Gareth S. Young - - 1000 Trillion Suns

I was tagged by Holly Evans on Twitter and challenged to answer some personal, rather than book related, questions. You can hop over to Holly's blog chaosfoxwriting to check out her answers...and in the meantime, here are mine: One. What’s your biggest fear? That I'm not ACTUALLY immortal. I mean, so far this immortality thing has been a breeze, but I hear it's harder to manage when you get up into your 60s and 70s. Two. What’s your happiest memory? This is a tough one. I don't really have one stand out moment. Self-publishing my own book is up there though. Three. What’s your five year plan? lol. To have a five year plan would mean having a plan. I don't look too far ahead since that's how plans go awry. However, for the next year (or two) I want to write a fistful of books and hopefully go somewhere warm for a vacation. (And head back to Scotland to visit all my pale relatives) Four. What’s your favorite non-sexual intimate contact? Getting my hair washed. I...

Editing.  Wait! Don't run away, I've brought some help today so, there's nothing to be scared of. Writers discover quickly that writing is basically made up like this: Planning, scheming, ruminating, procrastinating - 10% Actual writing of story - 10% Editing, rewriting, editing again and again and again - 2356% Ok. Maybe my math isn't very good but, the point is, writers spend more time rewriting than writing. Editing is a huge component of the process and it's a horrible drain on your time and your will to live. Luckily, there are peculiar people out there who actually enjoy the process. They live in caves and forests and can be lured from their hiding places with the promise of a good story. These people are called EDITORS. I've been fortunate enough to lure an EDITOR onto my blog. Her name is Danielle Fine, and she might be able to help you produce the story you've always wanted to tell... Danielle Fine Q - Congratulations on your ...

There is an ongoing debate online about the merits of self-publishing. Whilst, milling around on Twitter, I bumped into  Katya Pavlopoulos  who herself was starting to ask questions about the process because so many of her online friends were wondering why she wasn't really considering it. After talking to me, I think I gave her the answers she was looking for. You can read excerpts from out twitter conversation here at Katya's blog:  Serene Moment Blog Drop by and leave a comment. I certainly don't know it all and I'm not sure if my experiences are typical. GSY

I'm not really big on celebrating birthdays. Not because I'm anti-fun (although I probably am *waves curmudgeonly fist*) but because it seems like it depresses people more than it cheers them up. Sure when you're eight and it's all presents and birthday cake, hell yeah let's do this thing! But when you turn forty, that's just a giving you a glimpse into the darkness of your own mortality. You take stock of your life and realize you'd better get cracking before it gets away from you. *cue mid-life crisis* I turned forty on the fifth of February. It hasn't caused a sudden breakdown nor do I particularly notice a difference between this one and the last dozen or so. The hair has silvered and I seem to have replaced peaceful slumber with...ummm...not sleeping but that's about it. I have my goals: write stories, lose weight and live to become the world's oldest mammalian lifeform. Beyond that, I don't particularly care about being forty any m...

The second patient on my operating table...ready for dissection...hmmm, this intro is a little on the serial killer side. Let me try again. My second unsuspecting victim...ugh...just roll with it... ...is the delightful Carey Heywood. Many of you may know her from Twitter, or the surrounding internetosphere, and she has graciously accepted my invite to swing by my wee blog and answer a few of my questions. I bumped into Carey on twitter and despite the fact she's happily married and a proud mama with younglings, she made me her twitter husband. The relationship was rocky from the outset due to my lack of "Swedish Fish" knowledge. I think we weathered that storm and have survived about 100 tweets since then. I still haven't tasted a Swedish Fish but fortunately Christmas approaches, her new book is available to buy on the Kindle site and she's in a forgiving mood!  So without further ado...and while she's still talking to me... Carey Heywood ...