FantastiCon 2016: A Convention with Added Bite!

On 07/08/201609/08/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Fiction, Fundraising

The annual SF/Fantasy/Gaming/Cosplay/Music event FantastiCon 2016, will take place on 19th & 20th November at the Guildhall in Hull UK! Why am I telling you this? Because I’ll be there! Signing books, socialising, meeting readers and possibly doing a reading (TBA). I'd love to meet you there. This is the third year of this convention …

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Progress on the WIP

On 14/05/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Mars, Progress6 Comments

12 days since I last gave you an update on the scifi novel I’m currently writing. I’ve been quite busy on a number of things, both domestic and in the writing arena since. Suffice it to say that progress hasn’t been as rapid as I’d hoped. But I’m not beating myself up over that: life …

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Take a Break and be More Productive

On 11/05/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Organisation, Procrastination8 Comments

Picture courtesy Pixabay.com People often ask how I manage to get so much done (actually, I don’t achieve as much as I’d like, but that’s another story). One thing that helps is the way I break every hour for just a couple of minutes. It’s long been known that sitting at the keyboard, or bending …

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The Case for Mars, by Robert Zubrin, Reviewed

On 25/04/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Review

Subtitled, The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must, this extraordinary work by Robert Zubrin, with Richard Wagner, is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in Mars either as an observer or as, in my case, a writer of science fiction. In researching for my novel about Mars, I’ve read a great …

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How We’ll Live on Mars, by Stephen Petranek, Reviewed.

On 09/04/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Mars, Review2 Comments

There are times when a book comes into our lives at an appropriate moment. This was one such for me. I’d just spent a few days reviewing the research I’d been doing for a science fiction novel set on Mars. Amongst the websites I’d downloaded to consult on technical issues, I found references to this …

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Amazon: a Solution to the Review Problem?

On 26/01/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Review11 Comments

Perhaps, Amazon can be persuaded to do something positive for authors who provide it with a living? The company currently has a policy preventing honest reviews from writers giving opinions on the books of other writers they may know. The whole policy is a sledgehammer to crack a walnut. It’s intended to prevent dishonest reviews …

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The Ubiquitous Mailing List

On 21/12/2015 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Organisation12 Comments

Authors are told their most precious marketing asset is their mailing list. This advice has become so common it’s now accepted as gospel. I have my doubts. Over the past few weeks, admittedly a little late in my writing career, I’ve been attempting to set up this promotional tool. I’d love to report it as …

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What you need to know about Twitter #Hashtags Infographic and LIST…

On 30/11/201530/11/2015 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Word Use8 Comments

A great guide for those interested in using Twitter in a positive fashion for book matters.

You might also benefit from this great post from Linda Acaster:

Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

#amwriting: Designed specifically for writers who are experiencing writers block and just want to relieve the anxiety.
#eBook or #Books: Gives the latest posts.
#Reading: Dominated by GoodReads users who are also on Twitter
#mustread, #read, #reading, #readers, #bestread, #greatread, #greatbooks, #weekendreader, #GoodReads
#Fridayreads: One of the most popular literary hashtags of all time on twitter. It even generated a global trend at one period of a time, it is still one of the best ways to find out about good books.
#Nook: Gives the latest posts according to Nook published books.
#epub, #ePub : Specifically for independently published authors, this hashtag platform promotes eBooks published on Smashwords, Kobo, iTunes, Nook, etc.
#Amazon: Considered the mother of all tweets. Here you can find everything Amazon related, most particularly books.
#AmazonKindle: Same as the one above, but more useful for sale of Kindle Devices and eBooks.
#kindlebooks, #Kindle Touch…

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There is No Other Way.

On 16/11/2015 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Procrastination, Progress6 Comments

This year has been one of change and adaptation. We moved home at the beginning of 2015 and that meant certain changes were inevitable, of course. It also meant many distractions took my mind off my writing. The house and garden needed, and continue to need, attention to make this our home rather than a …

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A Renewed Regime.

On 26/07/201526/07/2015 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, charity, Creative Writer, Fiction, ME/CFS, Organisation, Progress5 Comments

Way back in 2014, that's last year in case you're not sure, I was writing fairly regularly and working on a couple of projects. But, in the middle of that year, we made a momentous decision: we would move house from our domain of 14 years and settle in an area of the country where …

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Returning to the World of Technology

On 16/07/2015 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Organisation, Progress8 Comments

On 25th June I wrote a longish post on the way technology seems to have taken the role of master instead of the servant it was intended to be. You can find that post by clicking here. This is the follow-up post I promised then. How did I manage without an online presence, without the …

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