How to Talk to Musicians at Open Mic

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I stopped by my favourite pub a few weeks ago for an after-work pint or two.  Halfway through a glass of Downland’s I noticed all the new arrivals turning up with guitars.  Some customers had ukuleles and one had a banjo.  Halfway through my third pint I had my first go on a cajon.  I loved it.  Now I want a cajon*.

I’ve been to a few open mic nights since, chipping in on a borrowed cajon and sometimes on full drum kit.  It’s good fun; you get to meet like-minded people and see some proper talent.  But there are some rules to stick to if you fancy giving open mic a go.  Here’s a useful guide on…

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Why I Won’t Be Watching American Gods

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I first read Neil Gaiman’s American Gods in my late teens.  It was winter time and I fitted it in between college classes and bus stops and it struck such a chord with me.  The book is full to bursting with rich imagination, and images from that first reading that have stuck with me ever since.  Which is why I won’t be watching the new TV adaptation of the book.

Books aren’t necessarily better

I’m not the kind of person to say the book is always better than the film (although it often is).  In fact, I’ll go out on a limb and say I think The Shining is a better film than it was a book, despite Stephen King being one of my favourite authors.  But books and films and television series are different media and connect with you in different ways.  Obviously, screen adaptations are more visual.  A book can throw pages of description at you but it still relies on its reader interpreting that information and forming an image from it.  If it’s on a screen, well, that’s the image that will wind up in your mind’s eye.

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On Stephen King’s Writing Style

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I just enjoyed a city break to Budapest. It was fantastic; great sights, great bars, great beers. I recommend it. But for my two nights in Hungary I was dogged by a monster, a monster that stalked me, never farther away than the snatch of its claw. It got its teeth into me while I waited for my flight at Gatwick Airport and wouldn’t let go until I defeated it. The monster’s name was Cujo. The reason it gripped was due to Stephen King’s writing style

Cujo is Stephen King’s seventh novel. Ostensibly, it’s about a good-natured St Bernard, the titular Cujo, that is infected by the scratch of a rabid bat. But it’s also about the two families that Cuje’s violent, rabid spree affects. It’s gripping; as gripping as anything King has written. I could barely put it down, even with all the excitement of my holiday. I finished it after my first night in Hungary.

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New Year’s Resolutions 2017

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Well, as per tradition, it’s time to plan my New Year’s Resolutions 2017.

I’m a great believer in self-development, which is why I like to take this opportunity to look back on what I tried to achieve in the last year – and to see how far I got!  I think that setting clear, quantifiable targets and letting others know you’ve done so is a fantastic motivator for actually doing them.  But it’s by seeing how (or if…) I’ve achieved them that helps me see where I’d like to push myself next. Read More

Writing a Novel: The Finish Line

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It’s been a while since my last blog post, and I’m sorry.  But I’m sure you’ll like what I’ve been up to: finishing a novel.

Back in March I talked about Writing a Novel: The Midway Point.  Midway wasn’t a bad estimate; I started After Life (yes, we have a title now) last November, and I finished the first draft on the last day of July.  Of course, writing a novel isn’t like competing in a race –  it’s like a triathlon, and there a few finish lines to make it through.  But first thing’s first: let me tell you all about finishing a novel.

Actually finishing a novel: the final push

Oh, it got hard towards the end.  Nine months is a long time to stick at anything, let alone writing one story.  My routine really helped here – the more I wrote, the more I came to know what my five thousand words a week translated to in terms of narrative.  I knew the end couldn’t be far away and I stuck with it, matching the increasing pace of the story with more and more writing.  By the end I was fitting in writing where I could; mornings, lunchtimes, evenings.  I was desperate to have it done.

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