Tag: Writing
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My first NaNoWriMo
I’ve just finished the latest round of edits on my WIP in time to pass on to my beta readers. Now, while they tear it to shreds I’ll be distracting myself with a completely new project for NaNoWriMo, hence the self-imposed deadline for the WIP! This year will be my first attempt, and I’ve given…
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The Bestseller Experiment’s 5th Anniversary
The two Marks and their years of talented guests have been inspirational, motivational, and a bit of a guiding light in the avalanche of writing advice out there. They don’t take themselves too seriously either, which always makes for a good time. I’m so grateful for all their hard work and the huge part they’ve…
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All the books, all the proofs!
Round two, here we go… I wrote up a bit about my first proof ordering attempt for Duck and Dive in a previous blog post. Since then I’ve adjusted the font sizing, line spacing, spacing around section breaks, page breaks, internal and external margins, and the design of the spine. I made these changes to…
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Paperback proofs
The first ever physical copies of my first ever book 😱 (Note, paperbacks are not yet for sale, but the ebooks definitely are.) Overall, I’m pleased with how they turned out. I’ve got a bunch of little changes I want to make, then I’ll order another round of printed proofs. We’ll see how many rounds…
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Going wide – Arthur and Gabriel’s future (Part 3)
In Part 1 of this mini-series I discussed bringing Arthur and Gabriel into the real world (as paperbacks) and in Part 2 I talked about sandwiching them together (as an ebook box set). If you want to be kept up to date on all this, jump on my mailing list. But for today… When independent authors talk about…
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New short story: Picking up the Groceries
At only around 300 words long – a one-pager! – the story is super short and will probably only take a minute or so to read. Check it out now! But, if you’re after a little background or the survey results, read on… A writing exercise and a walk down the street This story grew…
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Second draft of my first full-length novel ☠👨🍳
With a few interruptions along the way, it’s taken me two years to get to this point… First draft (i.e. getting it down) Plotting, planning, and scheming kicked off in February 2019 before I started the first draft two months later. What followed was seven months of tippity tapping away on the train to and…
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Podcast with my book cover redesigns, website, emoji use, and quiche 👨🍳
The Marks are at it again! Duck and Dive‘s cover refresh and my website are briefly discussed on the latest episode of the Bestseller Experiment podcast, along with how I’ve used emojis to give potential readers a flavour of what to expect. But, to put it in context I’m going to back it up for…
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Short story: My New Routine
This is my latest short story, a competition entry written on the theme of ‘Lockdown’. Based on the previous year’s competition winning stories, the judges were expecting an uncompromising literary sign of the times. This story is not that. Not one bit. After a year of Covid-19, the last thing I wanted to do was…
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My book on the Bestseller Experiment podcast 🎧
That’s right! My gay romcom novella Over and Out scored a brief mention on this week’s episode of the Bestseller Experiment podcast. Following a fantastic interview with thriller author Linwood Barclay, the hosts Mark Stay and Mark Desvaux discuss some recent wins from their regular listeners. You can listen to the full interview yourself by…
G. B. Ralph 