Waiting for Don Juan

Il signóre Maglian was in the harbourside cafe drinking his espresso, waiting for his friends to return. The harbourmaster sat facing the sea. He could smell a storm coming in: the breeze was picking up; trees on the seafront were whispering it would be a bad summer squall; and fishing nets on the quayside were shifting slightly, nodding in agreement….

The Twelve Months of Nuts

Uncategorized By Oct 06, 2010 9 Comments

The Nut Press celebrated its first Blogiversary today. On 6th October 2009, I wrote my first tentative post about Hilary Mantel’s Man Booker Prize win and ventured out into the blogosphere. Here’s my year in nuts… Mighty Oaks from Little Acorns Grow. Each and every blog started with just one post and no followers. I didn’t worry about how much – or…

Limbering up for NaNoWriMo

Last November I toyed with the idea of doing NaNoWriMo – the National Novel Writing Month during which you write 50,000 words. However, I chickened wimped decided against it because it was already a few days into November and I’d done no planning or preparation whatsoever. I was also worried about the prospect of having to get the word count…

Pieces o’ Eight: Read Like a Pirate

Books By Sep 19, 2010 9 Comments

One of the blogs I regularly read is that of short story writer Nik Perring. (If you haven’t yet read his collection Not So Perfect: Stories, do. It is simply brilliant.) On Wednesday, Nik blogged and encouraged everyone to put word-of-mouth into practice and spread the word about good books and good writing by blogging recommendations or by writing an amazon…