Uncle Rock is the ultimate performer for the child in all of us, with incredible songs such as Like A Pirate, Disco Nap and, my personal favourite, Sugar talkin’, Uncle Rock’s CDs are packed with great tunes and laugh out loud lyrics that’ll have you wishing you were six so you could rock out with your air guitar again!

But, hey – don’t take my word for it – go to www.unclerock.com and check it out for yourself!

Tommy

Sam’s website for the book is here, and I heartily recommend you pick up a copy of Tim for yourself! Great stuff!

Tommy

His fledgling site is here, but don’t let the fact that he hasn’t posted before fool you – he’s written everything from games reviews to zombie screenplays and back again.  His is a name you will hear a lot of in the future.

Check out what he has to say!

Tommy

The post is here and it’s essential reading for anyone who wants to be published.

Tommy

Kentucky Fried Fairy is a comic romp of epic proportions and, if you’re interested in writing fantasy, inventing stories for children – or you just want a damn good laugh – I advise you to get thee hence to his blog! You won’t regret it.

Tommy

If you have done any research on the publishing business (and, if you want to be a writer, you’d better be doing just that), you should know that agents are busy, busy people.  Even their own clients have to wait in line to speak to them at the most frenetic times – so the last thing they need is half a dozen calls a day from unpublished authors asking the same questions over and over.

Want to know how to approach an agent?  Search the web or visit your library.  Trust me – the answers are there.  And, that way, you haven’t blotted your copybook with an agent by interrupting them on the ‘phone.

Read Nathan’s post here, and listen to what he says!

Tommy

His words got me thinking about when to start writing, as well as stopping. For me, it’s my job. I have to show up every day, sit here and create, edit or rewrite words in order to put food on the table and keep a roof over my family’s heads. The fact that I do all that from an office that is really a spare bedroom and can stop any time I like to make a cup of tea does nothing to diminish the fact that this is a job. I don’t write, I don’t get paid. No waiting for the muse to show up for me – every time I head up to my office, I drag the muse with me, kicking and screaming if need be.

Now, I’m not moaning here. I absolutely love my job and realise that I’m very fortunate to be doing it, but I face a problem that every self-employed person struggles with on a daily basis – I have no boss. That might sound like a dream come true (and it can be) but it’s up to me to discipline myself, up to me to set targets and hit them, up to me to ensure the work is done on time and to an acceptable standard. The result – and this is true of every self-employed person I know, whether they write, design websites or sell cars – is that I work much, much harder than I ever did in my previous 9 to 5 jobs.

The same holds true whether you write full-time or not. If you want to write a novel or screenplay, you have to put the time in and create whether you feel like it or not. How many people do you know who’ve talked for years about that book they’re going to write? Yep, me too. The difference between us and them is that we’re sitting our asses down and doing it. Writers write, they don’t just talk about writing.

But, I hear you cry, I don’t have the time. I work all day and have to spend time with my family in the evening. Yep, so did I before I was able to quit my day job (although my family still force me to spend time with them). The truth is if you want it hard enough, you’ll make the time. You’ll give up watching some TV, going to the pub, or you’ll get up earlier than everyone else. You could write a measly 250 words a day in your lunch hour (just half the length of this post) and, at the end of a year, you’d have a 90,000 word novel in your hands. The question is, do you want it enough to sit down and do it? There’s a word for writers who do: published.

It’s a tough master, this writing bug.

Tommy

The Jimmy Coates series by Joe Craig is an ongoing action-packed adventure featuring a main character with some very special abilities. Now, I made the mistake of picking up the fourth book first, so I know what these abilities are and how Jimmy comes to have them – but I won’t spoil it for you!

Starting with Jimmy Coates: Killer, Joe’s books are crammed with mystery, intrigue and sequences that literally leave you breathless after you’ve read them. To say these stories are page-turners is a vast understatement.

Pick up a Jimmy Coates book today. You won’t regret it.

Tommy

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There’s the usual literary agent stuff (including a mention for my own agent!), plus some Mac searches, and even a Thomas The Tank Engine query.  Of the search terms, it’s ‘mistakes in my submitted manuscript to agent’ that stands out for me.  It can’t be a good feeling: submitting a manuscript, then realising you’ve made mistakes.

I hope whoever searched for that knows that there are plenty of agents out there, and finding the right one for you takes time.  If you’ve made an error in your submission to one agent, forget about it and move on to the next.  We’ve all made mistakes early in our writing careers; it’s whether you can learn from them that’s the important thing.

Tommy

There are some cracking desks and offices there, although my own tidy desk has prompted a few of the board members to avoid displaying their disorganised workspaces.  Will you show yours…?

Tommy

PS – if you’re interested in writing for children – the ‘Blue Boards‘ at Verla Kay’s site are a fantastic resource.  Read, join, post and learn young Jedi…