This post is for people who signed up, probably years ago, to receive my blog posts direct to your Inbox (~~waves~~ and thank you!). It was run by Feedburner, which I thought was doing a decent job but it seems may not have been. So if you haven't heard from me for a few months, this explains a lot.
However, Feedburner is closing next month, and so I've sought a replacement - hence the green all-singing, all-dancing email from follow.it you will, hopefully, have received to read this.
To keep receiving my blog posts - currently only one a month - you may need to confirm the feed if asked, or you may need to do nothing. To unsubscribe, there should be an Unsubscribe link. I'll be sorry to see you go, but if you haven't heard from me for a while, I quite understand. No one likes to be messed about.
For anyone picking up this post on a link, if you want to subscribe please choose the form 'Get new blogposts by email' form on the right. As an incentive, there will be news of a new Mystery title coming shortly.
Yes, it's the end of May already, and the wettest, dullest, chilliest May since... Ahem! Didn't we do this in April? Unfortunately, yes. And as I write, here in the UK it is the close of the Late May Bank Holiday. Most of the country has been basking in sunshine all weekend; here on the Yorkshire coast we've had low cloud and sea mist. It's enough to send a writer screaming to her desk.
Which I have been doing (not the screaming bit, though I've been sorely tempted on occasions). No fainting at the back there, but the Mystery novella is on its final stretch, with the finish line in sight. More on that next month, if not before.
If you are a writer, you may have heard of David Gaughran, a dynamo of a facilitator and a damned good Historical novelist to boot. He runs the free 'Starting From Zero' course (with no added extras needing payment), and has a very decent weekly marketing tips newsletter, again for free. So what's the catch, you may ask? There really isn't one. Occasionally he may ask for a Twitter or Facebook share, but that's it. And this is one of those occasions, which segued easily into my monthly blog.
David has put together a list of ten ebooks he's read - always a good start - which offer value for novelists. He's taking an affiliate cut, the authors take their own sales proceeds, and the rest of us get to see books that may not have crossed our radar but may well help our writing. And who among us doesn't want that?
Well, April has felt as if I’ve been part of a musical comedy, à la the 1949 A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s
Court; either that or I’ve been doing a good impersonation of the Red Queen in
Lewis Carroll’s Through The Looking Glass. Yes, I seem to have been
running very fast and seemingly getting not very far.
The
mystery novella (metaphors as well) isn’t yet completed when it should
have been, and I am still without a cover for it. I’ve done better with
Medium.com, where I now have nine articles live, plus my own Table of
Contents, and I better understand the platform's ins and outs. As with everything
we are new to, it takes time.
The most interesting refilling of
the creative well came in the form of the Wrexham Carnival of Words, and
I have to say it proved £15 well spent to gain a gateway ticket to
eight days of its litfest. Not that I managed to watch any of the
speakers live, but this is the joy of YouTube and a ticket code. History
Day and Historical Fiction Night were my favourites. I hope Wrexham
Carnival of Words produces next year’s litfest via video as well as the usual
in-person attendance, which I won't have a hope of making.
The highlight of the month was a profile of me written
by author Penny Grubb, which made me seem far more productive than I
am. Now we are moving out of Lockdown I shall endeavour to live up to
her depiction.
So, I’d better get back to catching up before May
arrives. Enjoy your month, and let’s hope it proves to be a bit warmer.
Here in the UK it has been the frostiest April for over 60 years, and
boy, can our central heating account vouch for that. I hope you've done better.
It’s
been an interesting month. More on the pic in a moment.
My
current work-in-progress is crawling to its finish (let’s not
mention when I started writing it). It’s a Mystery, which is a bit
of a departure for me, and there will be more on this next month. I
should have a cover for it by now, but I don’t, organised as I am.
I’ve
also become aware of the potential of the blogging platform, Medium.
Though, to call its subject matter blogging
is a bit of a misnomer; it’s been referred to as social
journalism, and I think
that fits.
The platform, which works as a subscription model, holds a large number of digital magazines marketed under diverse topics. Like
paper magazines, it majors in non-fiction articles, most of which are
behind a paywall. If an article holds perceived quality for its
readers, then the writer is paid, and the article can be widely distributed under
its topics, not merely available in a search. Despite being early in the learning curve I am finding it
rather better than I expected, both in reading content and in rewards.
And now to the image. Since mid-month our household has been glued to Iceland
and the natural wonder that is the birth of a volcano in
Geldingadalir, the Valley of the Wethers. Or, if you prefer
the blunt version, the Valley of the Castrated Rams – Gelding? Get it?
Dalir is the English dale, or valley.
The Reykjanes peninsular, where the
Keflavik international airport is situated, began being hit by
earthquakes in late February, which by early March had built to a
swarm – the official name for quakes numbering in the tens of
thousands. As nearly 600 were over magnitude 3 and over 60 over
magnitude 4, the earth was meaning business.
On the evening of 19 March a red glow was
seen reflected from clouds south of the capital, Reykjavik. When
daylight broke the first scientists flew out, followed by hiking
Icelanders who refused to take no
for an answer. I wrote an article on it for Medium. If you’re a
member you can view it HERE.
If not, enjoy this two-minute time-lapse recorded on 22 March.
Or watch the daily Live Feed. The weather can be interesting, too.
Enjoy!
Update 05 April 2021: around noon local time a line fissure opened up 500 metres away from the main double cone. Within eight hours it was throwing up a cooling dark-lava wall along its length. CameraFlo is showing it; CameraBob is focused on the original double vent. Both cameras are renewed daily.
[Note: apologies for the line spacing. This is what happens when technology is updated. I have no idea.]
