Writers Perks

Regular blog readers will recall my past blogs (and articles) on Horace Greasley and his book: Do the Birds Still Sing in Hell? Well the publicity bandwagon rolls on and The Sun newspaper paid Horace and publisher Ken a special visit recently. Looks like the boys are getting some writer's perks!

Book Army

I mentioned the Book Army during last weeks Torrevieja Writers Circle meeting. It really is worth a look - there are lots of interesting reader's reviews of books plus all sorts of forums including some with authors. Quizzes, competitions and other book related topics and all for free.

Is the World coming closer together?

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My blog today is about something that most of us use for free, take for granted and expect more from it every day. Our familiarity has lead us to take it for granted, as normal as the sun providing us light and heat every day (well here in Spain anyway!) Something that enables us to share news and information across boundaries, time lines, cultures, and religion. Is this the one thing that will integrate the world’s population? I maybe being carried away…but What am I blogging about – the Internet. Today I was looking at my web site statistics and one of the many pieces of information that it provides is the source of my traffic, i.e. where my readers originate from. The list never ceases to amaze me today amongst many others: China, Peru, Ukraine, Israel, Norway, Bulgaria, Brazil, Canada What a huge variety of cultures spread across so many different continents. The Internet really has opened up amazing options to share – let us not take it for granted.

More articles on walking to come..

My articles on Valencia's natural parks and walking have been very popular with the readers of The Inland Magazine. My walking anthology has had many hits on Issuu. I am planning more articles on this theme for the autumn. In the meantime take a look on Issuu by clicking below.

Open publication - Free publishing - More birds

expat blog - Now publishing my articles

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I was delighted today to receive an email from the expat blog site, 'share your expat experience', to inform me that they have published three of my articles on their interesting site. My articles cover: Paying Tax In Spain Spain's High Speed Train (AVE) Project Introduction to Valencia I shall be writing more articles for this site which receives many hits from people all over the world anxious to learn more about Spain.

Writers Circles

As I have been focussed on my editor duties (see previous blog) for the Writers Bureau I have been reading lots of the WB students posts of their Forum. I posted my suggestion for them to consider joining a local writing circle. This is a good way to meet like minded people, learn from their experiences and skills and of course receive valuable feedback on their own work. This appeared to be met with a good degree of enthusiasm so I hope lots of the students pluck up their courage and join a local group - you never know who you might meet. If they are lucky enough to live in or around Southampton they could also visit the Writing Buddies where I know they will receive a warm welcome from my writing friend, Penny Legg who has recently started this group and her own writing consultancy. The photo was taken recently at one of their get togethers in Borders bookstore. If you are a WB student - please note that the deadline for submissions has been extended to July 31st - so you still have time to send in your work. I look forward to reading it, even in this heatwave!

Chapter and Verse - Writers Bureau

As my regular readers will know I am currently the editor of Chapter and Verse (C&V), the students ezine for the Writers Bureau. This is my opportunity to help encourage the new writing talent to become published and, for many, it will be their first time to experience the thrill of seeing their name 'in print' albeit electronically as against the traditional printed word. However, the publishing world is changing rapidly with many publications opting too only produce their copy in the online format. Some through choice others through financial necessity borne of the current economic climate. Consequently being published online is rapidly achieving the same status and acceptance as the more usual formats. Back to C & V - if you are a WB student reading this blog please try to submit, more details on the WB web site - if you have already submitted please accept my thanks and keep a look out for the next C&V as your work might be published in our net edition!

The Future has Arrived - Zemanta

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It looks like blogging has just taken another step into the future with the advent of 'Zemanta' maybe not the friendliest of names but lets see what it can do - as I type this blog the product (having been downloaded as a Mozilla, my browser, add-on) bursts into life down the RH side of the screen with suggested additional content including news, photos, tags and other links. Well let us see how it does over the next few weeks - am I ready for the future, I hope so because it has already arrived!

The Coastal Pages

Working on the premise that readers like frequent change to enhance their reading experience this month Inland Magazine now features my 'The Coastal Pages' The first edition focuses on the Valencian coastline beaches, which stretch for 518 kms. Although the magazine's title suggests it has no involvement with the coast nothing could be further from the truth with many readers living on the coastal strip - including me. So I agreed with the owners to promote this area more and provide a broader scope of articles for the readership. My other contribution is an article on the multi million Euro Alicante airport expansion project which is redeveloping the airport into an international one - see the article for more details.

New search Engine - feedmil

Today, for a change, amongst my unsolicited emails I received a very interesting email inviting me to submit 'Words from the Author' from a new search engine organisation - Feedmil To be honest I had never heard of them and with a degree of cynicism, borne of rogue and scam emails, I decided to research them prior to replying. They checked out and I discovered that they are: 'Feedmil is a feed search engine featuring a spam-free, topic-focused search for a variety of feed types including news, blogs, microblogs, social media ...' So I took up their offer to promote this blog - you can check them out here