Alex Boast's Blog, page 2
October 22, 2016
The Impact Formula – Visibility, Credibility, Authority
I learned a lot of valuable business lessons from one of my first managers – a Cranfield University MBA graduate – that helped shape my career as both a marketer and a writer.
Since then (it was over three years ago), I have thought a lot about his wisdom and teaching, applying my own experience and intuition to create what I am referring to today as The Impact Formula.
Have you ever figured out which of the 16 types of personality you are?
You really should.
I am an INF-P, or “liberator/me...
October 18, 2016
Being a “busy” writer in 2016
We’ve all heard it before: someone you know or work with is “too busy”.
“Busy” has become the desired outcome – a trump card.
We’ve forgotten the very negative connotations of its actual definition: engaged in,involved in,employed in,working at,labouring at,toiling at, slaving at,hard at work (on),wrapped up (in/with)
Despite not living or working in Japanese culture – where employees often clock over 60 hours a week – to be frazzled, burnt out, or otherwise able to complain about how unab...
March 14, 2016
‘The Dark Arm’ – The Story behind the Story
I couldn’t be happier with how this – the third of my four Ebooks – has turned out.
This story is an important part of my experimental media project, in that it steps away from the anthology format, and towards longer, self-contained stories.
Also, it addresses the feedback and conversations I’ve been having for the past year. It’s been 50 weeks since ‘The Men in the Snow’ arrived, and my struggles have been constant, but I am pe...
January 3, 2016
A Writing Schedule for the busy professional
Due to an unfortunate series of events, I have found myself without employment this new year and intend to use my newfound time productively.
Not only am I hoping to learn how to be more efficient with my writing, but I want to create a schedule I can use when I am back in work too.
Unfortunately, Ebook 3 ‘The Dark Arm’ has been massively delayed as a result of not only seeking a new job but also a new home. Consequently, only 2000 words of a goal 15000 have been completed.
In my studies, I...
Free Ghost Story Audiobook!
Happy new year everyone.
Thanks to my talented stepbrother, a budding actor, I can now offer one of my favourite ghost stories, ‘The Men in the Snow‘ as a free ghost story audiobook for your listening pleasure. Links below:
Thanks to the excellent voice acting, we can now hear the fear of the young protagonist as they struggle to cope with the pressure of moving from the city to the country to escape…
Soundcloud download or stream:November 12, 2015
Exoskeleton II (2) Tympanum Review – 9/10
After the pleasantly surprising first offering, Exoskeleton, which thankfully amounted to so much more than just extreme torture-porn, I wasn’t expecting Tympanum – Exoskeleton 2 – to match the quality or storytelling prowess of its predecessor.
I was wrong.
Picking up shortly after the events of the first novel, we’re thrown pretty much straight into the action and introduced to many new characters, all of whom are interesting, some of whom are imp...
November 5, 2015
Why I don’t check my Ebook sales
It’s a question I get asked all the time.
“How many have you sold?” or some variation, both positive and negative.
The answer invariably stays the same: I don’t know.
What I do know is that in the first month, ‘The Men in the Snow’ sold 126 copies. Or was it 123?
It doesn’t matter right now, it sold what it sold, and I’m overjoyed the figure is higher than 0.
I’m proud of each one of those copies.
I still haven’t checked sales for ‘The Cracks in the Statue’, but I do know that it has 6 review...
September 23, 2015
Why I write as Alex Boast (without a pseudonym)
Names are important.
The names we use to write with equally so; just ask JK Row – I mean Robert Galbraith.
It took me a long time to decide whether to shorten my name or not: Amazon wouldn’t let me write as The Ghost Story Writer, unsurprisingly.
As you probably know by now, this website is maintained by me – Alexander Michael Boast – but I write and refer to myself as simply Alex.
Why didn’t I create AlexBoastWriter.com or AlexBoastAuthor.co.uk then?
Simple, I’m no...
August 26, 2015
The Cracks in the Statue: The story behind the ghost stories
Writing ghost stories has always been a deeply personal experience for me, but probably not in the way you expect: I don’t believe in ghosts, none of the things in these stories I write have happened to me; they’re works of fiction.
But something in the writing of them scares me quite a lot.
Like with the last collection , I thought I’d delve a little deeper into the stories, what they mean, and why they’re scary.
Inspired by a trip to the British Museum, this stor...
August 23, 2015
Creative Writing Advice Everyone Needs
If I could go back in time and tell myself one thing about writing fiction that might make it easier; it would be this.
But I can’t, so I want readers to know the secret that they won’t tell you in writing school…
Of course, you’re supposed to figure this out for yourself, but read on if you could use some inspiration.
The reason you’re reading this is probably because you are having difficulties with your writing.
It’s probable that you are thinking too much about too much.
De...
