Book Mark

mrkchmbrs shared an Instagram photo with you

2011-06-30T22:32:00.000Z

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"Nom"

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The Instagram Team

mrkchmbrs shared an Instagram photo with you

2011-06-25T23:31:00.001Z

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"Two first names"

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The Instagram Team

mrkchmbrs shared an Instagram photo with you

2011-06-20T09:27:00.001Z

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"Eyethursday"

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The Instagram Team

mrkchmbrs shared an Instagram photo with you

2011-06-20T09:26:00.001Z

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"Eyetuesday"

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The Instagram Team

mrkchmbrs shared an Instagram photo with you

2011-06-10T15:19:00.001Z

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"Cake face"
(taken at IKEA)

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The Instagram Team

mrkchmbrs shared an Instagram photo with you

2011-06-07T15:45:00.001Z

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"Ripped from the whatnow?"

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The Instagram Team

mrkchmbrs shared an Instagram photo with you

2011-05-30T21:21:00.000Z

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"b0ll0ck5"
(taken at Windows 7 Home Premium)

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The Instagram Team

mrkchmbrs shared an Instagram photo with you

2011-05-28T14:59:00.000Z

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"Squirrel!"
(taken at Morecambe)

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The Instagram Team

mrkchmbrs shared an Instagram photo with you

2011-05-27T20:00:00.001Z

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"Sucker"
(taken at McDonalds Ashton (Snipe Retail Park))

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The Instagram Team

mrkchmbrs shared an Instagram photo with you

2011-05-24T11:08:00.001Z

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"Balloon on a phone line"

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mrkchmbrs shared an Instagram photo with you

2011-05-24T10:54:00.001Z

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"Purple World Ltd"
(taken at Eric Morecambe Statue)

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The Instagram Team

mrkchmbrs shared an Instagram photo with you

2011-05-24T10:50:00.001Z

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"Rocky Midland"
(taken at Morecambe)

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The Instagram Team

mrkchmbrs shared an Instagram photo with you

2011-05-24T10:48:00.001Z

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"Reverse Baywatch"
(taken at Morecambe)

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mrkchmbrs shared an Instagram photo with you

2011-05-24T10:47:00.001Z

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"Baywatch"
(taken at Morecambe)

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mrkchmbrs shared an Instagram photo with you

2011-05-24T10:45:00.001Z

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"Rusty"
(taken at Morecambe Town Hall)

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Sparrows

2011-05-22T15:05:00.001Z

Sparrow Playgroup in Torrisholme, Morecambe has a new website.

www.sparrows.org.uk

Enjoy.

mrkchmbrs shared an Instagram photo with you

2011-05-22T10:06:00.001Z

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"Chicken whatnow?"
(taken at Sainsbury's)

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The Instagram Team

Date calculation is a good thing

2008-09-12T13:08:00.002Z

Calculate the duration between two dates

http://www.timeanddate.com/date/duration.html

I am Rob's Reader of the Week

2008-09-11T11:27:00.006Z

This week I have the honour of being featured on Rob Burdock's bbb (book-based-blog).

So, I suppose that makes it RB'sbbb, or is that silly? Let us just say website.

Anywho, we met through a love of all things Alphasmart and that progressed to include bookish stuff too.

Have a read of Mr. Burdocks websites. Well worth a vist in my opinion.

http://robaroundbooks.com/about/

http://www.robaroundtheclock.com/

http://www.paperlessundergrad.co.uk/

http://studenttabletpc.com/

Purge

2008-09-02T10:13:00.004Z

Flickr photo by jgodsey of sicpress.com

Well,

I have this blog which I don't seem to use much.
It appears to have lost it's way (should that apostrophe be there?).

I'm in the throes of a deletion of all things not writing related today/tomorrow.
I will use Tumblr for that kind of stuff in future I think.

This blog started out as a journal for my NAWE adventures.
I was lucky enough to secure a place on their Taking The Plunge mentoring scheme.
I enjoyed it a great deal and recorded that which I needed to here on the journal.

From now on it should all be writing related.

Mark

T-Shirt for Mr. Bukowski!

2008-06-08T00:19:00.002Z

A bag and a half

2008-05-31T19:51:00.001Z

My Bag Contents
Originally uploaded by crookster1

now then
this guy
is organised

Vacana 67

2008-03-16T08:24:00.003Z

Whatever one thinks about and ponders over often,
one's mind gets a leaning in that way.

I don't recall where I saw this, but, it struck a chord.
In relation to writing, I think it applies to the area of characterisation.
If you live your characters whilst writing them, surely you get to leaning that way?

Smallest room

2008-03-02T00:23:00.002Z

Neo.BATH
Originally uploaded by Boczkowski

Sometimes it is the only place you can write.

Quite Funny

2008-02-08T10:47:00.001Z

As someone who is writing a book
I found this smileworthy

If you add this RSS feed thing to your Netvibes page
You too can get a load of new cartoons daily

and then blog about the slightly relevant ones

26/12/07 Boxing Day v2

2007-12-26T23:03:00.000Z

There is currently an advert on the TV and on some websites to (crappy little flash animation thing) that features a house at Christmas. It is snowing and the house has Xmas lights outside and on the garden fence. The lights on the fence are lotto numbers. They are 3, 7, 15, 18, 41 and 43. I did intend to check whether these numbers have already won a large prize previously. Anyway, I didn't get time to check before I was in front of a Lotto terminal, so I placed them on tonight's draw anyway.
Best of British, huh.

I should make some phone calls.
Christmas.
Family.
Friends.
Etc.

So, today Ikea is open.
I know.
I checked.
95p breakfasts here we come.
Got an extra sausage.
I don't call that going large.
They do.

Just as we were setting off from home, I was in the driving seat and Wifey was just getting in the car and she said something that struck a chord with me as being interesting. Interesting enough to make me think that if I twisted it a bit it'd fit well in the novel. I thought to myself 'That's good. I won't forget that. I don't need to stop the car and write that down or make an audio note on my mobile, I'll remember, of course I will, I'll remember, I'll jot it down as I stop the car in Ikea's car park.

I forgot it.

I must remember (irony?) to write things down immediately the idea strikes me.
Otherwise, more often than not.
It is gone.
I've mentioned this before.
It is very annoying and makes me angry because it is avoidable and it is a constant reminder of what my illness/condition/whatever has done to me.

24/12/07 v2

2007-12-24T23:59:00.000Z

Yay!
I have an ear infection. I love getting up early on a day I don't (shouldn't) have to in order that I can call the doctors at one second past eight in the morning. One has to do this with my local GP's surgery as the area is full of old people. And they have this nasty habit of falling ill and clogging up the appointments system with their collective frailty. So, I went, and was seen, on time, at ten past nine. Which was nice. More chemicals to thrust down my ear canal. Have been advised to wear wax earplugs when showering.
Sexy.
After the joy of the surgery, I went to the chemist over the road with the intention f getting the hell out of Dodge ASAP, as, the intention this morning, which is the first of Wifey's holiday, was to go to Ikea for a cheapo breakfast and a walk around the SALE items. So, I go to the chemist and hand over my prescription, pay, sit down, walk around, look at crap I neither want nor need and generally try to kill the time between arrival and prescription fulfilment. After about ten minutes my name was called. "Your doctor hasn't signed your prescription....". Five minutes later I am stood back in front of the same counter, speaking to the same woman and handing over the same prescription. Fifteen minutes later I'm walking out of their wishing I just didn't have ears.
We drove to Ikea, the gates of the car park were still closed. It was just before 10am so I wheeled around the block for a few minutes and circled back to Sweden. The gates were still closed. Locked even, but, people were on the car park. They were driving Into the car park through the OUT lane. So I followed them and after parking up was told by a kindly OAP (female) that "they aren't upon until Boxing Day". So after much swearing and driving around looking for somewhere that wasn't rammed that served breakfast, we made for home and had brunch. It had gone 11am when we ate breakfast.
The photo from the art gallery shoot last week is in the local paper today. I looked at their website and downloaded a pdf of the page. The photo is in colour and it makes me look fat, a bit like a pantomime dame. I whinged and found solace that the photo in the newspaper would be in Black & White. No such luck. I bought three copies. One for my Mum, one for the supporting paperwork for the project and one for, well, one for 'just in case'.

Xmas Eve

2007-12-24T20:18:00.000Z

23/12/07 v2

2007-12-23T23:58:00.000Z

Neo is playing up.
I think.
Since I bought it, it has always done this weird thing on the screen when I invoke the '2 key power option'.
I'm also getting an odd error when I save files and subsequently clear the filespace using the CLEAR FILE key immediately after CTRL+Saving a file.
I've posted a 'help me' thread on the Alphasmart Flickr group.
I imagine I'll probably get the answer or some good advice before Christmas.
Also.
I keep missing hospital appointments because of my memory issues.
I need to use the Google Calendar more.
Especially on light of the fact that the Palm TX is unreliable at best.
Damn digitiser.

The 6x4 vs 3x5 dilemma

2007-12-23T18:41:00.000Z

Will it really make that much of a difference?
I mean, really?
Will it?
If they are getting cumbersome, I fold the 6x4's in half.
You get a 3x2 booklet effect.
Which is nice.
I suppose it depends on pocket size more than anything.
Especially if I want to keep them in some sort of thin tin.

23/12/07 v1

2007-12-23T11:11:00.000Z

Alan "Deadly" Dedicoat, the swine!

2007-12-22T22:00:00.000Z

So lets see
if this email thing
converts line breaks
like
it
said
it
would.

Being able to email images into Blogger without using Flickr is good.
I hope it works.
I don' t want a PRO account.
Picasa will do fine thank you.

it isn't just me that uses them y'know

2007-12-21T13:23:00.001Z

it isn't just me that uses them y'know
Originally uploaded by Boczkowski

Waiting for me.

By the kettle.

Aww.

xxx

Ideas>Photos>Yoga

2007-12-20T17:43:00.001Z

Hmm.
When I am driving, I cannot write ideas down.
Sometimes I stop and perform a braindump before it, the idea, vapourises into nothingness.
Sometimes this means making an audio note on my mobile phone, other times it means my writing it on whatever is to hand.
This morning it meant dictating it to J, who was in the back of the car en route to school.

This afternoon saw the previously mentioned photoshoot occurring at the local art gallery.
The purpose being to promote the creative writing project that I will be running soon.
Hopefully the article will get some local people to come forward who knew Helen Bradley.
It'd be a great help.

20.12.07
Originally uploaded by Boczkowski

Lotto>Schmotto>Daniel'O

2007-12-19T17:41:00.000Z

What I want to know is...

Why oh why oh why does Daniel O'Donnell keep hawking his evil wares around the airwaves?

He is after all rubbish.

He has now teamed up with some woman called Mary Duff.

Duff is bloody right too.

In the time it took to witness the advert on TV for their new CD, I'd dropped my porridge and was reaching for the breadknife.
Only decision, which first?
My ears off or my eyes out?

On the televisual upside, Tales of the Unexpected was on this morning.
Hopefully this means that there will be a load of them on TV again this Christmas, as there was last year.
Nice.
TV.com has a good review of the episode I saw, The way up to heaven.

Needless to say the Lotto numbers in the pic didn't win.

Otherwise I'd be blogging photos of my new motorbike.
A gold one,
With my new Macbook.
From Antibes.
Or Vegas.

19.12.07
Originally uploaded by Boczkowski

Neo>Bic>Staples

2007-12-19T13:01:00.001Z

Neo>Bic>Staples
Originally uploaded by Boczkowski

I am back on the index cards for a while.
The Palm TX is going back today/tomorrow
Via TNT thankfully.
Bloody digitiser!

A few cards held together with a clip.
Sometimes folded.
Sometimes not.

I've dug out the four colour Bic as well to aid differentiation.

It helps me.

Any ideas, musings, thoughts will then be dumped into Neo.
Once or twice a week.

'To Do' styled cards will be disposed of from now on.
I've just quartered and binned last weeks.
No point keeping the pedestrian in my opinion.
Other stuff might get 'filed' in an A4 envelope somewhere.

Old Index Cards #5

2007-12-19T12:48:00.001Z

Old Index Cards #5
Originally uploaded by Boczkowski

The more that was to follow is now here, but, that doesn't make sense,
because on the blog page this post will appear before the other one.
Aww Jeez.
Life's too hard.

Anyways, you can see here that Barry deserves to die.
For no other reason that Barry is an awful name.
And, that I seem to recall I had too many characters for the play.
And that Barry is a crap name.

There is also an index of the other cards showing what happens where
when etc.
Also a list of characters.
But, I think that relates more to the novel than the play.

Old Index Cards #4

2007-12-19T12:40:00.001Z

Old Index Cards #4
Originally uploaded by Boczkowski

Technically it is number 4.
I s'pose.
Anyway.
These are the index cards that I planned out the scenes on for my play.
For the aforementioned Alfred Bradley Bursary.
That I didn't win.

This is the first, or top, half of the preceding photo.
I like the fact you can see all my crossing outs and additions.
Card Seven became 7, 8 and 9 at some point.
Different colours for different 'things'.
Aids my failing brain.

More to follow.
Bet you can't wait huh?

Eighteen cards and a bottle of rum

2007-12-19T12:27:00.001Z

Eighteen cards and a bottle of rum
Originally uploaded by Boczkowski

Comments on this to follow in the next 2 posts.

#2 revisited ( reverse of card)

2007-12-19T12:25:00.001Z

#2 revisited ( reverse of card)
Originally uploaded by Boczkowski

A to do list.
From when I was working at the Uni.
Date unknown.

After the 24-7 theatre festival of 2006, which was in July.

Doesn't look very riveting does it?

#2 revisited

2007-12-19T12:22:00.001Z

#2 revisited
Originally uploaded by Boczkowski

Aha.

Here is the expanded idea for 'Round the Bend'.
Is it me or is it really a crap name?

Old Index Cards #3

2007-12-19T12:19:00.001Z

Old Index Cards #3
Originally uploaded by Boczkowski

Another written in that black felt pen.

I think this is a quote from Dunc the Punk.
He went ice skating with wifey.
He couldn't keep his arse off the deck.
He was heard to complain 'They've given me slippy skates!'

I think the robot idea stems from reading an old copy of Granta.
It concentrated on people who worked in or around factories.
I'm sure that's it.

Old Index Cards #2

2007-12-19T11:57:00.001Z

Old Index Cards #2
Originally uploaded by Boczkowski

Hmm,

'Round the Bend' rings a very distant bell.
Something about a female plumber?
In a small village?
Maybe?
Vicar-of-Dibley-esque?

I think the 'idea' underneath that about sardines being packed into a
plane is separate from the RTB thing.

The Deal or no Deal variations was written in the same felt tip pen so
I've lumped these together.
Probably from the same day I imagine.
I don't carry a felt tip pen.
Ever.
Must have been done at home or Uni and that was the first thing to hand.

Old index cards #1

2007-12-19T11:49:00.001Z

Old index cards #1
Originally uploaded by Boczkowski

Hmm,
I think this was an idea for the Alfred Bradley Bursary write a play
competition that the BBC were running last year.
I didn't use this idea.

Essentially it was a radio play that was conducted through a bathroom door.
Which was jammed/locked/un-openable.

There is a woman locked/trapped inside.
She speaks to people through the door for the length of the play.

Or did she lock herself in and pretend it was jammed?
I can't recall now.
So long ago.

Needless to say what I did submit didn't win.
If it had, I wouldn't be here speaking to you now, would I?

19:13hrs, a decision is made

2007-12-18T19:50:00.001Z

19:13hrs, a decision is made
Originally uploaded by Boczkowski

The digitiser drift in the DIA is getting worse so I am sending it back.
Again.

How /*many */times.

I wish I had bought something else.

Location School Gym

2007-12-18T19:18:00.001Z

Location School Gym
Originally uploaded by Boczkowski

J was a snowman in the school play today. He was good.

Moo recognised him from 10 yards, which is impressive for a toddler.
Or I thought so anyway.
I _would _have posted a photo, but, we _ain_'t allowed to take photos
anymore.
Paedogeddon I imagine.
We are able to buy a DVD of the event though.
Sheesh.

Barker>Gallery>Photo

2007-12-18T17:40:00.000Z

Received a call from a local newspaper.

In response to a mass email I did about a creative writing project I will be running locally.

In a school not too far from me.

Enabling New Writing that is inspired by the life and/or work of Helen Bradley.

18.12.07
Originally uploaded by Boczkowski

Snap>Screencap>Load'o'crap?

2007-12-16T18:55:00.001Z

Snap>Screencap>Load'o'crap?
Originally uploaded by Boczkowski

I have been thinking about ditching the index cards and only using my
pda for the 'to do list', the 'shopping list', the 'ideas I had on the
toilet and don't want to forget list' and all the other crap, such as a
backup conduit for the Neo I'm currently using to not really write a
novel on (ahem).

Anyway, there should be two images attached to this email.
Two images of the same thing, a screen from my pda's notebook facility.
I want to see what they look like.
One was taken using a program called Snap, the other via the Palm
Desktop sync software.

The benefit of the Snap s/ware is that I can take pictures of any
screen, such as the agenda or calendar, and post that instead of an
index card.
Same with the notebook thingy, I can post that up too.

Snap captures images as BMP and Palm Desktop attaches them to emails as PNG.

Let's see what works best 'eh?

#update# I sent an email with three images attached, the text is below, it failed in the sense that all three images appeared here as individual posts with the same text-not what was intended. Looks like the way forward is to email bulk images to Flickr only and then click 'blog this' from there....

"Hmm, it seems Flickr doesn't 'do' bitmaps.
I have to change the image extensions from bmp to jpg or png.
Which is nice.
Another step.
Bach file renamer downloaded.
Job done.

Three images attached, all jpg renamed from bmp, just to see if it can
handle multi-jpeg posts.
Or can I send only one at at time?

I am guessing one at a time and that this email will fail..."

School>Lever>Library

2007-12-14T10:14:00.001Z

School>Lever>Library
Originally uploaded by Boczkowski

Hmm,

does this text appear on both Flickr /*and* /my blog, or, just on one?
Or none?
Or neither?

Sent via Flickr Blog Upload mail address.

The future's shite...the future's a lozenge....or something.

Twelve Twelve

2007-12-12T13:13:00.001Z

12.12.07 orig
Originally uploaded by Boczkowski

Mainly phone calls to make today, a few emails to send.
Collect Jake from school later.
Maybe run an errand or three whilst out and about.

I heard the phrase 'well shatter my baubles' somewhere this morning - probably Radio 4, I liked it and made a note of it.

Flickr bloggery

2007-12-12T13:07:00.001Z

11.12.07 orig
Originally uploaded by Boczkowski

Hmm, I have tried a few times to get this picture up via Flickr, as I thought it'd be easier. All under one roof. A simple click. How wrong I was. Ended up deleting another defunct blog that existed and removing all blog links from Flickr account and then had to add again this blog.

Not the best but hey, it is free.

Hopefully this has works.
Another list on a 3 x 5 index card.

I wonder what do about tags and hyperlinks for these blog entries? In Blogger I mean. I am just typing text into a box, no WYSIWYG editor at this end. Do I have to log into Blogger and add them separately or what? I suspect I do. Yuck. Anyway, we'll see, I'm going to send this now and see what the heck happens.....

Dump > Supermarket > Gallery

2007-12-10T23:59:00.000Z

OK, I have things to do.
I have to write these things down.
So I remember them.
And can carry them with me.
I have a PDA.
I am scared or losing it.
Or breaking it.
Plus, this is sometimes easier.

I make lists. I have done for years. I've done it for a long, long time. At work, at home, at school, at Uni, personal, private, public. It all went on lists. It still goes on lists. Stuff to do, things to complete, consider, purchase, remember, keep.

Despite the fact I make the lists, a lot of the stuff doesn't get done. Procrastination. Maybe I just like making lists. Perhaps I should have been an archivist of some sort? Anyway, I have started to photograph the index cards I keep the lists on. The lists on the cards sometimes get transposed onto the PDA, sometimes they don't, sometimes vice-versa, it's a bit haphazard to be honest.
Never enough time is there? Maybe I should spend less of it making lists?

This said, I need them. Not in an OCD way, but in a 'this is an externalisation of my failing memory' way.

So, my daughter and I went to the dump with the old baby-stair-gate thing that is now broken and therefore not freecyclable as it is unsafe. I also took the old toaster. Out with the old. She drank her milk in the car and fell asleep as I strained to listen to Radio 4, can't recall the show.

Progressed from the refuse place to the local library and art gallery to view a work by a local artist. I'm doing a project with some local schoolchildren as part of a Masters course. I was doing a reccy of the place and the works prior to our visit there in January 2008. All good. I was impressed to see that the exhibition has paintings by Valette, Lowry and Liam Spencer too.

2007-10-22T14:28:00.000Z

This lil piccy is from a great site called gapingvoid.com

I have been aware of it for some time, but, wasn't a regular visitor.
I am now.

This is probably the single most useful webpage I've read on creativity and/or productivity.

Ever.

Full stop.

I'd suggest you read it too.

Offered: Left Handed Rubber Gloves!

2007-10-19T07:14:00.001Z

"I have eight large left handed rubber gloves and eight medium size 
rubber gloves i.e. for washing dishes etc. assorted colours. Needless 
to say I am right handed."

Hmm, this is a curious one, offered today on my local Freecycle site.
Do you think they mean just the left handed gloves or a pair of gloves designed for lefties?
Either way, it begs the question.....'What?'

Left handed tin opener I can understand.
Left handed gloves? What's that?

Perhaps they are being offered by a friend of Richard Kimble?
Answers on a postcard.....

Living in a box

2007-10-11T13:26:00.001Z

Seems you can get converted shipping containers for £10k to live in these days....this is another Fifth Element kinda 'solution' though..........I think.

Art Treasures in Manchester: 150 years on

2007-10-05T11:42:00.000Z

Art Treasures in Manchester: 150 years on
Saturday 6 October 2007 - Sunday 27 January 2008
Manchester Art Gallery
FREE

Schlinux more like

2007-08-16T20:37:00.000Z

Bloody hell.

I have tried and tried and tried with various version of linux. Constantly believing the hype about faster this, better that, smoother the other.

All crap in my humble opinion.

I have four computers of varying ages and abilities in this house, three laptops and and old athlon desktop, and not one of them can run the so called 'linux for writers' distributions properly. They don't even boot properly. Missing this, missing that. Who can be bothered? I mean, come on, I'd rather just get on with it than faff around compiling files.
We want point and click you dolts, not click and wait!

My suggestion is to buy a pen and pad for ideas whilst out and about and stick to your particular flavour of m$ Windoze or Apple OS until the free versions of linux are more reliable.

Linux for writers?

2007-08-16T13:44:00.001Z

http://www.netscape.com/viewstory/2007/07/24/linux-for-writers/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.informationweek.com%2Fblog%2Fmain%2Farchives%2F2007%2F07%2Flinux_for_write.html&amp;amp;frame=true

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=361PO2VV

http://kwillerpup.org.uk/index.php

I'll have a look and report back 'eh?

Mark

World's tallest man saves dolphin !?@#

2007-08-05T20:54:00.001Z

What on earth is going on today with these weird headlines?
I suppose if you look hard enough...

The world's tallest man has saved two dolphins by using
his long arms to reach into their stomachs and pull out
dangerous plastic shards.

Fingertip owner contacts police

2007-08-05T16:05:00.001Z

The mystery owner of a fingertip found by a woman in Greater Manchester has come forward.

The 57-year-old man, from Wigan, was delivering charity bags to a house in Farnworth, Bolton, when it is thought that a dog bit him.

His fingertip was found by a woman on Balmoral Road on Friday evening, prompting a police appeal.

The man, who received treatment at Hope Hospital in Salford, contacted officers after hearing the appeal.

Getting ideas from local news

2007-08-05T11:26:00.001Z

Local newspapers and websites can be a great source of material.
I read a few local newspaper's websites also use the BBC for wider news reading.
Headlines such as 'Owner of mystery fingertip sought' can't help but catch ones attention.

What I do is scan the headline links and make notes of any interesting ones that I might use,
and jot a few notes down before I read the article. This ensures I write about my thoughts
on the matter rather than those of the people involved.

The BBC's Most Emailed and Most Read feeds are useful for this too I find. The content on these two links changes throughout the day as people wake up and read, or, email their friends about, articles they have found on the BBC news service.

Woman jailed for testicle attack spent weeks on the Most Emailed page earlier this year. This, despite the fact the original article dates from February 2005.

I'd suggest that those of a nervous disposition don't read the testicle article....oh boy!

Use a notepad, a Word document, Google notebook, whatever, it doesn't matter, just get the ideas down and then flesh them out.
Novelists are not geniuses. They just do these simple things.

today I have mainly been...

2007-07-30T22:48:00.001Z

...looking at poo.

I...us...we have been to Blackpool Zoo today.
I've been to Blackpool a lot as a child and a few times as an adult, but I have never been to the zoo.
How strange? Or is it?

The zoo itself is great and made Moo oooh and ahhh with glee and surprise.
I mean, one year old, monkeys, elephants, sea lions - that's got to equal a few oooh's at least?

I can recommend the place anyway.

www.markchambers.org.uk

A whole month?

2007-07-13T23:27:00.000Z

Yes, yes, I know. It is very bad of me to stay away so long and not post the tiniest morsel of, well, anything at all. For this and other misdemeanours I can only apologise. And I will. I'm sorry.

Simply Recipes: Easy Shepherd's Pie Recipe

2007-06-14T13:03:00.000Z

Simply Recipes: Easy Shepherd's Pie Recipe

This is what is for tea tonight.

Yum.

Charles Bukowski

2007-05-22T21:05:00.001Z

Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must lead.

Charles Bukowski

You know, I think he's right.

plus or minus

2007-05-21T11:58:00.000Z

Whether you write an email, a manuscript, a query letter or a book proposal, never forget the positive or negative impact of your words.

This, I kind of agree with, but, surely before you write, you should have in mind what effect your words are going to have, shouldn't you?
Otherwise you're just writing with no plan.
Again.

By all means write just for the sake of it, for the fun of it, to try things out, to experiment, to test yourself, stretch yourself, just to see what it look like on the damn page. But. Keep that for yourself. Don't release that unpolished stuff into the world. Especially if it is a letter or an email.

Get a roadmap. Use it.

my last eggs

2007-05-18T13:17:00.000Z

I noticed a while back that when I stopped all dairy, my joints seemed better. It could of course be a coincidence, but I don't think so. I switched to Soya milk and gave up regualr cows milk in everything and gave up eggs too. Last month, I reintroduced both and after about a week, the aches and pains returned to nearly full power. They never completely went away whemn I was off the dairy, but it was a helluva lot better. So i ditched the Moo-Moo-milk again a bit ago and have switched to Goats. Which is nice, but twice the price of Soya milk. The aches are still there so I think I'll ditch eggs. Again. Which is a damn shame because they are so easy to do stuff with, and, of course, are yummy too.

Not postal, CAPS

2007-05-17T11:08:00.001Z

I hate the Caps Lock key on keyboards!
What the hell is it there for?
I've had an issue with it for some time now,
especially when using laptops that seem
to have lower profile keys that don't need
depressing as much. I always catch it
when I am using one of those buggers.
Anyway.
I've Googled.
Rather than faff around with various registry hacks
that might or might not works and/or bugger up
my computer, I stumbled across CapsUnlock.
This very small application lets you disable the CAPS
hell you've been experiencing. You can also override
the insert feature, which is something else that got my
non-existent goat!
Yes you can switch it off.
Yes it is free.
Yes there's an override facility built in.

It did trigger my firewall off, something about keyloggers,
but an unnecessary amount of Googling found that it
is in fact malware free [as far as I can see anyway].

Go.
Be happy.
Be CAPS free!

or

Visit CAPSoff.org for another viewpoint on the whole shebang.

M.E Awareness week - Men & M.E

2007-05-14T14:10:00.001Z

I found out this weekend that this week just passed (past?) is/was M.E awareness week.

Action for M.E.'s theme for its 2007 campaign is Men and M.E. The campaign will include the launch of the results of a major survey undertaken earlier this year to discover how the illness impacts on men – including how it might affect men's sense of masculinity and identity, and their likelihood of getting quickly diagnosed.

I've bookmarked their website and will be keeping an eye on it. I think I will contact them this week, see what they have to offer.

www.markchambers.org.uk

BBC Manchester cock up

2007-05-11T12:02:00.001Z

Oh dear.
If it wasn't so serious,
it'd be funny.

www.markchambers.org.uk

Choose and Book

2007-05-08T20:24:00.001Z

Hmmm, I'm not usually a fan of systems where people have been replaced by machines, automated phone systems, computer booking systems, call centres in Bangalore or the horrendous scan & bag your own stuff tills in many major supermarkets. (what on earth is the TGWU playing at?)

Anyway, I've been referred back to the neurologist who made my initial diagnosis of PVFS. This has been prompted by 7 months of B12 injections that have done precisely nothing. So, I think I'm due an upgrade now to something more horrendous.

This said, the NHS 'Choose and Book' system I used today was:

quicker than phoning up
cheaper than phoning up
easy to use
straightforward and intuitive

Blimey, what next?

The greengrocer's apostrophe

2007-05-07T20:42:00.000Z

Pluralisation. Possession. Omission.

Tricky, isn't it? Well it seems to be for some. Having received an essay back a couple of months ago where I lost marks for the incorrect usage of the possessive apostrophe, I have taken it upon myself to get it hammered into my frontal lobe.

A couple of sites I read regularly have articles this week on the use and misuse of apostrophes.

Wikihow has a good piece on it and degrades us further by pointing us at an 'improve your writing skills' page, not nice but necessary, perhaps?

Lifehack has the usual reference to another article thing going on, but it did use the term greengrocer's apostrophe, which put me in mind of the greengrocer a few doors up from the bank where my first 'real' job was. He used to constantly refer to Cauli's on his handmade signage, bless him. It is almost as bad as the seemingly ubiquitous pannini's that can be seen on chalkboards up and down the country.

For the last time, it is two N's, not three, and panini is already plural. Don't believe me? Well zip over to Wikipedia and have a look at articles about the apostrophe and the panino.

As a book author, it's your responsibility...

2007-05-06T12:34:00.000Z

As a book author, it's your responsibility to cast a vision for your book about the length and the appearance before you pitch the idea to a publisher.

Why? I'm not sure I even know what this means - are you? I'd agree that forward planning in relation to the length of your book or novel is relevant, yes, but the appearance? I think most publishers are intelligent enough to have their own vision(s).

A lot of writers get obsessed with the 'concept' surrounding their work rather than with the work itself. The look of the text, the font, the font sizes, spacing, use of white space, the title, chapter titles, or the lack of etc etc etc. Just write the book. Leave the marketing to someone else. If the book is good, it shouldn't need pitching very far now should it?

Every writing project competes in the marketplace.

2007-05-05T19:23:00.000Z

Every writing project competes in the marketplace. It's important to know your competition.

I think it is also important to know your marketplace. Most people I've come across are just writing without paying any attention whatsoever to who might actually read their output, assuming of course that they want someone to read their output! The trouble with markets is that the consumer (hate that word) has far too much choice in this, our 21st, century. The marketplace is global. It's in peoples phones, computers and televisions. They can consume 24-7, but how are they to discern? Write for your ideal reader and you won't go far wrong. It is important to have someone in mind when you put pen to paper, otherwise you may as well, to a great extent, be writing in your diary.

Organise your writing to flow in an easy-to-digest manner

2007-05-03T15:40:00.000Z

Organise your writing to flow in an easy-to-digest manner.

Right - what does this writing 'tip' actually mean?
Does any writer who knows what they are trying to achieve actually set out to make the prose difficult to read? Really? Do they? I know some academics try to make their essays/books hard to read to 'keep the riff raff out', no really, they do, but the honest to goodness fiction writer? I don't think so. Obviously class, time you were born, how you were schooled, where you were schooled, whether or not you're writing in your first language amongst many, many other things, come into this.

My tip? Cull the adverbs and keep it as honest as it needs to be. No unnecessary words!

Who do you look like?

2007-05-03T11:06:00.000Z

Can I recommend that you have a look at this little webtoy? If you zip over to myheritage.com as I did earlier, you can register for free and get one of these 'which famous person do I look like' widgets from them for no cash at all. Which is kinda nice. It has many blog related tools to enable you to auto-upload the thing or you can of course elect to snag the HTML from them instead. And, they let you do it more than once, just page backwards and change the template, as you can see below. Nice.

http://www.myheritage.com

Authors@Google: from the Official Google Blog

2007-04-29T15:57:00.000Z

Subscribe to Book Mark here

I have been reading The Official Google Blog for a couple of months now. I subscribed to it shortly after starting to use their personalised homepage and email services. A rather interesting post on Friday 27th April seems worthy of mention here as it is about authors.

Google invite some of the worlds leading authors to speak about their recently published books at Google's offices in the US and have expanded this programme to other offices throughout the Googlesphere. Imagine going to work and Martin Amis or Max Barry is speaking at lunch time! Fantastic huh?

If you're interested in watching one of these talks, you can do so on YouTube by getting on over to the Googletalks video archive at YouTube. There is also an index of videos at Google.
Don't forget you can subscribe both this blog and the google talks video feeds by clicking on the appropriate button.

The 'official' Official Google Blog: Authors@Google is available by clicking on this link.

All the best

Mark

Does everything have to be just right before you can write?

2007-04-28T07:03:00.001Z

Well? Does it?

Do you have to have the coffee in place, the curtains at the correct angle, the heating on/off/at exactly nineteen degrees? Some of this applies to me, I'm really bothered by extraneous noise and light that is too bright for me. So, as I know this, I prepare in advance. I have earplugs in my pocket and blinds on my windows - simple. The main thing that bothers me is, when I go somewhere else to write, like the library or University computer labs. What irks me is the fact the computer is different. It ain't set up how I like it. It has different applications, icons etc.
To combat this, I've started using google's online storage/email/documents facilities. Which is great until they fail or malfunction as they did this week. But, it is a free service, whaddyagonndo? I Personally suggest using Netvibes as well as a kind of back up (or primary) service. Yes it is a little bit of a pain setting it all up twice and remembering to copy content over as and when you add stuff, but, just how important is it to you to have that same 'feel' at every computer you log on at? Most 'writers' are quite precious (or do I mean precocious) about this kind of thing, playing the angst-y artist card about why they can't create until they've had their cranberry porridge and peppermint tea. I'm a but like this too believe it or not. That's why I've started using both services as well as carrying around a portable office and internet suite from the nice people at Portableapps.com.

I love this, I've used a portable version of Opera for some time as it has the built in mail client so I could retrieve all my mail from whichever PC I was sat at, anywhere in the world with an internet connection. Sweet 'eh?

So now there are no excuses, you can write anywhere, on any computer.
Blimey, you could even try a pen and paper

All the best

Mark www.markchambers.org.uk

Nokia memory dump - Why a writer needs a mobile phone.

2007-04-24T23:36:00.000Z

I was recently diagnosed with CFS and as a result have a few issues (not problems) with memory.
I find myself searching for the correct word, that is sometimes just out of reach, quite regularly.
Similarly, I find myself wandering the supermarket wondering what I've come in for.
So I started to make lists, notes, reminders, aide memoires of all sorts.
First on bits of paper in my wallet - this became cumbersome and made my wallet very thick and uncomfortable to sit on.
Then I started buying small notebooks. Spiral bound at the top and with a piece of elastic attached to the back cover so I can fasten the thing shut. A bit like a police notebook.
From there I started using 3 x 5 index cards after reading about a thing called a Hipster pda, securing them with a big red bulldog clip I got from Staples.This was good. I liked it. But they became many, and they became dog eared and I hated that. Plus they didn't fit in my shirt or jacket pocket as easily or as snugly as my little notebook from Paperchase.
I then graduated to a real PDA. A Palm TX no less! This is good too, better even. It is much more immediate than booting up my laptop, but not quite as easy as using an index card and pen.

As a writer, I have ideas that I want to remember. On a daily basis. I wrote them down. I tapped them in. I've even phoned them home. Speech is the easiest, it simply has to be. So I've set up my Nokia 6070 as another repository of ideas. It is a great little phone. Fifty quid and has a radio and a camera with video capabilities. Not great quality but hey, it was fifty sheets. I use the camera to capture interesting images from all over the place, stuff I want to remember later or write about. If I wanted great pictures, I'd take a proper camera with me.
If I have an idea and I want to speak it, why pay to phone it home when the mobile in my pocket is a dictaphone too? I can record five minutes (I think) of continuous speech/noise/whatever into this gadget and then listen back later at my convenience. I can even beam the audio snippets into my laptop via the IR link.

Soon I won't have to think at all.

All invaluable for the writer I think.
--

All the best,

Mark

www.markchambers.org.uk

Is this the most put upon looking dog you've ever seen?

2007-04-12T14:35:00.000Z

Dogs that can retrieve cash from ATMs and empty washing machines help disabled people lead more independent lives, but can they also help reform disruptive teenagers?

Midhurst in West Sussex is about as well-to-do as any small town in England. A mile or so outside, in a converted farm surrounded by peaceful, rolling hills, is the headquarters of a charity called Canine Partners.

The centre is dedicated to the training of assistance dogs - mostly Labradors and golden retrievers. Here the dogs learn the extraordinary skills they need to help give independence to disabled people.

Source: news.bbc.co.uk

NowPublic

Old Googlers die hard?

2007-04-12T13:32:00.000Z

I have recently become a user of Googles email, calendar, online document creation, Reader and of their wonderful personalised homepage. I've also started using a similar homepage based system called Netvibes which has a different, less clean feel to it (in my humble opinion of course) but has some great features not available as far as I know on Google. So it seems that people are getting sick of Google's dominance of the search engine market, or are they? Google currently perform about 75 out of 100 searches performed. And, they are good. I invariably find what I want or need on that first page of results. I do make my searches specific though. I've started to use an alternative search engine based in the UK called Rectifi (http://www.rectifi.org.uk/).
It raises money for charity every time it is used. You can also track how much you personally have raised for charity which is nice if you're in the mood for giving your halo a polish.

By all means, carry on Googling, but try and rectifi (geddit?) your habits and use an alternative. More on braking the Google habit follows below from the BBC...

Google's dominance of the search market, which in the UK stands at 75%, is increasingly being challenged by rivals desperate to become popular with a generation of web users growing up with Google as their homepage.

Given that search is the number one web activity and intrinsic to the fabric of online life it is perhaps strange that most people are content to limit their information-seeking to just one search engine.

With few studies to prove that Google's results are significantly better than its rivals, search engines such as Ask are keen to persuade users to experiment with the alternatives.

But it is going to be hard to break the Google habit.

"There is nothing to stop people using other search engines," said Nate Elliot, analyst with research firm Jupiter.

"It isn't much trouble to go to another but people increasingly have Google on their browser window and even for those that type it in each time it has become a habitual thing,"

It wasn't always so. Mr Elliot remembers a time when searchers were a "far more fickle bunch", with search engines such as AltaVista and HotBot flavours of the month.

Google noise

Google's popularity was partly kick started by its clean, uncluttered homepage which won many admirers.

Now efforts to tie users to it with downloadable search toolbars and services such as Gmail and Google Earth are paying dividends, while partnerships with ISPs, portals and social networks are cementing its brand in consumers' minds.

"There have been no real studies to prove that Google has better
results but people think that the results are better," said Mr Elliot.

"Google is seen as being innovative and they do a great
job of portraying themselves as innovators. That could be a matter for
debate but in the consumer's mind it isn't," he said.

With the search marketing spend in the UK netting a
healthy £607m in 2006, being an also-ran in the race to beat Google can
be profitable and, increasingly, rivals are realising that overtaking
Google in the near future will be a mammoth task.

"It's not about overhauling Google but more about
narrowing the gap. There is no point trying to be a flat-out copy. It
is more a question of offering a different experience with tools that
provide users with a better experience," said Mr Elliot.

Ask, which last year ditched its iconic butler Jeeves,
has been working hard to differentiate itself with tools that allow
users to get a miniaturised version of a site before they visit it as
well as offering ways to refine search around related topics.

Ask has adopted guerrilla tactics to tackle the 800lb
Google gorilla in its latest marketing campaign. In a series of TV ads
it is represented as a revolutionary underground alternative.

"The Google brand is so ubiquitous that people stop
listening to the messages of alternative engines. It is hard to fight
through the noise that surrounds Google, especially in the media," said
Jim Lanzone, chief executive of Ask.

"When it comes to information people shouldn't limit themselves to one option.

"It isn't really anti-Google. Google just happens to be
the brand that people are unreasonably attached to and the issue is
that people are not experimenting with other products. It is not about
overthrowing the regime but more why you should also elect us," he
said.

Meta-search

But while there are studies that show people do not
think search in general is not as good as they would like, there is
little evidence that they are looking to switch their loyalties from
Google.

"If people don't get the results they want, they tend to think they
have done something wrong, that they should have used a better search
term. The reality is that every search engine has clutter and spam and
none are as good as they should be," said Mr Elliot.

One alternative is the idea of meta-search - search engines that compile results from a variety of other search engines.

One such is WebFetch, the brainchild of InfoSpace, a
company that has been powering the search engines of companies such as
The Guardian, EMAP, the London Stock Exchange and Pipex for years.

WebFetch is InfoSpace's first foray into the consumer
market and it compiles results from all the leading search engines,
including Google, Ask, MSN and Yahoo.

It has limited ambitions - hoping to grab just 1% of the search market in the UK.

"We are not naive enough to think that we are going to
take over but perhaps people are looking for something different," said
Dominic Trigg, vice president of search and directories at InfoSpace.

Unlike Ask, WebFetch will not be relying on advertising
campaigns. Instead Mr Trigg and his team have been given a year to
build up the reputation of WebFetch, largely by word-of-mouth.

Its sister search engine in the US - DogPile - has won
some admirers. It beat Ask, Google, Yahoo and MSN in a poll conducted
by JD Power. The survey rated search engines on a set of criteria,
including functionality, ease of use and results.

People-powered

The movement to persuade users away from the dominant
search engines such as Google and Yahoo may be small but it is
gathering momentum from those with more solid radical credentials.

At the end of last year, James Whale, founder of the
online encyclopedia Wikipedia offered an alternative "people-powered"
search engine.

His plan, still in its infancy, is to Wiki-fy the
process of internet search, so that human beings decide openly how to
rank and organise information, not the huge private servers of Google
and Yahoo.

He labelled the project "Search Wikia" and has high
ambitions for it to be "the search engine that changes everything". The
plan follows criticism of the secrecy surrounding the algorithms of the
leading search engines.

The battle to challenge Google could be underway.

Source: news.bbc.co.uk

NowPublic

Amazing Embraces and emtional bandwidth?

2007-04-12T10:00:00.000Z

Wow. A piece of clothing that can receive information via Bluetooth and then turn that into a hug..yes a hug...delivered by your clothing!
What next? It's like Bladerunner or something. You can watch Cute Circuit's lastest podcast by clicking here.

NowPublic

‘I couldn't save baby from flames’

2007-04-11T23:43:00.000Z

I posted up this story a few days back. This is the town where I was born. Our thought are with the family

A BRAVE neighbour has spoken of his upset after his bid to try and rescue a baby from a house fire was defeated by the intensity of the heat and flames.

Ian Woolley, who lives just three doors down from the scene of the tragedy, on Turner Street, Lees, said: "It’s just so devastating that I couldn’t find the baby."
Advertisement

Eight-month-old Sean Maguire died when flames swept through an upstairs bedroom at his terrace home at about 6pm on Easter Sunday. The infant suffered from serious burns and was declared dead at the scene.

Seven others, including children, were in the building at the time of the fire. A 15-year-old girl jumped from the back bedroom window and broke an ankle in the fall.

Sean’s mum Emma, 25, was rescued from the same back window by another neighbour who got a ladder. Emma is understood to have later broken the news of Sean’s death to the baby’s father.

A family friend, who asked not to be named, said: "Sean was such a beautiful little boy who was known to everyone as Seany-boy. The family are devastated by what has happened and Emma has been to break the news to Sean’s father."

Mr Woolley told the Advertiser’s partner TV station Channel M how he ran into the house and tried to rescue the baby after spotting smoke as he sat in his living room three doors away.

He said: "I got up to the main bedroom where the baby was, but I was on my hands and knees and couldn’t see him. I could hear him crying but I couldn’t see where the crying was coming from. I couldn’t see anything and it was too dark.

"I could actually hear the flames and in the bedroom heard the baby crying, but I didn’t know where he was because it was too hot and too dark with smoke. I could see the flames, the floor was on fire as well."

Ian said he had no choice but to go back down the stairs, while his girlfriend had phoned the fire brigade. They arrived as he left the house.

Rod Hawker, 63, whose home is behind the property said: "I helped another neighbour get the mother down and she told us the baby was still upstairs. We ran round to the front of the house but then the front bedroom window exploded and flames came rushing out.

"The upstairs looked like an inferno and by that time the firefighters had gone in."

Neighbour Dorothy Overton whose bungalow is about 12 doors down said: "It was horrible – tragic. I saw flames coming from the bedroom window. The mother was hysterical because her baby was in the bedroom."

A fire service spokesman said: "There was a lot of commotion in the street, but we were informed immediately that there was a child still inside.

"We were given specific information about where the baby was, and fire-fighters wearing breathing kits went straight into the house.

"There were flames coming from the upstairs bedroom window when we arrived. It appears that the fire took a good hold quite quickly, but we did everything we could as fast as we could. It was a tragedy."

The fire service and police have launched an inquiry into the cause of the blaze. It is understand they are considering whether it could have been started by children playing with lighters.

Paul Argyle, the fire service’s borough commander for Oldham, confirmed that a 29-year-old firefighter had been treated in the Royal Oldham Hospital for burns to his shoulder, suffered while he was tackling the blaze.

He added: "The crew were faced with a severe fire on arrival, but they tried to get into the room where the baby was.

"I understand that neighbours had tried to help but had been forced back by the intense heat.

"A joint investigation is now under way with the police, to discover the cause of the blaze."

Floral tributes, teddy bears and a racing car have been left near the house by friends and relatives.

Around 50 houses on the street were still cordoned off at the start of the week and fire fighters visiting neighbouring properties offering safety advice and free alarm installation. A post-mortem on the child took place on Tuesday.

Source: oldhamadvertiser.co.uk

NowPublic

Opera 9.20 - More Homepages at your fingertips

2007-04-11T23:21:00.000Z

I was very interested to read that Opera has introduced something that I have already seen as a Firefox extension, but with a telephonic twist it seems.

The latest version Opera (a free browser from Norway) brings the speed dial from your phone to your browser. You can configure a start page with nine boxes where you can add frequently visited sites. The page shows up everytime you open a new tab, but the sites added to the start page can be opened by simply clicking on Ctrl-[number from 1 to 9].

Opera shows real-time thumbnails of the selected pages and lets you reload them at a custom interval so it's a cool way to monitor changes. There's also a link to Opera developer tools,
a list of bookmarklets that add some of the best features from
Firefox's DOM Inspector and the most popular extension for developers: Web Developer Toolbar.
You can inspect, edit or remove DOM nodes; view, edit or disable
stylesheets; view HTTP headers and cookies. It looks pretty impressive
for a JavaScript bookmarklet.

Opera finally becomes a normal
browser: if you enter a query in the address bar (something that's not
an URL or a single word), Opera performs a search.

Source: googlesystem.blogspot.com

Quite similar in appearance to the Showcase extension you can download from Firefox.
At present I am using Firefox, Opera and IE 6.something (really can't be bothered with M$oft downloads until I know they've fixed at least some of the bugs). They all seem to render pages in a slightly different way. Opera's built in email client and RSS reader is fantastic, but, I want to use googlemail and it doesn't like the personalised homepage for some reason, so I tried IE for a while (again), got bored and annoyed with it and its lack of functionality and so tried Firefox for the first time. Especially after reading an article on Lifehack.org about what that guy calls 'The Firefox OS' and the now redundant Windoze, Linux or OS X you have installed. As someone who writes, Google Documents is a great tool to be able to log into and access all my stuff without carrying my laptop/PDA/USB stick etc, around with me all the time, or rather, remembering to.... Netvibes.com is also good at keeping all ones 'stuff' on one webpage but doesn't have the functionality of the document system I like so much at Google. It does have a great email module(s) though. Go look at them. Anyway - try them all and decide at your leisure. A browser should be like wallpaper, real smile-making at first but after a while, you don't even notice it.

NowPublic

Fab freeware: FreeRAM XP Pro memory manager

2007-04-11T06:14:00.000Z

FreeRAM XP Pro frees and optimizes your computer's RAM (Random Access
Memory). Often, other applications may hog or incorrectly use RAM,
which decreases your computer's performance. FreeRAM XP Pro frees this
RAM so your computer can run faster and more smoothly. The need to
reboot is also less frequent.

How does it work? FreeRAM XP
clears junk out of RAM and flushes less-often used items to the swap
file. There they do not take up any RAM, and are reloaded from the swap
file on a need-to-use basis.

FreeRAM XP Pro's AutoFree feature
enables it to clear out no longer useful data from RAM without
affecting RAM still used by programs and applications.

FreeRAM XP Pro is, of course, freeware, has only 600 KB, and got 5/5 rating on Download.com:

Looking
to free up some RAM on your running system? Then FreeRAM XP Pro is the
program for you. Truly freeware, it gives you complete access to all
its features at no cost. You can either have the program automatically
optimize your system, or you can specify how much memory you'd like to
free up. Advanced tray support, automatic memory monitoring and
optimization, system-metric monitors, and real-time memory information
are just a few of the features that make this program attractive and
useful. You also can apply different sounds to different actions. It's
doubtful you'll find a memory optimizer easier to use than FreeRAM XP,
making it a smart pick for anyone who's ever been frustrated by a poky
PC.

NowPublic

Manchester Metropolitan University's MA in Creative Writing

2007-04-10T09:56:00.000Z

Today I will be sat in the library finishing my Genesis document for The Text portion of my course. All students attend seminars,
led by a variety of literary practitioners, which are intended to give
a broad overview of the state of the publishing industry, including
electronic media, agenting, contracts and bookselling, enabling
students to consider their own work from an objective standpoint.

NowPublic

Free novel writing software - yWriter Novel Builder

2007-04-10T03:34:00.000Z

For someone who writes, anything that will help has got to be a good thing.
I can't recall where or how I found this little gem, but I like it. It's along the lines of software such as New Novelist, but it's free.
Features:

Organise your novel using a 'project'.

Add files to the project, each containing a chapter.

Add a summary to each file, showing the scenes in each chapter.

Print out summary cards, showing the structure of your novel.

Display the word count for every file in the project, along with a total.

Saves a log file every day, showing words per file and the total. (Tracks your progress)

Saves automatic backups at user-specified intervals.

Allows multiple scenes within chapters

Viewpoint character, goal, conflict and outcome fields for each scene.

Storyboard view, a visual layout of your work.

Re-order scenes within chapters.

Move scenes from one chapter to another.

Automatic chapter renumbering.

I am still learning to use it but it is good. I moved away from writing in a linear fashion (starting at page 1, chapter 1, and grinding away until I bleed a novel some months later). I've moved into a scene writing mode after speaking to people that went on some courses with NAWE
Anyway - it's free - so why not try it out? http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter.html
Leave a comment and let me know how you liked it.

NowPublic

El Cortez, Downtown Vegas, Fremont Street

2006-09-13T09:41:00.000Z

El Cortez, Downtown Vegas, Fremont Street
Originally uploaded by Mark Angel.

love this photo

this is just me testing the ability to blog photos I have taken direct from my Flickr account rather than having to log into Blogger itself - saves me time and would appear to be a snap to use

I can recommend it in a complete aortic pump kind of way.

(wholeheartedly)

Manchester Gallery revisited

2006-08-20T19:04:00.000Z

Some months back (february), I did a days facilitating at Manchester Art Gallery. Mandy, Nicky and I worked with about ten carers who were taking a much needed break from their usual duties. For a period of ten weeks they were to visit the gallery and be creative. The end outcome being a piece of ceramic work. Along the way they also incoporated text into the project.

I have been meaning to go and see the finished work for a couple of months at least, but with the new baby and the wedding and changing of jobs etc etc etc, I ain't quite got around to it, until today that is. The teapot, along with a whole host of other works is in the Gallery of Crafgt and Design on the 2nd floor. It is accompanied by a book which recounts the project from start to end.

It made me a bit emotional to be honest. It can be quite odd seeing it, the work, the concept, become 'real'. Ah well, just me being soft I suppose.

Mark is on an email diet

2006-08-15T07:45:00.000Z

Hello, Mark here.

I've recently realised that I am spending more time shuffling through my inbox and less time focused on the task at hand. It has become an unnecessary distraction.

As of August 2007 I will be checking & responding to my email once a day, usually in the afternoon or early evening, and only on weekdays. I will try to respond to email in a timely manner without neglecting you.

If you need to get in touch straight away, please don't hesitate to give me a call. Phones are much more fun anyway. If you don’t have my number – just ask.

Here's to life outside my inbox!

Mark

It has been a long time

2006-08-11T10:22:00.001Z

23rd of May since my last post huh?
Hmm, that's a long time.
I have, however, been busy.
I have been changing my day job, becoming a father again
and getting married.
As well as seeking a new home and trying to write.
Pictures of my happy events may be posted here soon,
retrospectively of course to create ythe impression there
never was a lull in my blogging activities.
Anyway, I hope that this post goes some way toward
explaining the hiatus.

a Novel Twist?

2006-05-23T09:31:00.000Z

I am currently trying to turn umpteen pages of 'ideas' into several
short stories. With that in mind, I looked for information on the
winner of the recent National Short Story competition, James Lasdun.
His short 'An Anxious Man' secured the £15000 first prize last week.
You can read about the competition and James on the Guardian website.

This got me browsing the literature and book section of their website
and checking my RSS folder too for anything on short stories.
Competitions, references to, hints & tips etc etc. I then stumbled
across a story about a chap who is trying to publish a book via eBay.
Curious thought huh. He is looking for collaborators via eBay who pay
to write the next page. The money, before you scream, is going to a
cancer charity I believe. click here for the Guardian article, or, swing over to his own web site for the horses
mouth.

Carcanet tour

2006-05-11T22:05:00.000Z

I was lucky enough to get a place on one of the rare tours of the offices of Carcanet Press. So, this evening, a few of us were shown around by
Michael Schmidt who used to be the head of the Writing School at MMU
prior to his move up to Glasgow University. Michael gave us a tour of
the offices themselves and gave us a talk on the business of publishing
poetry.

As a novelist, I found this a pleasant change of pace. The conversation was
all about an industry I am interested in, but, not directly involved in.
I was surprised how little money a poet actually makes from their work,
and that is of course if they manage to get it published in the first place!
As an example, say a book of poetry you see on the shelf of
Waterstones costs you a tenner. A fiver of that goes to the retailer
(sometimes up to a whopping £7.50 depending upon the deal the publisher
has done with the retailer). There are other costs incurred along the
way which I can't recall, but, the poor poet ends up with, on average,
75 pence of that tenner cover price. It's a scandal. It made me wonder
why they do it. They must love what they do I suppose otherwise they'd
starve huh.

my writing....online?

2006-05-04T12:00:00.000Z

Well, how amazed I was to find that previous issues of the creative
writing anthology that MMU publishes is available online! I have seen
it available as a pdf file previously on the Uni website, but now I find
that it's also available as a 'proper' web page. Nice huh. I, well I
say 'I', I mean all the creative writing students on the MA, got an
email from the Project Manager earlier today informing us that MUSE V's
deadline for submissions was looming.

He finished off with:
"If you want an idea of what's come before, you can view on-line
editions of Muse III and Muse IV via our Association for Creative Writing and English website using the links below:

Muse 3

Muse 4

You can also order hard copies of all of our publications by going to:
Buy copies of Muse"

The point of the post being that some of my writing is in there.

The FINAL meeting

2006-04-27T21:40:00.000Z

Stardate: April 27th 2006 -12 midday

Location: MMU/The Eight Day vegetarian café

Mission: Evaluate 'Taking the Plunge'

It's over, it's all gone. I shall be plunging no more.
Taking the Plunge 2006 officially ended on Thursday the 27th of April 2006.
We began by meeting up in the foyer at MMU prior to walking over to the
vegetarian place, Eighth Day, for our free lunch. NAWE sprang for our
vegetarian delights, which was nice. Jane joined us at half twelve due
to rail travel shenanigans and Kaye skipped lunch as she was en route
from Liverpool as we ate. Fran was unfortunately unable to join us as
she has a new boss at her place of work and something had been organised
that she was unable to get out of. That, I remember thinking, is a real
shame, as this is the last time we 'plungers' will all be together in
the same place at the same time. C'est la vie I suppose. So, we all
ate our meat free, free lunch and chatted about what to do next with
ourselves post plunge and also about our lives in general. Pregnancy,
squeaky cheese, impending fatherhood and new jobs all being on the
conversational menu. I like it in the Eighth Day, it's very relaxed
regardless of the time of day you go in for a meal. I can recommend the
flatbread pizza most wholeheartedly.

After lunch, back outside again and back over to MMU for the meeting
proper. The purpose being to evaluate both the evening sessions at MMU
and the time spent in schools and other environments whilst shadowing Mandy.

We talked about the programme and commented in turn on the following
five objectives of Taking the Plunge:

To develop the skills and working practice of writers wanting to
develop a career in using creative writing in education.
To create an opportunity for trainee writers to observe and shadow
the working practice of a writer in schools and a number of settings.
To allow time for reflection and further training in specialist areas.
To pilot ideas and resources from 'Our thoughts are Bees - Working
with writers in schools' by Mandy Coe & Jean Sprackland
To build on the success of NAWE's training programme of previous
years.

You know, to be honest, I've loved doing this traineeship. It's been
very hard to see a way forward with writing that could provide income
from doing what I'd like to do that didn't involve the straight forward
teaching of English. Not that the straight forward teaching of English
isn't, of course, a very necessary and laudable profession. It's just
that I'd personally rather not have to deal with the National Curriculum
ticking of boxes. There isn't enough creativity in those classrooms in
my opinion, and this traineeship has helped me see how I can try and put
some back.

Anyway, after we'd spoken for about two hours on the points above, we
were presented with certificates from NAWE confirming that we had
successfully completed the NAWE Professional Development Programme 2006
in association with MMU. We all smiled and clapped each other as you
do. Big grins all round after that part of the day as I recall.

Next steps for me me personally now are:

Join Tameside Arts Network [email sent]
Contact Tameside Aim Higher officer, Andrea Waldron
Get myself on the Artscape database
Continue to look for jobs/work 'in the industry'
keep writing

A very interesting online journal

2006-04-13T20:51:00.000Z

It really is amazing what you come across on the internet isn't it.
I was surfing earlier and decided to try and popularise my blog, yes
this one, by signing up to something called britblog when I decided
to swing over to the NAWE website to check some facts about the Plunge traineeship this blog is/was about, so I Google. I Googled and got to NAWE's homepage, hit the sidebar if you're so inclined, and then used their search box to the tune of 'Taking' and 'Plunge' and hit on a lovely little page that links to this blog. A small article about the...well, why not just have a read yourself. Scroll down until you see 'NAWE Professional Development Programme, 2005-6', it's under that.And if you follow this link you can read more about the programme and see pictures of Anne and Mandy, without whom, none of this would have been possible.

Many thanks to them both.By the way, the more
ethically sound alternative to the advertising tsunami that is Google,
is the quite delicious rectifi search engine which claims to, ahem...

Raise money for charity as you search the web, ebay or compare prices
online! Every time you search, bid on ebay or compare prices with
rectifi we are paid by our advertisers, just like Google, MSN or
Dealtime... except unlike our competitors we donate 100% of our profits
to charity!

I like it.

And now, the end is near, and it's time to........

2006-04-11T20:44:00.000Z

...attend a final evaluation session.

Mandy briefly mentioned this final meeting at the Aim Higher day earlier this month. The idea is we meet up on the 27th of April, have some lunch and evaluate the course. Emails that have been traded on this between the group would suggest that the date and time are fine.

Sounds good to me. Thing is, what do I do next?

isn't freecycle wonderful?

2006-04-06T19:18:00.000Z

A couple of Sundays ago I was lucky enough to be given, yes given, a car. Not a brand new car of course, but nevertheless a fully functional, drivable, three door, Red, VW Polo. I got it from a fantastic service called Freecycle. If you navigate to www.freecycle.org you'll be able to find a local freecycle group or groups and register yourself. From there you will get emails [or not, your choice] as and when things are offered, or 'Freecycled' to be more precise.
Instead of things being thrown away, left in lay-bys, tossed into gardens, left to rot in garages or worse, sent to landfill, things are very kindly donated via this web based market place, usually a Yahoo group.

So, as my old car blew up over a month ago and I live in the middle of nowhere, a free car was most agreeable. It managed to drag through it's MOT earlier this week for under £200, which in my mind is a result.

So, start freecycling. It's good for the soul, the community, the planet and it seems, ones pocket.

Aim Higher

2006-04-05T20:41:00.000Z

I will of course elaborate upon this later as I'm quite tired now, but, so I don't forget, here is the start of the post:

I was at MMU again working with three writers and about fifty children from four Tameside schools.
Check out the April 5th entry at ACWE

details of the Aim Higher day from the ACWE website

and a big thank you to....

2006-04-04T10:28:00.000Z

my lovely girlfriend Debbie for proof reading this journal for me.

Thanks darling
xxx