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21 Sep 2009: Stacie and May
Four and a half months ago, SnowAuthor Stacie Lewis had a little girl. But she's just told me that May was born with cerebral palsy. Stacie is writing a diary about bringing May up here which is incredibly well written and pretty upbeat. You might want to link to it so others in a similar position can draw strength from her words.
posted on September 21, 2009 03:56 PM | link | Comments (2) | Leave a comment
18 Sep 2009: Surreal
The night before last I got a late night phone call. It was the BBC World Service asking if I could put them in touch with a surrealist author for an interview. I did, and the result is here: a late night interview (iplayer link, go 20 minutes 17 seconds in) recorded at stupid o'-clock with Steve Aylett. Surreal all round, really.
posted on September 18, 2009 10:43 AM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
15 Sep 2009: Our Enemy's Friend
How often do I shamelessly lift a story from BoingBoing and retail it here? But often I can't help myself. And this time I have a really, really good excuse. It's a review of our Leila's new book, Enemy of Chaos. Cory seems to like it very much. And given BoingBoing's global influence, can the rest of the world be far behind? Continue reading to see the review or better still, jump to BoingBoing to see it in its natural element here.
Continue reading "Our Enemy's Friend" »
posted on September 15, 2009 08:58 AM | link | Comments (2) | Leave a comment
15 Sep 2009: Invisible acts of hopeless optimism
I was just cutting an itchy 'care' label out of a t-shirt and for the first time I noticed what it said. (No, that's not a picture of it, sadly. That's a funny internet picture I found here.) The two instructions were "Don't Iron" and "Dry Clean". The label writers have really reached for the stars there and I worry that their dreams are simply too beautiful for this world. But if my money-to-sense ratio ever gets significantly above one, I'll consider sending my $7 t-shirts out for weekly dry-cleaning instead of a run through the washing-machine and whisk over with an iron.
posted on September 15, 2009 07:49 AM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
09 Sep 2009: J-Word
If someone from 1909 read this message, I wonder what he'd make of it? Andrew Sanger, author of The J-Word which is a fantastic novel, asked me to put this on Twitter. I only use Twitter to make a note of Snowblog posts, so here it is instead on the blog:
@andrewsanger Blog OyVaGoy giving a free copy of my novel The J-Word (signed, of course)! Winner will be picked Fri. http://bit.ly/Qluh2
posted on September 9, 2009 09:38 PM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
06 Sep 2009: Writing hard
Stephen Fry writing about writing, referencing Clive James, quoting Thomas Mann saying this: "A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than for other people." Which I sort of take to mean that a writer is both more acutely aware of words and more strict with them; it's only those who are neither who can scribble away without effort. But then again, I think writing is probably like love: different for everyone. I'm sure there are those who produce really great stuff with a casual flick of the wrist.
The excerpt is from Stephen's recent blog post written after a prolonged bout of (screenplay?) writing. It is here.
posted on September 6, 2009 08:13 AM | link | Comments (4) | Leave a comment
01 Sep 2009: Start with XML
Why is it that I have it in my head that I enjoy public speaking, and therefore readily agree to do lots of it, when just before doing some I remember that it freaks me out? Come along, one and all, and enjoy hearing me at the Start with XML conference tomorrow at the British Library. Watch! as I look nervous and talk a bit too quickly. Marvel! as I tell you all about how we use XML without boring the pants off you. Be Amazed! as I get to the end of the speech without ballsing it up, hopefully. Give me a little cheer to steady my nerves, won't you?
(I don't mind it that much, in truth. I just find it funny that I forget that I get nervous.)
See you tomorrow!
//update//
It went really well! And I had such fun. *Now* I remember why I like public speaking! Thanks for the warm reception, people who were there.
posted on September 1, 2009 07:14 PM | link | Comments (7) | Leave a comment