Writer T. James' Exploration of Words, on the Internet.

Tag: news

The Next Big Thing Blog Hop

I was asked by talented writer of thrillers and paranormal tales, Sandy Coelho, to take part in this blog hop, which started on the She Writes website.

(If you’re an author I tagged for this blog hop, your instructions are at the end of this post.)

Ten Interview Questions for The Next Big Thing:

1. What is the working title of your book?

This blog hop caught me at the beginning of the project, so I only have a working title: The Making.

2. Where did the idea come from for the book?

The original idea came from a rough short story I wrote over a year ago, as background and a prequel to the novel I was working on at the time (now on hold, as it needs a full re-write and major fixing). I don’t want to give too much away at this stage, but the central plot arc is based loosely on a story from Greek mythology.

3. What genre does your book fall under?

Although inspiration came from the Classics the setting is high fantasy, although elves and dwarves are notable by their absence. (At least at the moment—I’m still planning, so anything could happen.)

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? Continue reading

News, And Editing: Do You Use a Light Or Heavy Hand To Protect The Innocent?

This week you will find me frantically editing for Faye Ling. Working with Faye is always a test of how assertive you are—she has already sent me two scathing emails demanding I, “Stop [mess]ing around on that stupid blog thing that no one reads and get on with editing my writer’s guide.” (Excerpt here).

Pressed for time and too distracted to be inspired for anything creative of my own, I thought the best option was to put together a news flash—something I haven’t done for a while. Continue reading

The Poetry Competition – And The Winner Is ???

 The randomly picked winner of the poetry competition is? 

**** Bea of http://beasbooknook.blogspot.com/ and @BeaCharmed****

Bea is currently thinking about what she would like me to write… I think this could be a fun challenge as I’ve not written poetry ‘on spec’ before. :-)

If  you did not win this time then my commiserations, but who knows? I may find another excuse to do something similar at a later date…

 

Long-term Project News

UPDATED 16/12/11… See the end of the post for latest news…

Well, for those loyal few who have noticed my absence online, and from Twitter, for a while now, and wondered what exactly I was up to– your wait is finally at an end!

*Silence* An expectant silence? Oh, OK, just silence…

Well I’m going to blog about it anyway… It’s no major event in the larger world of writers and writing, but it is a big deal for me. I’ve just finished the second draft of my short contemporary fiction piece. Why the big deal? It’s the longest complete piece I’ve ever finished. At 13,000 words it’s not a novel and, I’m informed, not even a novella, but it’s taken nearly six months, some effort, and sweat to get here. Fortunately I managed to stop short of the blood and tears. Continue reading

Long-term Project News (3)

My two longer term projects have been paused ‘under review’ for some time. After a little gentle prompting from Twitter friends Sandy and Kirkus I have decided to go back and revisit the short story, where I had been considering abandoning it. As was pointed out, I don’t know if it will ever be ready for publication, but the editing experience I will gain from finding out will be invaluable.

A fantasy novel (no working title), paused at around 60,000 words, it is the first thing I ever wrote. There are plot and pacing issues. I still remain undecided about this one, as there remains a lot of actual writing to do. This goes against my natural inclination, but not just ploughing ahead writing scenes as they come, and using a more considered approach will probably be a more successful method of actually finishing what I started. Now I just need that minor consideration: a plot…

A short story (working title, “Cassie”), which I hoped to publish, has issues with style and content. It covers the subjects of cancer, depression, disinterest and relationship breakup, and hope. It’s ambitious, but I’m (eventually) going to edit it to within an inch of its life, and then I’ll know the fate that I shall decree…

Long-term Project News (2)

My two longer term projects are ‘under review.’ I need to decide whether to proceed with either of them:

A fantasy novel (no working title), paused at around 60,000 words, is the first thing I ever wrote. It has plot and pacing issues. Can I resurrect it?

A short story (working title, “Cassie”), which I hoped to publish, has issues with style and content. It covers the subjects of cancer, depression, disinterest and relationship breakup, and hope. Was it too ambitious?

Decisions: Do I abandon them and move on? I don’t yet know…

News: Blog Re-Animation.

Having re-invented myself last week I thought it was time to tidy up the mess around the edges of my website and this ‘ere blog. If you notice things changing randomly as you read it is not the gremlins, I am editing the site right under your very nose! Live web-design! How exciting! OK, it isn’t but that’s what’s happening. Hopefully the new website will be up (eventually) and normal service will be resumed as soon as possible…

The management will not engage in discussions about financial refunds due to this temporary disruption. Unless you can produce the original contract, signed in dragon blood on the orc-skin scroll. So there.

Thank you.

Latest Project News

THE NOVEL – “Untitled” – Work on my fantasy novel continues, but I’m very much in the early stages of writing a first draft. The characters now have some colour and back-story, and the plot arc is slowly building on a, hopefully, solid foundation. My inspiration is coming as I write, and I have several ideas for an ending, but so far firm ideas for the latter story arc remain elusive. Overall though, I’m generally pleased with how things are going, and feeling inspired to see this project through to completion. *UPDATE – Still progressing 11/08/11.*

SHORT STORIES – *UPDATED 11/08/11* I’m currently attempting to finish a short story. It is a real challenge, cross culture, cross gender, and a sensitive and emotive subject. Whether I ever release it depends, mostly, on whether I feel I have done the subject-matter justice, as I feel  trivialising it would be wrong.

MY BLOG –  TheWordOnThe.Net – I am very much enjoying writing shorter, varied pieces of work as I seek to explore and expand my limits as a writer. As such the content, and format of the blog are changing with time as my ideas and aims coalesce. *UPDATED – 11/08/11*. Recently I’ve found myself exploring nonsense poetry. I don’t know if it’s very good, but I’m not going to learn unless I experiment. I would read them with this in mind :-). I may try something more serious at some point, maybe.

THIS NEWS FEED – I may change from this basic format in the future to either an RSS feed, forum, news link with my blog, or alternatively explore the possibilities offered by Facebook, Twitter et. al. Decisions, decisions?!