Wednesday 31 July 2013

IBB First Edition is OUT NOW!

The Indie Book Buffet: Issue 1 August 2013
Issue 1: August 2013, featuring 25 excellent self-published authors for you to sample!

It's officially up folks! Go grab your copy now to sample some of the best new independent writing out there. Plus don't forget to enter our incredible giveaway!


ENTER HERE

Brand New Book from K.C. Finn - THE SECRET STAR - Coming Soon!


A little teaser for you all for now. Publication expected before September!

ALSO:
I am looking for anyone who would like to review/comment on an Advanced Preview Copy of the text. If you are interested please comment below!

Wednesday 24 July 2013

July's Promotional Recap

So here are the links to all the juicy info and extracts from The Atomic Circus and Counterclockwise that are floating about in the blogasphere right now - please visit these excellent blogs and follow them for more fantastic books and features!

Book Spotlight on The Atomic Circus and Counterclockwise at Author Reader Mixer
Interview on The Atomic Circus and Counterclockwise at the Author Reader Mixer
- This is a particularly excellent in depth interview with great questions!

Author Interview on The Atomic Circus with Jess C Scott
- I gave some neat little tips on writing in this feature for all you aspiring authors out there.

Book Spotlight on The Atomic Circus by Punya Reviews
- Very thorough spotlight and a great blog in general.

Book Spotlight on The Atomic Circus by Michelle Parsons
Book Spotlight on Counterclockwise by Michelle Parsons
- Michelle called me awesome, so yeah :) Go look at her blog!

Tuesday 23 July 2013

The Tuesday Report: Confidence and Editing

So I decided to do this new thing where I reflect on the Creative Writing Class that I teach on Monday nights, plus dole out some of the tips that I used during the class for the benefit of any aspiring writers who may be following.

This Tuesday: the Trouble with Confidence and 7 Simple Ways to Instantly Improve Any Sentence

This week in class I asked my students if they felt confident as writers, and a lot of them were less than eager to admit any confidence at all in their skills. The problem identified by most was that they could imagine quite clearly the story they wanted to tell, but when the words came out on the page they just weren't delivering the same quality as the writer's imagination. 

My solution? Never underestimate yourself, and embrace the power of editing. 

It seems to me that a lot of what my writers are producing is perfectly fine, but their own expectations of what it should look like on the page are ridiculously high standards to achieve on the first draft. The key to good writing is to produce the material freely regardless of whether it's 'perfect' or 'good enough'. Learn to embrace being wrong. It's not only incredibly freeing, but it's great for creativity. Once the wrong words are down on the page it becomes easier to see exactly what's wrong with them and therefore make the appropriate changes. Mistakes are how we learn, after all.


Read more below for 7 Simple Ways to Instantly Improve Any Sentence:

Monday 15 July 2013

Inspiration versus Discipline: Quoth The Raven #1

This article was originally written for the new issue of Write Mag, an amazing free magazine for authors and readers! Get a copy on Magcloud today and visit http://writemag.net 
There is a time-old question among writers: is it better to write every day, or only when you feel like it? Does a burst of inspiration really produce the greatest work, or is a steadfast, disciplined approach the sure-fire way to pen that bestseller that’s dying to pour out of your brain?
As a teacher of creative writing, I have often encouraged my students to always be writing, to pen notes, words and phrases as often as possible, every day if they can. But I have to admit I have not always practised what I preach. I used to hear tales of Philip Pullman going down to his garden shed to pen his target words for the day and I always thought that that kind of writing could only produce contrived and constricted prose that did not really have the flow of truly inspired writing. And so for many years I wrote only when I felt inspired to put pen to paper, which resulted in something like six disastrously unfinished novels and me calling myself a writer whilst only actually spending an hour or two each week actually practising my craft.
Now you may have your own style as a writer, and perhaps only writing when you’re ‘in the mood’ for it really does produce your best work, and perhaps you do get novels and stories completed in that way. If so, then I applaud you, dear friend, for you are a rare breed. In my experience in teaching other writers, the single most vital thing I have learned is that ‘lack of inspiration’ is the biggest excuse that writers make for not producing any work at all, and that a prolonged period of feeling like this will inevitably lead to the dreaded writer’s block. I myself have fallen into this trap too many a time over the years.
But no more.

Sunday 7 July 2013

New Magazine - The Indie Book Buffet - Now Taking Submissions!


ATTENTION READERS!


Want to hear about the best new independent books and read exciting extracts of them before you buy? Want a convenient digital magazine organised by genre so you can discover all your new favourite books in an instant?
Want all that absolutely FREE?

Then look no further than the Indie Book Buffet - coming August 1st to HP Magcloud and PDF direct download exclusively from this blog! Be sure to follow The Proverbial Raven or editor K.C. Finn at Goodreads to be informed of its release!

ATTENTION WRITERS!

Want to show off your books to a brand new audience looking for something new to read?
Want to have your extract, book cover, links and details published?
Want all that absolutely FREE?

Then hurry up and submit to the Indie Book Buffet using this link. Submissions for the August 1st edition will close on July 21st! Anything submitted after that date will be kept for next month's edition.

Friday 5 July 2013

Christening the blog

Although I'm fully aware there are no readers to this post as yet, here goes the christening post of The Proverbial Raven, with this:



Can't wait to get going on this!