Comments for My God, It's Raining

Comment on You know what movie I’d like to watch right now? Sneakers. by Peter Newman

Peter Newman — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 13:24:48 +0000

Speaking as somebody who’s never met you in the flesh* I think you do a top job of being likeable in text form. Well done!

*Hoping to rectify that. Going to 9 Worlds by any chance?

Comment on You know what movie I’d like to watch right now? Sneakers. by Vicky Hooper

Vicky Hooper — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 19:31:31 +0000

Haha, brilliant answers! I totally agree with you about those characters who just jump to conclusions! There are also the ones who don’t tell people things – they drive me even more mad. The whole drama revolves around the fact that they keep ridiculous things secret for no reason at all. Water powers would definitely be cool, but you lose 10 points for that pun. *shakes head at you*

Thanks for answering!

Comment on I think the word you’re searching for is “Space Ranger”. by admin

admin — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 18:29:07 +0000

Cheers for the pointers!

Comment on I think the word you’re searching for is “Space Ranger”. by E.Maree

E.Maree — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 23:27:05 +0000

Hmm. Advice for twelve-year-old writers, I should be able to think of something to pass on to her. *ponders*

There’s a Scottish website for young writers http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/writing/opportunities-for-writers/young-writers which, despite it’s focus on Scotland, should have some good itps and advice.

The English version, Booktrust, seems to have less of a young writer’s section which is a shame. But there should be a fairly comprehensive list of events there at least:
http://www.booktrust.org.uk/writing/writing-tips/40

There’s also this website which looks pretty good: http://www.youngwriters.co.uk/

Local art councils and community centres are good for all-ages writing events, and there are a lot of online writing contests aimed at young participants.

Best of luck to the young lass.

I do feel a smidgeon of concern, though — I was twelve when I started submitting my work to agents and thus began the long (and frankly, too dreary for this comment thread) story of how a vanity publisher convinced my parents to part with thousands of pounds behind my back so that their wee girl could have a published novel.

So, yeah… my advice to any young writers is write for themselves, and not think too much about publication until they’re over 16.

Comment on I think the word you’re searching for is “Space Ranger”. by admin

admin — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 18:51:15 +0000

I wasn’t sure if that was officially announced yet or not!

Comment on I think the word you’re searching for is “Space Ranger”. by Mhairi Simpson

Mhairi Simpson — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 18:26:11 +0000

Tea is ALWAYS a good plan!

Comment on I think the word you’re searching for is “Space Ranger”. by Adele

Adele — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 18:13:05 +0000

you’ve also got a story in Fox and Fae which will be out soon.

Comment on Eastercon 2013, or “I went to Bradford for a weekend and all I got was Paul Cornell throwing a pen at me”* by admin

admin — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 12:37:28 +0000

Cheers Pete! Hope to see you at one in the future! You missed yourself at Eastercon as I think 75% of the attendees were talking about the awesomeness that is Kerbal Space Program, one of the most brutal rocket simulators ever devised.

Comment on Eastercon 2013, or “I went to Bradford for a weekend and all I got was Paul Cornell throwing a pen at me”* by Peter Newman

Peter Newman — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 07:13:07 +0000

I bet Em was delighted with that! Thanks for sharing this, I reckon there are lots of folk who struggle at these things. I’ve been to my first con (mirco-con) but that was much less scary due to its tiny nature. Hoping to come to a few more cons this year and one of my meta goals is to meet you as you always seem like such a nice chap.

I think there’s something in the human condition that makes it hard to enjoy our achievements. “I’ve written a book!” becomes “I haven’t got an agent!” Then “I’ve got an agent!” becomes “I don’t have a book deal!” and “I’ve got a book deal!” becomes…well that’s so far beyond where I am, I’d be making it up but you get the idea. (That’s a very long way of saying congrats again on writing a book and getting an agent)

Good luck with book babies and real ones.

Comment on Eastercon 2013, or “I went to Bradford for a weekend and all I got was Paul Cornell throwing a pen at me”* by admin

admin — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 22:09:16 +0000

The agent but no book deal thing feels awkward the first time, but then it becomes a thing you can talk about. A few people either knew or heard that I had news and automatically defaulted to congratulating me on a book deal, and I found I could turn it round into a “actually I’m at this point but here’s hoping” and they’d either wish me luck or we’d talk about what kind of deal would be the “dream” (as it were). It did feel very much at the start like I had nothing to say about myself, or that the stuff I *did* say no-one would want to hear. The human brain is so weird.

Unfortunately I’m not going to WFC this year. A combination of finances and new baby (coming soon) will mean I’m cutting back on cons until 2014. But have a great time! It should be awesome.