Monthly Archives: February 2016

Never going to be famous

I doubt one of my books will ever be discussed on Mariella Frostrup’s open book programme on radio four. I’m often in the car when this is on and listen to the books celebrities choose as their favourite reads.

I honestly have to say, ‘Why?’

“Of course the tale of the vagrant nose-flute player is a metaphor. I felt the descriptions posed a delightful juxta-position to the protagonist’s past life as a Hungarian sex worker.”

Do people really enjoy this stuff, or are they ashamed to admit to what they usually read? I don’t think anybody has ever chosen a book I have even heard of, let alone considered reading.

So, I’m resigned in my writing style. The best I can hope to do is offer an enjoyable read and leave lofty literary ideals to those obviously more intelligent than I am!
Okay, anybody who knows me would spot the lie. I rarely acknowledge the possibility of there being a greater intellect than mine. Thankfully, we can all be different. When it comes to reading, I have a relatively wide range.

My reading rules:

Rule one: I want my books to take me to foreign worlds. Give me monsters, space ships, or dragons. Don’t give me misery on Morecambe bay.

Rule two: the story has to move. If I’m still wondering what’s happening by page 60, I give up. I suspect this eliminates finer literature. I have occasionally broken this rule. Usually when I am on holiday and have run out of things to read, I invariably regret it.

Rule three: surprise me! Nothing worse than everything happening in the order I expect it to occur.

A simple set of rules, but I suspect these are the reason I find most prize-winning novels a chore.

Good job we can be different, isn’t it?

Addicted to drawing

I came up with the idea that I’d love to see some fan art from the Amara books and started talking on the forums over at Deviantart. The problem is that a lot of the people on there don’t read.

stella1I had to buy an ipad recently and it has been sitting around waiting for the work project to move.

I started using Adobe Draw and loved the vector graphics. The ability to zoom in and still use lines rather than pixels is great. However, the toolset is limited.

I then tried Autodesk Express. This is a more traditional drawing app, but I quickly decided I had to have the professional tools … a whole 3 quid!

After a few late nights, I now have a sore index finger and think I need therapy to stop me. Val keeps finding me ‘just changing one line.’

This is Stella in Amara’s Legacy. I’ll have to work on backgrounds next.

Completely addictive!

Better get back to writing … that’s an addiction I can control (yeah right)