Trollope On Writing

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A few weeks back I alluded to a quote from Anthony Trollope’s Autobiography about three hours writing per day being all that was needed from an author. Being as methodical as I am lazy I have eventually dug up the actual text. “All those I think who have lived as literary men,–working daily as literary labourers,–will agree with me that three hours a day will produce as much as a man ought to write. But then he should so have trained himself that he shall be able to work continuously during those three hours,–so have tutored his mind that it Read more…

The Best Laid Plans

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The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men Gang aft agley. I expected to be on a train to Berlin Hauptbahnhof, family in tow, right about now; this to be swiftly followed by four days of swanning around the capital of Germany, visiting museums, eating in nice restaurants, seeing friends and doing all the usual tourist stuff. Instead I am staring at the screen of the monitor in my office in the (admittedly delightful) city of Prague musing on the vagaries of life. How did it come down to this? Yesterday, Nurgle struck down my son Dan with some sort of Read more…

The Serpent Tower

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The Serpent Tower is an impregnable fortress built by an ancient, pre-human race, bristling with terrifying, magical weapons, watched over by unsleeping, sorcerous sentinels. It has never fallen to siege. Now it is the lair of the sinister sorcerer Lord Ilmarec who holds Princess Kathea, rightful heir to the throne of Kharadrea in his lustful clutches. In order to save his own life, Rik must penetrate the ancient secrets of the Tower and rescue the Princess from her uncle. And all the while he is pursued by an undead horror born from the vilest necromancy, created with the sole purpose Read more…

One For the Titan Fans

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I’ve a lot of work to do this half week before we head off to Berlin so here’s a very brief extract from the Imperial Guard book I am currently writing. The usual disclaimers apply— this is a work in progress, subject to change and editing, no Titans were hurt in the making of this extract, etc. An enormous shadow fell on our position. The gigantic humanoid shape of a Titan loomed over us. I looked up, an insect confronting an angry god.  The Warlord’s monstrous head scanned from side to side like a predator looking for prey. I sensed Read more…

Priorities For Writers

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There’s a famous story about the management consultant Ivy Lee and Charles Schwab, president of Bethlehem Steel (then, at the start of the 20th century, the biggest steel company in the world). Lee gave Schwab a tip for increasing his productivity and told him to try it and pay him what he thought it was worth once he had tested it. The tip was this: Make a list of what you need to do at the start of each day in the order of importance of the tasks that need to be done. Work your way down the list, finishing Read more…

Well Done Amazon, Kindle on Linux Finally

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A lot of people have been praising Amazon’s new Cloud Reader, an extension for Chrome and Safari which allows you to do pretty much everything you do on a Kindle or Amazon’s iPad app but using only your browser. They have (quite correctly IMHO) assumed that this was an attempt to evade paying the 30% fee Apple demands for in-App purchases on the iPad and iPhone by letting users read their Kindle books in their browsers and make purchases from there too. I don’t own an iPad so I can’t personally attest to how well it works on Apple’s magical Read more…