How starting a blog turned me into a mountaineering writer

Something slightly different this week. A few weeks ago I was asked to write a post about blogging by the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), a membership organisation for writers who, for one reason another, have decided to eschew the traditional publishing route and go “indie”.

Once upon a time, if you wanted to publish a book, it was necessary to persuade an agent to sell your book to a publisher, who would take it off your hands, edit it for you, and publish it on their terms. It invo...