R.B. Harkess's Blog, page 9
March 26, 2013
All change, please
A huge change is sailing resolutely towards the iceberg of my life. All right, its not like I didn't know it was coming - I was told I was being made redundant more than three months ago. Its just that its happening on Thursday (the day before Good Friday)
Now, I freely admit I am in a much better place than most in such a situation. My wife is still working, and we can continue to function on what she brings in for some time. So this leaves me with a decision I'm not sure I've made yet. What do I do now?
The traditional solution is, obviously, get a job. But the job market in IT is quiet, especially in mid-low management, and the last job kind of beat the enthusiasm for IT out of me for a while. So it would be nice to take a break - if it weren't for the received wisdom that taking too long a sabbatical between role makes you more difficult to employ.
Change jobs? At my age the prospect of going back to being little more than an intern doesn't hold much charm.
Write? Full Time? [You'll have to imagine the pregnant pause, and the speculative look on the face]
Heck, its what I want to do. Right now I even have an interesting secret project in progress, and some cracking ideas that are begging to be outlined. I have two sequels I would like to right, and outlines for a 5-book Urban Fantasy series. I have enough 'work' to keep me writing for two years, even without a day job to get in the way.
I guess time will tell.
I know this is a very 'internal' post, but hey, isnt blogging all about sharing your thoughts? :)
Now, I freely admit I am in a much better place than most in such a situation. My wife is still working, and we can continue to function on what she brings in for some time. So this leaves me with a decision I'm not sure I've made yet. What do I do now?
The traditional solution is, obviously, get a job. But the job market in IT is quiet, especially in mid-low management, and the last job kind of beat the enthusiasm for IT out of me for a while. So it would be nice to take a break - if it weren't for the received wisdom that taking too long a sabbatical between role makes you more difficult to employ.
Change jobs? At my age the prospect of going back to being little more than an intern doesn't hold much charm.
Write? Full Time? [You'll have to imagine the pregnant pause, and the speculative look on the face]
Heck, its what I want to do. Right now I even have an interesting secret project in progress, and some cracking ideas that are begging to be outlined. I have two sequels I would like to right, and outlines for a 5-book Urban Fantasy series. I have enough 'work' to keep me writing for two years, even without a day job to get in the way.
I guess time will tell.
I know this is a very 'internal' post, but hey, isnt blogging all about sharing your thoughts? :)
March 1, 2013
New Short Story
Hi folks
Just a quick shout to tell everybody that my evil twin's short story "Eyes of the Child" is in SQ Mag, published on Friday March 1.
The mag is free, so spin over to SQ Mag and register for your free Kindle or ePub copy now, or drop by any time Friday onwards to read this and other great stories online.
Just a quick shout to tell everybody that my evil twin's short story "Eyes of the Child" is in SQ Mag, published on Friday March 1.The mag is free, so spin over to SQ Mag and register for your free Kindle or ePub copy now, or drop by any time Friday onwards to read this and other great stories online.
February 24, 2013
Great Royal Mail RipOff...
So, I ordered some goodies from the US. Nothing out of the ordinary there. Rarely been charged import duty on anything I've ordered before, but I know it can occasionally happen. You pay the postie, problem solved
Until I get a snotty little slip poked through my hole this morning. 'You owe a fiver in tax on this, and we at the Royal Mail are going to charge you EIGHT QUID just for the privilege of allowing us to collect it from you'.
So some little snot take 2 minutes to write the card out (and get my name wrong, and not put a reference number on it), I have to go all the way to the sorting office to pay cash or cheque (for gods sake who still uses cheques!), and I still end up having to pay them.
The Royal Mail constantly says it has to put up its charges because fewer and fewer people are using the service.
I wonder why.
Until I get a snotty little slip poked through my hole this morning. 'You owe a fiver in tax on this, and we at the Royal Mail are going to charge you EIGHT QUID just for the privilege of allowing us to collect it from you'.
So some little snot take 2 minutes to write the card out (and get my name wrong, and not put a reference number on it), I have to go all the way to the sorting office to pay cash or cheque (for gods sake who still uses cheques!), and I still end up having to pay them.
The Royal Mail constantly says it has to put up its charges because fewer and fewer people are using the service.
I wonder why.
February 8, 2013
Paracetamol Knee-Jerk
It was great to hear today that deaths from paracetamol overdose (and thus liver failure) have dropped dramatically since legislation was passed to limit the number that cold be bought at any time. There is an article on the BBC News website about it.
What I'm not so happy about is that the lead researcher seems to think that there should be further reductions in the number of pills anyone can buy at a time, and even that the amount of active ingredient should be reduced.
Time out!
Paracetamol is pretty bloody useless as a painkiller anyway. Its the very ineffectiveness of it that makes it so dangerous when people are trying to self-medicate serious pain. Sticking plaster on a slashed artery comes to mind. I recently had a serious infection in my sinus that made every tooth on one side of my mouth scream in agony. Luckily I had some serious pain meds available to me that I knew were safe, or I would have been in a very poor state and probably not able to make rational judgement.
So if its so damned dangerous, pull it from sale. I'm tired of half-way measures on half-effective treatments.
If its not that dangerous, then stop penalising me for people who cant be bothered to read or understand the warnings on the packet.
What I'm not so happy about is that the lead researcher seems to think that there should be further reductions in the number of pills anyone can buy at a time, and even that the amount of active ingredient should be reduced.
Time out!
Paracetamol is pretty bloody useless as a painkiller anyway. Its the very ineffectiveness of it that makes it so dangerous when people are trying to self-medicate serious pain. Sticking plaster on a slashed artery comes to mind. I recently had a serious infection in my sinus that made every tooth on one side of my mouth scream in agony. Luckily I had some serious pain meds available to me that I knew were safe, or I would have been in a very poor state and probably not able to make rational judgement.
So if its so damned dangerous, pull it from sale. I'm tired of half-way measures on half-effective treatments.
If its not that dangerous, then stop penalising me for people who cant be bothered to read or understand the warnings on the packet.
January 20, 2013
First Birthday
There was a really interesting article in Publishers Weekly recently (Jan 15th) about so-called Young Adult books.
Did you know that
"84% of YA books were purchased by consumers 18 or older – and a full 35% of YA books were bought by consumers aged 18-29, by far the largest demographic. The second-largest demographic was age 30-44; within that segment, dispelling the notion that the YA books are gifts or purchases for teens, fully 80% of respondents reported “they bought the book for themselves.”
SO, today is the first birthday of my first novel, Aphrodite's Dawn. You have no excuse not to try it just because you can vote. In fact, according to the research above, you are almost required to get a copy just to help maintain the stats. Amazon can help you in your quest, either in the UK, or the US.
Buy now, or you'll never be a trendsetter :)
Did you know that
"84% of YA books were purchased by consumers 18 or older – and a full 35% of YA books were bought by consumers aged 18-29, by far the largest demographic. The second-largest demographic was age 30-44; within that segment, dispelling the notion that the YA books are gifts or purchases for teens, fully 80% of respondents reported “they bought the book for themselves.”
SO, today is the first birthday of my first novel, Aphrodite's Dawn. You have no excuse not to try it just because you can vote. In fact, according to the research above, you are almost required to get a copy just to help maintain the stats. Amazon can help you in your quest, either in the UK, or the US.
Buy now, or you'll never be a trendsetter :)
January 18, 2013
The Room of Infinite Distractions
At the top of the stairs, first door on the right, is a dark and forbidding man-cave.
My Office
I used to have the light and airy second bedroom, but now I have the box room.
Its where I go to concentrate on my writing, to work from home on occasion, to think deep and meaningful thoughts. My 'productive zone'
Except is isnt. Not even close. If I want to get any work done, I end up working at the dining room table, usually with nothing more than a notepad, a fountain pen, and my phone to play music.
'Why?' I hear you cry in astonishment, envious that I have a cave and incredulous that I dont work there. I shall tell you. Laptop (and thus internet), TV, DVD, Sky+ (tivo), Xbox.
My lovely quiet working environment has mutated into a second lounge where I get away from the bustle of others and endless TV soaps, and replace them with endless reruns of House MD, Eureka, and Warehouse 13.
The moral of this story? Be strong, and keep your work area clean, simple, and free of distractions
My Office
I used to have the light and airy second bedroom, but now I have the box room.
Its where I go to concentrate on my writing, to work from home on occasion, to think deep and meaningful thoughts. My 'productive zone'
Except is isnt. Not even close. If I want to get any work done, I end up working at the dining room table, usually with nothing more than a notepad, a fountain pen, and my phone to play music.
'Why?' I hear you cry in astonishment, envious that I have a cave and incredulous that I dont work there. I shall tell you. Laptop (and thus internet), TV, DVD, Sky+ (tivo), Xbox.
My lovely quiet working environment has mutated into a second lounge where I get away from the bustle of others and endless TV soaps, and replace them with endless reruns of House MD, Eureka, and Warehouse 13.
The moral of this story? Be strong, and keep your work area clean, simple, and free of distractions
January 12, 2013
Be vewy, vewy, qwiet.......
... I'm hunting Agents. Heheheheheh
OK, not everybody is going to get the Bugs Bunny/Elmer Fudd reference. Oooh, scary thought: what if nobody gets the gag? Horror!
Anyhow, I just declared open season on agents and I have every intention of bagging one this year. Been through my copy of 'Writers and Artists' and made myself a monster list, polished my cover letters and synopsis, and empties my mailbox ready for action.
Now, if someone would just like to volunteer and save me a couple of months of of hope and heartache...?
OK, not everybody is going to get the Bugs Bunny/Elmer Fudd reference. Oooh, scary thought: what if nobody gets the gag? Horror!
Anyhow, I just declared open season on agents and I have every intention of bagging one this year. Been through my copy of 'Writers and Artists' and made myself a monster list, polished my cover letters and synopsis, and empties my mailbox ready for action.
Now, if someone would just like to volunteer and save me a couple of months of of hope and heartache...?
December 13, 2012
Another 5* Review for Aphrodite's Dawn
Just found this lovely review on Goodreads, and I snipped a bit out to brag with :)
“Aphrodite’s Dawn” is intriguing, compelling, and suspenseful. Even as I was cringing over the symptoms of this truly dystopian society, I was enjoying the characters, the situations, and the backstory. Garrett is a rock-solid protagonist, and his “sidekick,” Pitr, is adorable and such a sturdy friend."
Big thank you to the kind person who posted it, and to everybody else - see, told you it was good, now go buy it and see if you agree :D
December 12, 2012
Kim Curran - Shift: Officially Awesome
This is rare: two books I've felt the urge to blog about in as many months.
Today I want to draw your attention to 'Shift' by Kim Curran (from Strange Chemistry books). Again, usual rules apply - I know both the author and the editor vaguely and I'm not trying to suck up to either of them. I'm also not doing to go into an in-depth on the story. If you want the outline, go look it up on Goodreads or Amazon.
So, I've had this book for several months now, sitting the the 'read next' slot on the shelf, and I kept skipping it. There is a good reason for that. I was writing and editing 'Amunet' at the time. Now, Amunet is a very different story, and before anybody points the finger no I wasn't worried I would be overly influenced by Shift.
See, what happened was I read the first three pages and realized it was a 'confidence killer'. By that I mean its one of those books I occasionally get that hit me in the 'how will I ever get that good' spot, and I think it was Kim's debut novel. I didn't need that while I was in the middle of my own work, and so I avoided it.
I'm glad I did, 'cos I was right. I devoured this book. This book cost me sleep. This book took me back to when I was young, free and single and spent more time each evening reading than doing anything else. The underlying concept of the novel, the ability to change things based on being able to go back to previous decisions and take the other path is very well thought out and feels original (although I'll bet someone else has used it somewhere if you dig hard enough). The setting was believable, and the characters wonderfully well constructed. OK, so there's the trope of the the slightly bewildered, gifted boy meets the more-than-slightly wild, gifted, spunky girl, but its handled in a fresh, bright way that sucks you in and makes you care about the characters (even some of the bit-parts)
The thing that got me most was the pace, which was pretty much flawless. No periods of angst-filled inward assessment, no 'issues' to be worked through, and no 'hand me the bucket' romantic melancholia: just a great adventure that really was difficult to put down each night.
Having read this outside of one of my own projects, its no longer a 'confidence killer', its an 'aspire to'. A full 5 stars, and a full recommendation to both the target YA audience and older readers
Today I want to draw your attention to 'Shift' by Kim Curran (from Strange Chemistry books). Again, usual rules apply - I know both the author and the editor vaguely and I'm not trying to suck up to either of them. I'm also not doing to go into an in-depth on the story. If you want the outline, go look it up on Goodreads or Amazon.
So, I've had this book for several months now, sitting the the 'read next' slot on the shelf, and I kept skipping it. There is a good reason for that. I was writing and editing 'Amunet' at the time. Now, Amunet is a very different story, and before anybody points the finger no I wasn't worried I would be overly influenced by Shift.
See, what happened was I read the first three pages and realized it was a 'confidence killer'. By that I mean its one of those books I occasionally get that hit me in the 'how will I ever get that good' spot, and I think it was Kim's debut novel. I didn't need that while I was in the middle of my own work, and so I avoided it.
I'm glad I did, 'cos I was right. I devoured this book. This book cost me sleep. This book took me back to when I was young, free and single and spent more time each evening reading than doing anything else. The underlying concept of the novel, the ability to change things based on being able to go back to previous decisions and take the other path is very well thought out and feels original (although I'll bet someone else has used it somewhere if you dig hard enough). The setting was believable, and the characters wonderfully well constructed. OK, so there's the trope of the the slightly bewildered, gifted boy meets the more-than-slightly wild, gifted, spunky girl, but its handled in a fresh, bright way that sucks you in and makes you care about the characters (even some of the bit-parts)
The thing that got me most was the pace, which was pretty much flawless. No periods of angst-filled inward assessment, no 'issues' to be worked through, and no 'hand me the bucket' romantic melancholia: just a great adventure that really was difficult to put down each night.
Having read this outside of one of my own projects, its no longer a 'confidence killer', its an 'aspire to'. A full 5 stars, and a full recommendation to both the target YA audience and older readers
December 9, 2012
Things to remember for Xmas
So, tree is up and decorated. Twice actually: its a new tree and the first arrangement didn't look so good so we stripped it and did it again.
Gifts are all bought and wrapped - OK, I know that makes me a bit weird and that a lot of people haven't even started gift shopping, let alone finished it.
But there's one thing I'd like everybody to think of as they make out the gift list: Don't forget to give something to your favourite charity. All charities get hammered at Christmas. People get too busy. Donations tend to dry up from regular sources and pick up from unexpected ones.
I know most of us give something. I help out Cancer Research and the Alzheimer's Society with regular donations, but every Christmas I send something to the cat shelter we got Tootsie from - The Scratching Post. Just £15 or so to help make sure the heaters stay on and the bowls have food during the winter.
Go on - pick a charity. Maybe a local homeless shelter, or a contact centre for the elderly. Throw them a twenty. In the UK that gives someone a meal and a bed for the night.
Now, where did I put my supermarket shopping list: food, booze, snacks, more booze.... :)
Gifts are all bought and wrapped - OK, I know that makes me a bit weird and that a lot of people haven't even started gift shopping, let alone finished it.
But there's one thing I'd like everybody to think of as they make out the gift list: Don't forget to give something to your favourite charity. All charities get hammered at Christmas. People get too busy. Donations tend to dry up from regular sources and pick up from unexpected ones.
I know most of us give something. I help out Cancer Research and the Alzheimer's Society with regular donations, but every Christmas I send something to the cat shelter we got Tootsie from - The Scratching Post. Just £15 or so to help make sure the heaters stay on and the bowls have food during the winter.
Go on - pick a charity. Maybe a local homeless shelter, or a contact centre for the elderly. Throw them a twenty. In the UK that gives someone a meal and a bed for the night.
Now, where did I put my supermarket shopping list: food, booze, snacks, more booze.... :)
