Writing
When’s the next book coming out, Alex?
2014 has whooshed past in something of a blur. My plan at the start of the year was to release three titles: one major novel, plus two shorter companion pieces. I’m sorry to say that I’m on track for releasing precisely nothing. Work continues on A Year of
I quit the day job
It’s a fact of our profession that, throughout history, most writers have been obliged to take on secondary employment in order to pay the bills and put food on the table. I’m no different. Although I have been a published author since October 2012, income from my books
Three years of work on Alpine Dawn
In summer 2011, I read a book that would change my life. That book was Travels Through the Alps of Savoy by James Forbes. I’ve already discussed it many times on this blog, so I won’t go into it again now, but it is sufficient to say that
Focused writing apps for Windows 8
2017 note: I no longer use Windows and don’t really recommend any of these apps. I’m leaving the post up purely for historical interest. Windows 8 is a controversial subject at the moment. More and more of us are using “post PC” devices instead of traditional computers, both
The Atholl Expedition moves into beta
After a weekend of intense activity, I have succeeded in converting the second daft of The Atholl Expedition into a beta advance copy: that is, a rough-and-ready (but presentable) version of the book suitable for distribution to a small number of beta readers. This is something I recommend all writers
I have a rough draft for “The Atholl Expedition”
Months of work have paid off, and today I wrote the final paragraph of The Atholl Expedition, my second novel and the first in an exciting new series of books. The final word count is a shade over 65,000 words, which is far longer than my original intentions but
My first year as a published author
The Only Genuine Jones went live on the Kindle store one year ago today – at first just for a few early readers, then general availability on the 21st of October. Initial demand was high and the book quickly rose to no.1 bestseller in the Mountaineering genre, a position it
The quest for distraction-free writing
Beginnings I have been writing since about 1997. In those days my only point of interaction with the Web was at school, and the computer I used at home was a rickety old Macintosh SE/30 with a black and white screen (nine inches across!) and a 20MB hard disk.