New Christmas Story

I visited the garden centre yesterday and went goggly eyed over the decorations. I came away with a rather festive advent calendar and am beginning to feel just a little more Christmassy, so this story is probably a reflection of that.
It's the story of a little girl soaking up the Christmas sights, smells and sounds on a shopping trip with her mother. If you'd like to take a look, here's the link:
http://www.quirkytales.co.uk/stories/christmaswindow.php
Hope you enjoy it.

Publishing and E-Publishing

E-publishing is the huge news of the moment. Amazon's Kindle is probably the dominant force in the market, and offers what is becoming an increasingly viable alternative route for authors who cannot find a way through the firmly closed doors of the traditional publishers.
A visit to most of the big publishers' websites, and even a depressingly large number of agents, will reveal there are a vanishingly small number of opportunities for the debut. A deluge of rejections has always been viewed as a rite of passage for new authors, but the message coming from the industry nowadays is almost 'don't even bother'. Dispiriting indeed.
I have a raft of material just sitting in my computer, not being read, gathering digital dust. I don't expect to be the next J.K.Rowling, but I would like some readers. I'm beginning to seriously consider taking the e-pub route. Sadly, that mental image I have nursed since early childhood of my story on a shelf in the bookshop may have to undergo some adjustment.

News Archives

A new project has gone live today providing an online archive of British newspapers. It looks like one to bookmark and I imagine it will be a terrific resource for writers everywhere.

http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/

It will either be incredibly useful, or a great way to fritter away several hours! Sadly, having spent a little time exploring the site, I have to say that no struggling author could possibly afford to use it!

Lost in my own Kitchen

I spent some time this morning rearranging and cleaning my kitchen. Now I can't find the bread and have a headache from walking into open cupboard doors.
It seemed like such a good idea when I started out this morning. Nothing seemed to be in the right place, electrical equipment mingled nervously with the pasta and rice, and the kitchen-waste bin lurked in the bottom of the larder, which struck me as unhygienic. I had a plan. I was going to shunt the crockery to that cupboard, the cereals would shift to there, all those electricals would decamp to one corner, the waste bin would be relegated to beneath the sink etc., etc.
The execution turned out rather differently. The bread maker was too tall for the spot I had chosen, as was the Kenwood mixer, we have far too many jars of home-made jam and bottled pears, and I still haven't found my favourite paring knife (I think I must have thrown it out with the peelings).
I have a sneaky suspicion that my time might have been better spent writing. At least then I'd be able to find my lunch.

Second Time Lucky!

The company behind the rather sudden fireworks display in Oban is making a return to the town tonight to put on a free five-minute display. The first one was supposed to last twenty minutes but a technical hiccup saw it all go up in 50 seconds, so I'm wondering what will happen tonight if the same glitch occurs. It could be over as soon as it starts!. It might be wise to avoid blinking, just in case!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-15905751
Hope it all goes well and that the company and the good people of Oban have a fantastic and trouble-free display tonight.

Public Sector Bashing

There's a lot of excitement in the news today about the planned public sector strike next week. What spin the story is given depends, needless to say, on individual publications. The Guardian offers support and sympathy, the Daily Mail, that champion of the new national sport of Public Sector Worker Bashing, offers spiteful and rather ill-informed sniping, the BBC, bless it, is so frightened of accusations of left wing bias, that it skips about uncertainly between the two extremes.

The truth is, the public sector is important to us all. We all use its services on a day-to-day basis, and we're all pretty much stuffed without it. Our roads would fall into total disrepair, we would have no street lights, no refuse collection, no education, no healthcare, no national security or defence, the list is endless, we take it for granted. 

Within their ranks are technologists, engineers, scientists, who earn a fraction of what they would earn in the private sector, thanks to a rather ill-conceived system for equal pay. Their salaries are a nonsense, which is why the public sector is haemorrhaging specialists and technologists at a terrifying rate.

The only perk the public sector offers is its pension. Remove that, and you're left with low pay and the warm feeling of doing something for your country as reward for public sector employment. It might be enough for some, but I suspect most would opt for high salary, bonuses, shares options, etc.

We should be very careful what we wish for. We may find that low pay and a diminished pension does not actually deliver the economically sleek, super-efficient public sector we dream of.

London's New Attraction

When does the next train leave for St Pancras? They have a wonderful new installation - a Lego Christmas Tree! I want one! More than that, I want the job of going around building them! What a job that would be!
http://www.demotix.com/news/931404/pancras-station-welcomes-worlds-tallest-lego-christmas-tree