NaNoWriMo nearly here – time to Vocab Load …

So, at the time of writing this there’s about 4 and a half hours (UK time) to go before this year’s NaNoWriMo starts. And about half an hour to go for our US cousins – can you write in a Hurricane-induced blackout? I’ll be Vocab Loading (that’s similar to Carb Loading for marathon runners) and stretching out my cerebral muscle(s). I’ve re-worked the blocking for Tiberius Bound and am ready and raring to go.

For some reason I’m hearing Eye of the Tiger.  Not running-related but it gets the endorphins going all the same.

Good luck to all the NaNoWriMo’s. Let’s be careful out there.

Tiberius Found latest

The latest chapter – six – of Tiberius Found has now been posted up on Wattpad. Roll up, roll up – get your weekly fix of TF here

The best Bond?

Maybe. I’d give Skyfall  8.5/10.

And it only loses the 1.5 because I thought it was a little laboured at a few points particularly about 10 minutes in, which is odd considering it was written by Bond stalwarts Neil Purvis & Robert Wade, along with John Logan. No Paul Haggis this time, so I’m wondering what happened there …

The opening was all that you’d expect; Big, bold and … well, Bond, and probably had a budget similar to many regular 90-minute features. Daniel Craig was spot on as 007 – no shock there – as was everyone else involved, especially the cameo roles. He gave a fantastic performance that was littered with as much self-doubt as brash confidence, and gave the character a new vulnerable side. But Bond is only as good as his enemy, and Javier Bardem gave what is perhaps the scariest portrayal of a Bond villain – certainly the campest, in a uber-creepy way. The ‘nod’ to ex-villain Jaws was a disturbingly unnerving piece of special effects.

Dame Judi’s M featured heavily in the storyline and she carried it off with her usual aplomb. The ending,despite being a touch telegraphed, was handled with care and integrity.

Overall, I would have preferred to have seen a little less ‘talking’ which would have kept the pace up to what a Bond film should be. And with Criag signed up to do two more films it looks like the franchise is safe for another few years.

It’s like training for a marathon

OK, maybe not exactly like training for a marathon, but getting ready for this year’s NaNoWriMo is all about pacing and timing. It’s no good getting 100% match-fit a week before the event and equally bad reaching a peak half-way through.

From everything I’ve read about the 30 day challenge I’ve learned one thing: It’s all about stamina, having the staying power to keep ploughing through the peaks and troughs. And I’m sure there will be plenty of troughs.The peaks won’t be a problem, and let’s face it; they never are, but the lows are always difficult to navigate.

This day in a week’s time will be day 1, and by now I should have reached a word count minimum of 1,667. I’ll be aiming for a count of anywhere between 1,750-2,000, which would give me a few days grace at the end of the month. So to help me attain the stamina and staying power I’m working hard to block out the storyline, the turning points, the main action seqeunces. If I know them then I (hopefully) will be able to keep the momentum going.

We’ll see.

Tiberius Found – chapter 5 is now live

The latest chapter – Five- of Tiberius Found is now up on Wattpad. Get your TF fix here.

Promotional postcards

The promotional postcards for Tiberius Found that I ordered from Vistaprint (with an expected delivery date of the 25th) arrived two days ago, and they are brilliant. One hundred cards – with the full-colour book cover image one one side and blurb with two QR codes (one for the novel on Kindle and the other for Kobo) on the reverse – came to just over £30. Which included delivery that came a week earlier than expected.

The postcards are one of the aides I’m planning to help me promote the novel during my time at the Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook organised Self-publishing in the Digital Age one day conference on the 3rd November.

There are many tools at a writer’s disposal in the field of self-promotion and maybe the postcard is a bit clunky, the fact that it’s tactile and has the QR codes on can make it a very useful asset. We’ll see but so far it’s looking good.

Tiberius Found … on Wattpad

I’ve been uploading a chapter of Tiberius Found onto Wattpad each week for the last few and today sees Chapter 4 go up.

Go here to read the latest installment.

Writing round-up

OK – so it’s been a while since I last made a serious post here. And again that’s not because I’ve been idle. I’ve been busy doing the continual promotion of Tiberius Found and have decided to upload a chapter a week on Wattpad – my page can be found here. Feel free to go there, read the chapters and spread the word.

I’ve also made a couple of decisions in the last week –

• the Tiberius stories will become a trilogy under The Emperor Initiative banner
• that I’m going to take part in this year’s NaNoWriMo – the 30-day ‘competition’ to write 50,000 words in November

I’ve not attempted the NaNoWriMo before but feel that it’ll be just the kick up the backside I need to get the sequel up-and-running. I’ve had numerous ‘demands’ to know what happens next to Daniel and who are good guys and who are bad. OK, some of the bad guys are pretty clear-cut but there is grey area over one or two.

But most people seem to want to know more about Dryden’s maroon suit. And I’m sure it’ll get some more ‘page’ time.

I’ve decided that I want to continue the title format and alliteration of the sequel to Tiberius Found and the next story will be titled Tiberius Bound. It’ll continue Daniel’s story almost immediately after the end of Tiberius Found where he’ll face some new (and unexpected) enemies, new challenges and raw emotions. He’ll find allegiances tested and loyalties tempted, and once again finding that he’s asking himself “who can I trust?”

Oh, and he’ll get up-close-and-personal with an old enemy as well. But you knew that was going to happen, didn’t you?

I’ve blocked out the main frame for Tiberius Bound and pretty much know where it’s going and what I need to do. And I know how it’s going to end. At least the the ‘mood’ of the end, anyway.

And I know the main crux of the third story. All I’ll say is that, for Daniel, it doesn’t get any easier.

NaNoWriMo update

For those taking part in the NaNoWriMo competition we have to include a blurb detail of what the soon-to-be written novel will be. This is mine for Tiberius Bound …

“Daniel Henstock dares to think that his life will return to ‘normal’ – his enemy (as far as he knows) is dead, the shadowy government organisation are no longer looking for him and his relationship with Eleanor is blossoming. But on the evening of the High School Ball Daniel discovers that the peace and quiet he wanted has been shattered. Gregory Dryden is killing off his enemies and Daniel is next on the list.

However Daniel realises – too late – that danger lies much closer to home.

Once again Daniel must fight to not only save himself but also protect those he cares for, and he has to make some difficult decisions along the way.”

Self-publishing in the Digital Age

Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook are holding a one-day conference on Saturday 3rd November titled Self-publishing in the Digital Age, being held at the Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston Road.

It’s going to be a packed day with various speakers taking attendees through from 9.30am-5.30pm, and for a short time is still available at a discounted rate of £65.

My ticket’s already bought.

And I generated my first self-marketing tool last night – a Vistaprint postcard with the Tiberius Found cover image on one side with blurb and two QR codes (one directing to the Kindle page and the other to the Kobo one) on the reverse. I was surprised at how easy it was to generate a QR code – and it was free, too. Hopefully it’ll help me promote the book on the event.