My first
blog tour
May 17th,
2014
I am
grateful and honoured to have been invited to this blog tour by Tony Gilbert,
see his blog here; http://tonygilbertauthor.weebly.com/
Known as “the writing process tour”, it’s aim is to give an insight into how
(or why) we do what we do.
1) What am I working on?
I write when inspiration strikes; I’m kicking three short story ideas around at
the moment; one horror (my first!), a skiffy about a time-travelling sat-nav
and a skiffy about an EPROM chip with a personality disorder. The next novel,
“All the Loft Insulation You Can Eat”; the sequel to “The Tale of the Ancient
Marina”, is an ongoing thing. “Marina took ten years to write so don’t hold
your breath. If you don’t know what a “skiffy” is please visit my Amazon author
page.
2) How does
my work differ from others of its genre?
Comedy-thriller is a pretty limited genre. The truth is; I never intended to
write a thriller, I just wanted to write a funny book. Only when people started
reading it was I told it was a thriller. It’s set in Bolton (pretty unique!)
and the humour is very British… Very English… Very northern English. My short
stories conform to genre rules except I can’t help throwing in a bit of humour.
It’s just the way my mind works (if it ever does).
3) Why do I
write what I do?
Why not? I write what I enjoy reading. I’m one of my own favourite authors.
That might sound arrogant but if you aren’t a fan of your own work how do you
expect anyone else to be?
4) How does
my writing process work?
Idea, write, dislike, rewrite, delete, rewrite, rewrite again, publish, accept
due adulation and riches.
I am proud and dare I say chuffed?… I think I dare…
chuffed to pass on the blog baton to Jake Drake, Perry Gamsby and genuinely my
favourite author; Ian Hutson.
Jake Drake
Jacob Drake
is the author of various Fantasy, Horror and Science Fiction books. His only
problem in writing is not having enough time to write to completion all the
stories he gets in his head. “If I wrote constantly until the day I died I
still would never be able to exhaust the imagination that is the source of
these stories.
Once his first book ‘Parallels’ was published online he was like a little kid
on Christmas morning with a tree filled with presents underneath.
Now he works on getting his latest novels written so they can join the rest of
his ‘family’ of eBooks that are now available on all the eBook retailers’
sites.
If you enjoy any of the genres Jacob writes – and who doesn’t these days – take
a look at what he’s written. You’re sure to find something that catches your
imagination.
You can purchase Jake’s eBooks on Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Smashwords.
http://fantasyramblings.blogspot.com/
Perry Gamsby
Perry
Gamsby, D.Lit., MA(Writing), Dip. Business is an eWriter who is passionate
about eWriting. Why? Because that is how he makes his living. Online writing,
web content, web publishing, eBooks, ad copy and any other form of electronic
writing are where he makes some of his income. Perry also lectures on eWriting,
business and personal safety so he not only diversifies his income streams, he
gets out from behind his iMac and talks to other humans face to face.
A former
Military Policeman, private investigator, security consultant and self defence
instructor, Perry has also enjoyed time in sales and marketing before deciding
to dedicate his life to his family and his own enjoyment of the finite time we
all have in this life. In 2009 while undergoing experimental robotic surgery to
repair a prolapsed mitral valve, Perry died and was brought back to life,
spending the next 8 days in a coma. This truly was a life changing event and
one that made him take a long, hard look at what is truly important to an
individual. It certainly isn’t swapping chunks of his life for dollars and then
not having enough chunks left for family to do things with those dollars.
http://www.perrygamsby.net/about/#sthash.njUrxVLy.dpuf
Ian Hutson.
Born during
tiffin at half-past nineteen-sixty. Grew up initially in Hong Kong speaking
only Cantonese, then bounced around living some really boring places and some
brilliant places, such as the Isle of Lewis in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides. Lived
in seventeen different homes as a child, attending twelve different schools and
missing one complete year at age nine years, while living in Banham Zoo in
Norfolk. Home there was between the monkeys and the bears, looking out over the
penguins and the wolves (these latter two were in separate habitats of course).
During the
eighties was recruited into the British Civil Service, studied for a B.A. in
Operational Research Systems Analysis, then an M.A. in Industrial Relations.
Thrown out of the Civil Service, worked for a few multi-nationals such as ITSA,
EDS, AVIVA. Thrown out of the multi-nationals, started own businesses. Went
splendidly bankrupt, ended up in County Court in front of a seriously lovely
Judge and lost house, car and valuables but not liberty, to the banks and to
Her Majesty’s Official Receivers. The name Hutson was rather deliciously struck
off the register at Companies House and black-balled at the Club (although was
allowed to keep buttons and sword not snapped).
Now lives in
uber-serious penury in a corner of a field in Lincolnshire, England, as a
peacenik, vegan, non-theist hippie and when not writing spends his time
wandering the lanes ranting at sparrows and the occasional passing tractor. Is
a very lucky, and a very happy chappy indeed.
The Diesel-Electric
Elephant Company – http://www.dieselelectricelephant.co.uk
English
May 1st, 2014
My beloved
Mother tongue; where do I begin? The reasons to love it are very often the
reasons to hate it. As old as it is it constantly evolves, changes and
accommodates. It imports words from other languages, it gradually accepts slang
words. Full of contradictions, rules become obsolete from one generation to the
next. “I before E except after C” no longer applies since words like
“reintegrate” became unhyphenated.
Wind… wound. Find… found. Blind… blinded.
Gun… gunned. Pun… punned. Run… ran.
Ring… rang… rung. Sing… sang…sung. Ping… pinged. Ding… dinged.
Why is “upholstery” not pronounced “uffolstery”?
“Ough” has eight pronunciations… EIGHT! Bough, though, through, rough, cough,
hiccough, thorough and bought
Pet peeves; Incorrect use of “whilst”; “amongst” and “among” mean the same,
“amidst” and “amid” mean the same, “while” and “whilst” don’t mean the same.
“While” refers specifically to time whilst “whilst” means “whereas” (see what I
did there?). “I waited at the garage while my car was being repaired”. “My
wife’s car was running well whilst my car was knackered”.
Unnecessary use of “that”; “I thought that you were at work.” The “that” is
completely superfluous. “I thought you were at work”.
There seems to be some confusion regarding “I” and “me”; “Michael and I went to
the park” or “Michael and me went to the park”. It’s easy to work out; just
remove the other person. “I went to the park” makes sense, “me went to the
park” doesn’t therefore “Michael and I went to the park”. “There was a message
for Michael and me” or “there was a message for Michael and I”, again “There
was a message for me” makes sense.
Climate Change.
February
14th, 2014
Is climate change happening? YES! Look out of the
window. Is it our fault? I’m not so sure, don’t get me wrong, I know we’re a filthy
species; we leave death, destruction and dirt wherever we go. Any excuse or
reason to get humans to clean up their act has to be good but I think it’s
typical human arrogance to assume we’re responsible. We seem to assume we have
‘inherited’ the Earth; it’s finished, it’s done, it’s a completed project… It
isn’t. Climate change has always happened and always will. The Earth is
constantly evolving and changing; the beautiful landscapes of Scotland were
formed when Scotland was a volcano field. Immensely violent forces produced
those stunning views. The breathtaking valleys of Wales weren’t all formed by
erosion; most were formed when landmasses collided and the land literally
corrugated. In 2011 a massive earthquake moved Japan by eight feet. Eventually Australia
will collide with Asia. This stuff is happening and will continue long after
our grubby species has gone. By all means recycle your rubbish and drive
electric cars but don’t kid yourself that we run the world.
New Year’s Resolution
January 3rd,
2014
I’ve lived
on this planet long enough to know new year’s resolutions rarely last beyond
January, if they make it into January in the first place. Sooooo, I resolve not
to make any more. This is not a resolution, it’s a life-altering decision which
coincidentally occurred very close to new year;
I will write more.
For most of the last year I’ve been marketing and learning about marketing.
Want to know what I’ve learned?
1. I’m bloody useless at it.
2. it can increase your Twitter followers and Facebook friends.
3. It’s very unlikely to do much for sales.
4. #3 is probably due to #1.
While I was
‘marketing’ I hardly even opened the file for my next novel, I just couldn’t
find the time. I did manage to squeeze out a collection of short stories which
I’m very chuffed with. As of now I will write and hope people find my stuff and
like it. I intend to blog much more regularly so watch this space.
It occurred to me that regularly blogging is a lot like a vicar or a priest
coming up with a sermon every week; taking something that happens in life and
talking/writing about it.
“I went to the newsagent’s shop today and I was reminded of the time Jesus went
to the newsagent’s shop; he bought a copy of the Sun, some smokey bacon crisps
and a scratchcard. You know, we’re all Jesus’ scratchcards in a way…..”
You probably gathered I’m areligious. 
Anywho, expect more from me here and hopefully, with practice I’ll get better.
Ed Milliband gets tough with energy
companies.
September
25th, 2013
Oooooooooooh!
The energy companies must be shitting themselves lest they incur the wrath of
the great and powerful Ed. “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!”
After buggering up the economy yet again the Tories have been left to clean up
the mess. If the Tories use the phrase “inherited recession” over & over
it’s because Labour use the phrase “World recession” constantly. It wasn’t a
World recession; many large economies were unaffected. Gordon Brown; texture
like sun, took a healthy economy (inherited), borrowed unnecessarily, sold off
the country’s treasure, maxed-out the country’s credit cards and deregulated
the banks to create a fake boom. Then he came up with one of the most ludicrous
statements ever spoken by someone who should know better; “An end to boom and
bust”. In 2008 the inevitable happened and we landed in one of the worst
recessions in history. The note on the treasurer’s desk said it all; “Dear
chief secretary, I’m afraid there is no money. Kind regards – and good luck!
Liam.” Now the Tories are getting the economy back on track, contrary to
Labour’s predictions Ed thinks he can conjure up support by appearing tough on
the energy companies leaving them with three options if Labour win the election
(fat chance);
1. hike prices before the price freeze.
2. hike prices after the price freeze.
3. go bust during the price freeze.
Whichever happens it will be bad news for the consumer.
The British voters are not stupid, naive or forgetful. Labour will have to go a
long way to gain any credibility and I predict Mr Milliband (Ed anyway) will
never be PM.
Fracking
June 30th,
2013
OK. Let’s
imagine for a moment the Chinese buy up all of the bricks (like they did with
copper a couple of years ago). There’s a worldwide shortage of bricks and they
increase exponentially in price; people start nicking derelict walls, ancient
outside lavvies, garden walls, ornamental walls, barbecues etc. Some people
come up with the idea of digging out the foundations of their houses, no-one’s
going to notice them missing down there. When the houses fall down they try to
convince their insurers it was natural subsidence. Isn’t fracking essentially
the same? These tiny islands sit on a fairly solid bed of rock. If we start
smashing it to bits couldn’t that be a little dangerous? Before you know it
Britain will float off away from Europe towards America. Eventually it comes to
rest near Hawaii. Within a generation the UK is in a richer, happier place with
a fantastic climate… hang on… FRACK AWAY!!! Get fracking you fracking frackers!
Seriously though I think it’s probably something we’re going to regret
Hello
June 22nd,
2013
OK. My first
blog; I’ve resisted for a long time because I like to keep my private life
private. A little about me; I’m 47, married 28 years, 3 teenage kids, dunno
who’s they are but they’re fun to have around so we let them stay.:-D I’m a
tradesman and I run a 24 hour call-out service. I live in Bolton in the the
north of England.
I started writing my first novel; The Tale of the Ancient Marina in 1997,
finished it in 2007, launched aarondavid.co.uk in 2009, put the book on Amazon
in 2010. I didn’t attempt to market it assuming a book so wonderful would
automatically be successful. I was wrong. A handful of sales from my site and
literally no interest on Amazon. Now I’m trying to find my readers.
My comments will mainly concern issues which affect me or people I know. I have
opinions on international matters but will keep those to myself. If you cut me
in half the word “Tory” is written all the way through but that doesn’t mean I
think the Tories are always correct or the other parties are always wrong. They
all have their faults but we’re stuck with the system.
BTW I also write the odd short story & poem, see my website.
Aaron.
