Last week I was struck down by the curse of Nurgle, a daemonic plague which resulted in me wheezing and gurgling and my voice becoming considerably deeper and huskier. I've been scaring people round the house by sounding like a Scottish Darth Vader. The end result of all this was that not much got done. There was no blog post for the first time in over a year and I am yet further behind with my deadlines. I am off to Nottingham for  the Warhammer 40,000 Doubles Tournament this weekend and then I shall be in Scotland for a long-booked family holiday. There's a lot I've been meaning to write about: the Gemmell Awards (a lot of fun), the last episode of  my series about the writing of Blood of Aenarion and a bunch of other things but right … [Read more...]

First up apologies to the people who commented yesterday but whose comments did not get moderated till today. This happened because I take Sundays off. I don't touch my computer unless it's a real work emergency and the only writing I do is with a pen and paper. I don't go near a screen unless to watch a little TV. The only gadget I make an exception for is my Kindle and that is basically because all I can do on it is read. I started doing this because my RSI and computer related health problems got really bad and I figured, correctly as it turned out, that not going near the computer for 36 hours or so-- a full day and an overnight-- would help. I keep doing it because I find it relaxing and oddly nostalgic. Every Sunday I think this is … [Read more...]