Limited editions and gingerbread moose...

I now have my print quote, and number mashing has given me a headache - I think my brain runs better on words than numbers, a bit like putting the wrong fuel in you car...

As a self publisher I need to decide how many books to have printed, the bigger the print run the cheaper per book they are to print, but the figures soon add up, and this one was never going to be a cheap book to produce with all the colour photos that I just couldn't leave out. So I'm thinking I might do a limited edition on this one, and then future editions will have fewer photos... we'll see.

Meanwhile, I got distracted as I tend to do and baked some gingerbread moose...

You know you've been overdoing the picture editing when...

You know you've been overdoing the picture editing when ... you see a cloudy sky and visualise yourself deleting the clouds to give a clear background...

Editing pictures becomes quite absorbing after a while, removing all those pixels to clear the background - in this case is was the backdrop of a radiator behind a cat basket that had to go, I'd better not remove the actual radiator or the cats will soon be abandoning the basket for one in a warmer location.

Anyway - my cover is nearly finished, I still have to arrange the back cover a bit more to fit the blurb around the picture, and still leave room for the bar code and price. I'm waiting for a print quote from the printers, and then I can set the price accordingly. And then...  I'll be announcing the new book!!

How to beat writer's block

Every time I try to write something positive and useful about writers block, it seems to waken up and come at me like a demon who hadn't noticed that I was happily writing away, until I called its name and drew its attention my way...

So maybe today will be different and I'll manage to write some useful tips down before it notices... so here goes:

How to avoid writers block:

• Try not to think about writers block - just get on with it.
• Think about what you're going to write before you sit down at a blank screen or piece of paper.
• Allow yourself time to daydream - it's actually very productive and lets your imagination wander about and come up with things you didn't even know you had in your head.
• Don't be too worried about the first sentence, you can always go back and change it later, in fact you probably will, but at least you will have made a start.
• Let your imagination run wild without a care for what anyone else might think of what you've written - right now you're the only one who can see it, and you might just surprise yourself with what an unrestricted imagination in an come up with...
• If writer's block does strike, go and do something else: go for a walk, or a swim - I often come up with ideas in a swimming pool: or just sit in the sun and let your mind wander - you'll free your mind and sneak up on new ideas.
• Write something else - it's more productive than sitting staring at a blank screen, and come back to it later.
• Read something.
• Try writing with music playing. Music is a powerful thing and can change your mood in an instant.
• Visualise writer's block as a monster that you will either ignore or beat - but you will not allow it to beat you! 

Please leave a comment or add your own tips...

On the beach

Last night, well about tea time - but it was dark, so it seemed like night, I was on the beach. It was a tiny beach, about 3ft by 1ft and what there was of it was wet and in danger of being flooded by the next big wave - where was I?

I was on Scarborough beach at high tide - a very high tide!! And I wasn't the only one feeling to pull of a walk on the beach -  a Border Collie came along just after me, running ahead of it's people to get down the nearest steps onto the beach, only to stop and look confused as the sea lapped up almost covering the beach.

And so that was my first step on the beach of the year - I can't quite call it a walk on the beach, because all I did was to step onto it, and keep a watchful eye on the waves, and shame as it was not to swim in the sea when it had come all the way up the beach to meet - the North Sea in February is just a bit too chilly for me...