Fran Macilvey's Blog, page 39

Book Review: Nuts and Bolts of Self Publishing – by Chris Longmuir

Book Review: Nuts and Bolts of Self-Publishing by Chris Longmuir

I could just say, to any novice indie publisher who knows nothing – and doesn’t realise that s/he knows nothing –

This book is a fantastic, easy to read, fun and practical introduction to indie publishing; and anyone contemplating self-publishing should simply go and buy it. And buy the paperback, so you can prop it on your printer, refer to it obsessively, and learn from it, until the book falls open from over-use at certain f...

Quiet heroism

Today has been a busy day, so much so that I got home at two this afternoon and sagged quietly in front of my to-write blog, and nothing much came to mind.

It is the anniversary of my father’s death today, and last year, that was Easter Monday. Easter is late this year.

Since this time last year my brother Pieter, a beloved dad, son, brother, colleague… has also passed on, his long battle with cancer fought bravely to the very end.

And one of my bestest friends has also died, finally succumbi...

Two books at once

Two books at once

I am writing and re-writing my work. We all do this, and for me, it is an essential part of the process of proving: Allowing a work to lie fallow for a time, then going back to it, in a different mood, with new thoughts, and a more reader-like, objective view. And for most of last year, particularly because I’ve been busy with loads of other stuff, I’ve been writing one work, one book, to get it finished, I said to myself. Writing one book does, admittedly, help us to keep a...

Rewriting again and again

Rewriting again and again

If anyone was to ask me, ‘How many drafts did you write of Trapped before you were happy with it, before you knew it was finished?’ I might, borrowing a phrase of my grandfather’s, reply reflectively, ‘Thoosands and thoosands….’ Which, over the course of a three year period of trial, error and reconsideration, is not such an exaggeration. At least fifty drafts, then.

The lesson I can draw from this, is that for me, it takes time for the right tone, the right angles a...

SAW Conference continued

SAW Conference continued…

This is the second part of an introduction I gave to a seminar at the Scottish Association of Writers Annual Conference at Cumbernauald on Saturday, 18th March.

‘….The first 25 or 30 drafts of any memoir that we are writing can, and often will be as sentimental, overblown, subjective, unfair, emotionally exhausting and entirely self-obsessed as we need them to be. But as we write, and once we get to draft 35 or 40, as part of the process, we gain distance and a diffe...

A Workshop at SAW Conference 2017

Memoirs and Autobiographies – a workshop at SAW Conference 2017

Cumbernauld, 18th March 2017.

This is the first part of a talk I gave as part of a workshop at the Scottish Association of Writers Annual Conference in Cumbernauld on Saturday.

‘……Memoir is classed by publishers as narrative non-fiction, and sits, in a category all its own, between pure fiction which has characters, a plot, and is based (at least in theory) in our imaginations, (though we all know that fiction is based around wha...

Not going to the London Book Fair

Not going to the London Book Fair

The best laid plans….

Meaning to go to the London Book Fair, the last day of which is today, I have put it off until – oh! Is it this week? – it has flown past me, books and all. I’m not going to the London Book Fair this year because I’ve been busy getting my priorities sorted out first: there’s very little point organising the whole thing, laying plans, if the bedrock of one’s purpose is not well set – so many people are ready, willing and keen to set one d...

They call me disabled

They call me disabled

I object to being called a ‘disabled’ person, or even an impaired one.

Admittedly, the social model of disability marks a distinct improvement on the whole debate. The social model maintains that we are not disabled, it is the system that is disabled in that it fails to accommodate us. Yet, the social model still preserves the concept of disability and some of its terminology, which then allows others who have no interest in the niceties of theory to keep using these ter...

I was invited to a conference

I was invited to a conference on supporting adults with impairments in the workplace. Yes, it was really good. I enjoyed meeting people and comparing notes. And I’m very grateful to the organiser for inviting me along to an event on a subject which is close to my heart, even though my contributions tended to reflect my personal experiences rather than comment directly on the nuts and bolts of policy, strategy, and the many schemes which exist to help adults with impairments make a smooth tran...

When my critics see me sitting

Continuing my occasional series on the value of writing, I mention in passing – though this is a reason that I have argued with for decades – that I write in order to use my time for something constructive, and so that when my critics see me sitting, they will not call me lazy.

There is such pressure to be seen to be useful in our timetabled lives that it is almost impossible – especially as a product of the tradition I grew up with which may be changing – to sit quietly and do nothing, witho...