Hmm. apparently i could reach approximately 279000 people in the UK (all of whom list science fiction as an interest) with an advert on Facecrack. y'know, one of those diddy things in the corner that nobody pays attention to. obviously i'd have to have a budget of some kind, and an idea of how long i'd want it to run. would it be worth it, i wonder? how many people actually click on those ads? (how many people click on the Google ads at the top of the page here?) how far would this translate into...

one of the biggest problems with working in retail is christmas. yeah, bah humbug and all that, but it doesn't half interfere with the pattern of creative work i've managed to build in to my day during the rest of the year.

usually i can count on being able to get a few hundred words down during my lunch break. not much, i know, but over the course of two weeks (with an added afternoon plugged in at the library) that can give me a good 4000 words, if i'm lucky. and those numbers start...

Been playing with Photoshop again, I'm afraid. The cover for ED2 won't draw itself, after all.

Now, I've been thinking a bit about this: the book is called Midwinter Fury, as part of the action happens on a world called Midwinter. So my first thought was to carry over the "sunburst" motif from ED1's cover; my second was to attempt to find something to illustrate the contents. My third was to alter the text colour to match the general ice/cold theming.

Two...

Stop press: HTTN now has an unbroken chain of 85000 words, from Prologue to Chapter 13 (or 12a, if you really want). The other 20k are an island of magic-infested action close to the end of the book.

odd, really - that 20k aside, there ain't a lot of action in the book at all. i'm wondering if this might be a problem, but on the other hand any more fight/magic sequences would have to be levered in and would look distinctly unnatural. is there anything wrong with 75% of the book being...

the more i write this one, the tougher it gets. the way things are stacking up right now - late october, pre-christmas rush kicking in, temporary staff under my feet, no room at the staffroom table - i'll be lucky to do very much more writing before the january sales start.

which makes me glad that i took time out yesterday and spent three or four solid hours in Sheffield Central Library, hammering away at chapter 13 (or possibly chapter 12). i got roughly 2000 words down, one of...