Updates

Update on the Googleblat web search story - no one has reached my website by searching on any of the words in the story (other than herpetologist). But the number of people looking for herpetologists is apparently growing. Strange.

Update on the progress of the novel - Two days ago I was convinced it couldn't be written and I'd wasted a year of writing time. Yesterday I changed my mind and decided I might manage it - with a lot of work. Today it seems to me almost finished.

In that time all I did was a little editing. I also decided a chunk of the writing was completely wrong and cut out 4,000 words. Then, after looking at it again, decided the 4,000 words I'd cut out were wonderful and put them back - though in a different place.

I intend to get a workable version printed out by Friday. I'm going away to Baha'i National Convention that weekend, and it would be good to have it off my mind by then.

We will see.

Word Search

I've noticed a lot of visits to my website this last month that have apparently come from Google searches on the word herpetologist. This had set me thinking. Perhaps I have been going entirely the wrong way about things. Instead of attempting to produce good writing to attract a readership, I should just concentrating on fitting in the right combinations of words.

With that in mind, I have put together the following story. I hope you enjoy it.

Black Hole

Picture This

I've finally managed to find a place on the web to take my weekend snaps. Rather than putting them on this page, I'm leaving you the link and letting those nice people at photobucket.com do all the clever formatting.

For those of you who know Leicester Writers' Club, some of these faces may be familliar to you.

Photos from the Writers' Weekend

Writing Weekend

I'm back from the Leicester Writers' Club away weekend. Fifteen writers in an old manor house in the countryside with only each other for company. It might sound like a recipe for disaster. But the reality was really very pleasant.

True, we didn't spend a lot of time writing. And true, we didn't have a huge number of talks either. But chatting to the people there has taught me... Well, I'm not sure exactly what it's taught me. I suspect the answer to that will emerge over the coming months. But I feel as if I have learned a huge amount.

Photographs do exist of the weekend. I'm presently trying to work out how to share them with you. If not on this blog site, then somewhere else. I'll keep you posted.

Turning off the tap

You might have thought that after several days of solid writing I'd be keen to take a break. It's the weekend, after all. And yes, you'd be correct. I am very keen. But it is hard to turn off the tap.

I've written some 5 or 6 thousand words in the last 2 days. It's now Saturday morning. I woke up before seven and immediately started thinking about the novel. And then the thought came to me that I wasn't going to get back to sleep anyway, so I may as well be writing the thing.

But the end is close...

Wish me luck.