CONTACT ME:
Writing from Alter-Space
  • Home
    • Free Read: An Angel in the Mirror
  • Books
    • The Nightmarist and Other Stories
    • Exodus Sequence >
      • Wired
      • Reflected
      • Walked
      • Spooked
      • Suicided
      • Crashed
      • Woken
      • Experienced
      • Caged
      • Drowned
    • Exodus Sequence 2 >
      • Shattered
    • Fleet Quintet >
      • Transference
      • Flesh for Sale
      • V. Gomenzi
      • Commences
    • A Doorway into Ultra
    • Diamonds on the Moon
    • Clarendon House Anthologies
    • Microfiction
  • Blog

Writing Tip #2

6/27/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
0 Comments

My Coronavirus Diary - June: COVID-19 Test

6/24/2020

0 Comments

 
In which I test for coronavirus.  No, I don't have symptoms!  I was asked to take part in a survey which I agreed to because I just love the idea of sticking a swab down my throat until I gag and then shoving it up my nostrils til they bleed.  The things you do for science....
0 Comments

Carlos Ruiz Zafón

6/20/2020

0 Comments

 
I was devastated to hear this morning of the death of Carlos Ruiz Zafón.  He was my favourite author, someone whom I aspired to in my own writing.  I wanted to spend the rest of my life reading his books.  I wanted to grow old with him.  He was my age so it could have been.
But it wasn’t to be.
I first discovered his work, like most people, when I read The Shadow of the Wind.  I have no idea how I came to own this book.  I was tidying my bookshelf one day and there it was.  The fact that this book, a brand new hardback in perfect condition, turned up so mysteriously is almost part of the story of the wonderful Cemetery of Forgotten Books.  There is no other place on earth where I would like more to get lost, that labyrinthine library of obscure titles and forgotten authors.  I felt as if I was one of them myself.  The book thus appealed to me on two levels:  as a writer as well as an avid reader and lover of books.
When I told my daughter this morning of the death of Carlos Ruiz Zafón, I was in a flood of tears and anguish.  You hear of celebrities dying every week.  It was Bilbo’s turn the other day.  But Ian Holm lived to 88.  He’d had good innings, as they say.  Although The Shadow of the Wind was an instant classic, I felt that Carlos still had more stories in him that would blow me away.  I was blown away by Shadow and blown away by its non-sequel sequel, The Angel’s Game.  I’ve since read all four novels in the Cemetery of Lost Books sequence, finishing the last one only earlier this year, just before lockdown. 
“What is it about?”  my daughter asked me when I told her to read The Shadow of the Wind. 
“It’s about books.  A bookshop.  A labyrinthine library of books.  It’s set in Barcelona.  The people are fascinating.”
I’m not sure if I did the book justice. 
I learnt more from Carlos Ruiz Zafón than I have from any other writer.  In The Labyrinth of Spirits, some advice is given to a young writer, something I understood instantly: 

To write is to rewrite.  One writes for oneself, and one rewrites for others.
 
Rest in peace Carlos Ruiz Zafón.  You were taken from us too soon but you left us the most wonderful books to read, a window into a labyrinthine imagination.  One day I hope you have the chance to create again.
 
I reviewed The Angel’s Game here
 
I wrote about being inspired by his writing here
​
Picture
0 Comments

Writing Tip #1

6/19/2020

0 Comments

 
First in a series of writing tips!  These are things I have learnt after many years of hard work.  With any luck, others will find some inspiration!
Picture
Photo by Min An from Pexels
0 Comments

    Author

    I live in Bloomsbury.
    I write.
    Sometimes it goes quite well.

    ​

    FOLLOW
    You can follow
    Diary of a
    Bloomsbury Writer
     
    on ​
    ​wordpress.com
    where it's called
    Writing from
    ​Alter-Space

    ​​

    Archives

    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015

    Categories

    All
    Commences
    Everlast
    Lent
    Life
    Life In Bloomsbury
    My Coronavirus Diary
    New Novel
    On Editing
    On Publishing
    On Writing
    Review
    Second Draft
    The Difficult Novel
    The End
    Writing Tips

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photos used under Creative Commons from Markus Trienke, eflon, Larry Smith2010, __MaRiNa__, elminium, InvictusOU812, PaulBalfe, Rina Pitucci (Tilling 67), ANBerlin [Ondré], Sumriana Babyana, stevecadman, Darling Starlings, Saku Takakusaki, Rubén Díaz Caviedes, Ric Capucho, aquigabo!, Key Foster, Mrs Airwolfhound, my little red suitcase, Joe Le Merou, freestock.ca ♡ dare to share beauty, bluebirdsandteapots, the bridge, Flower Power girl, Sharon & Nikki McCutcheon, chakchouka, archer10 (Dennis) 85M Views, this lyre lark, Secret Pilgrim, Hunky Punk, waaanderlust, takkle K, michaelmueller410, paweesit, Rick Camacho, Gidzy, J.J. Verhoef, Honza M., HDValentin, kthypryn, Pfauenauge *back to school...on and off*, diana_robinson, indigoMood, enrico.pighetti, Maria Eklind, timsackton, docoverachiever, Sharon & Nikki McCutcheon, bjpcorp, matty_gibbon, katya_alagich