the first day of A363 (

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-65569841387766451792008-09-20T19:00:00.002+01:002008-09-20T19:05:05.545+01:00

Well, it's finished. Just after 5.oopm today. Of course, that is a 'first' draft. That's in commas because it isn't really a first draft, but it is the first time it has been completed. Some bits have been corrected, others re-written.It will rest now for a couple of weeks (while I get up to speed with my final honours course), and then I will start the first re-write, along with the much more

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-8504168681502569922008-09-17T16:30:00.000+01:002008-09-17T16:31:22.379+01:00

I heard about this on the radio this morning. Now, I know there are other slightly more important stories in the news at the moment, but I couldn’t help standing open mouthed, wondering just… well… why?I’m not a big fan of Douglas Adams. I don’t find his writing especially humorous (there are far funnier sf writers), it is certainly highly derivative (no, he didn’t invent the paranoid android, or

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-33708041760715186702008-09-14T19:28:00.000+01:002008-09-14T19:29:16.511+01:00

Just one chapter of the w-i-p left to draft. Ooer.

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-2584765999541932042008-08-23T12:49:00.002+01:002008-08-23T12:58:22.616+01:00

This is a post well worth reading.Well, the whole blog is, but this struck a particular chord with me as I have often wondered what happened to the great tradition of social novels and plays with which we were once blessed; the great satirical works.It is true we do still get social commentary in novels, but on the whole we seem to be dished up a diet of white bread and circuses - and this is

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-56855472633934476842008-08-21T23:29:00.001+01:002008-08-21T23:30:23.486+01:00

It was bound to happen eventually (and perhaps this is not the first instance), but a book has been censored so that a supermarket chain will continue to stock it. The story is depressing, although it was something that I (along with many others) thought would happen.There are really two stories here. The first is whether ‘twat’ is an appropriate word for a children’s book (and whether Jacqueline

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-208054154967419332008-08-18T10:02:00.002+01:002008-08-18T10:07:16.617+01:00

It's been a while since I posted. So I thought I would drop by, resisting the temptation to go on about the usual things, and say hello.All this wet weather seems to have found its way into my bones (which is preferable to it finding its way into my shed, grrr, which in itself is nothing compared with the poor souls who find it running through their living rooms and kitches).Energy is being saved

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-60743775257496410552008-08-02T11:06:00.001+01:002008-08-02T11:06:32.096+01:00

No. Not a letter offering me a gong (which would, in the highly unlikely event, go straight back with a ten page rant on what I think of the honours system, the government of this country, royalty, and anything else I can think of just to make my position clear).I have titles for the four Charlie books. All official.They were chosen provisionally quite some time ago, but now I have permission to

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-75173538967375272142008-07-28T14:40:00.002+01:002008-07-28T14:44:05.513+01:00

This news story (brief as it is) seems to me to sum up much of what is wrong with publishing today.* Big advances being paid to people who have no track record of writing books simply because they have celebrity status.**It raises so many questions.Why were such large advances (well, they weren’t that big compared with some, but they’d keep me warm and fed for a good few years) paid in the first

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-8390350391313506652008-07-24T19:49:00.002+01:002008-07-27T23:16:01.677+01:00

It’s that genre thing again. I just don’t get it. Not genre. I understand that. It’s the increasing obsession by some publishers with putting things in a pigeon hole. Apart from being uncomfortable for pigeons, it is a self-defeating attitude. It’s more than that. It’s plain, bloody stupid.Yes.I’ll repeat that. Loudly.Plain!Bloody!Stupid!Genre used to be a way of describing a book after the fact,

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-55517589966515226862008-07-12T12:33:00.002+01:002008-07-12T12:45:53.331+01:00

Those annoying things that slow you down. Not that slowing down in a car is either annoying or bad... Hmm... should have chosen a better metaphor. Anyway. Work on the novel has ground to a halt. This is partly because of other commitments, partly because I went mad in the garden (a sight to behold) and helped dig up our first lot of potatoes. This was about ten minutes of sitting on a stool

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-61833614955594652542008-06-29T14:33:00.002+01:002008-06-29T14:37:25.474+01:00

The w-i-p moves on apace. You may have noticed I have revised the word total from 120,000 to 110,000. Now I am closer to the end and can see more clearly the content of the coming chapters, I have been able to make a more accurate assessment of length. In addition, I am writing more tightly at present. Perhaps because the end is in sight I am chucking more ballast over the side; I might even be

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-27970332244642891232008-06-28T23:05:00.002+01:002008-06-28T23:14:39.613+01:00

You can tell how exciting my life is when a trip to the cinema is an event. Round here it is. A sixty mile round trip, to start with. Then a small fortune to get in. I was going with Barbara (her birthday treat) to see Prince Caspian.Thank you Odeon cinemas for screwing that up. The volume was so loud, and the bass frequencies so intense, we didn't last beyond the third trailer. Six minutes to

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-23419967700190411912008-06-20T11:05:00.002+01:002008-06-20T11:09:59.688+01:00

Not only has the word cloud sparked new ideas, it made me do some research. 'Back' features so prominently because it is the 81st most used word in the English language. Given that the word cloud creator strips out commonly used words (perhaps the top 50? - must find out), it is no surprise that 'back' is there. Of course, I should have known this. I trained to be a teacher. I trained how to

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-18048447258071758932008-06-18T15:23:00.004+01:002008-06-18T15:33:52.052+01:00

I was directed to a wonderful site today, which allows you to create word clouds. Here is my work in progress. I can see one word that's going to see the red pen come re-write time.

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-88793328785772748792008-06-12T23:37:00.002+01:002008-06-12T23:40:51.877+01:00

Well, I've just passed the two-thirds mark of the w-i-p. Charlie is pleased with the progress and, I have to say, I am as well. No time to rest on any laurels, however. Chapter 37 beckons.

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-68096271914427811232008-06-10T10:52:00.003+01:002008-06-10T10:59:24.323+01:00

I see Amazon is at it again.Instead of ranting I have, with permission, copied the following from the lovely Clare, which expresses the whole thing succinctly and gives us all something we can do to make our feelings known."The suggestion has been made that bloggers could stand together and campaign over the issue of Amazon's dodgy commercial tactics. Scroll to the bottom of this post for things

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3115845433278251923.post-32542585562797506842008-06-07T11:30:00.000+01:002008-06-07T11:31:41.444+01:00

Publishing has enough problems, you would have thought, without creating one of its very own. But, yes, they have gone and done it. Age-banding of books. This is a half-arsed idea of truly monumental proportions. Quite aside from all the well-rehearsed arguments against it, some of which can be found at No To Age Banding, it demonstrates how little publishers seem to understand about their

Graeme K Talboyshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.com0