What’s the point of doing exercise or yoga? The answer is, usually, to keep yourself generally fit and toned up. Unless you’re preparing for an athletic event, there is no specific or direct point to any of it.
Read MorePeople in a station
I love the attempts being made all around England to make stations more attractive.Using Scrivener for blogging
A short while ago I published an article called 5 reasons for using Scrivener for writing books.
I wondered: could Scrivener be used to write blog articles?
5 reasons for using Scrivener for writing books
Second-hand ebooks
in News & views
I love second-hand bookshops. Whenever I go on holiday, one of the first things I do is go to the nearest Tourism Information outlet and get a list of the local used bookshops.
So, what do I like about them, and what does this have to do with ebooks?
Using Word for desktop publishing
in How to, Technology, Word
Can Word be used for desktop publishing? The answer is yes — but only as a last resort. Here’s a summary of my recent experience.
Read MoreThe trials and tribulations of blogging as a SWOT analysis
in News & views
There are people like myself, Steve Wheeler and others who think that blogging is a good thing to do for a number of reasons. I won’t rehearse theme here because you can read them in the articles referenced at the end of this one. However, blogging is not necessarily easy. Even if writing itself is not a problem, there are several other factors that need to be taken into account. Steve has admirably listed them
Read MoreTesco’s gets into ebooks
in News & views
Ideas for making your blog work for you
in Handy hints
It can be quite hard coming up with ideas for making your blog work for you. By that I mean help you generate traffic to your blog, help you to establish yourself as the go-to person in your niche, or how to generate income from your blog (whether directly or indirectly). However, I recently came across a blog post that suggests 90 ways to “make your blog rock”. It’s pretty good.What are your top tips for ebook cover design?
I'm in the process of collating top tips and resources about designing ebook covers. I've compiled a list of useful links (see below), which I'm adding to continually, but if you have any advice based on experience it would be interesting to hear about it.
Let's think about ebook cover design
I’m involved in a great 5 week course (free!) for teachers called "Crafting your own ebook". I’ll be leading a session soon on the subject of designing a book cover, and although I’ve found some great resources, I thought I’d turn to the community to find out what tips and/or websites others might suggest.
Read MoreNational story-telling week
The only thing wrong with Spark London is that it is confined to London, which is only to be expected of course! However, the good news for people who like the idea of story-telling as a way to improve their writing (see 4 ways that Spark London is good for writers) is that there are story-telling clubs and events all over Britain.4 ways that Spark London is good for writers
If you listen to blues songs, you will discover that amongst the angst, the stories of “my baby done packed her suitcase and caught the midnight train” (they must have amazing rail services in the USA because all the trains seem to depart at midnight), and being down and out, there are some real glimpses of a deeper Truth, with a capital “T”.Typewriter art
Remember typewriters? One of the things I used to try and do was to make pictures by typing the letter “X” over and over again in all the right places. For example, one of the images it was possible to create in this way was a Christmas tree. OK, so it wasn’t the most exciting thing in the world, but at least it kept me off the streets.