Spring Cleaning!

Note to northern hemisphere readers – August is the last month of winter in Australia. With the freezing cold rain that has been pelting down lately, it’s certainly felt like I’ve been doing the ice bucket challenge on the way home from work each night.

But now it’s the first days of spring, my flu has gone and it is time for some serious spring cleaning.

First up there is a new look to the blog. There will be more of this stuff:

• Flash fiction
• Book reviews
• Two sentence stories
• Senseless sentences

and a little less drawing. The drawings and cartoons might be spun out and find a home in a new venture!

I am also extremely pleased with my new-look ebook page, together with a sub-page for reviews and trivia! So have a look around, let me know what you think.

Since we’re at the three quarter mark of the year (oops! I mean the two thirds mark – maths was never my strong point), I thought it timely to revisit my New Years Resolutions. Things are not looking too bad!

• Get organized – Right. I’ve dug out my old organizer and I’ve written lots of lists. I’ll give myself a tick for this.
• Consider setting up Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook profiles. I can tick this off, as I did consider it, I just decided not to do anything. I have, however, joined Goodreads!
• Redesign blog – a big tick!!!

• Develop business strategy – Part of getting organized. A business strategy involves a lot of lists. Tick!
• Read more – I’m reading as much as my eyes can stand. I haven’t kept a count of what I read, but I think it’s more than last year! Tick!

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Random thought. I heard this week that people retain less information when they read ebooks than when they read a printed book. I found this strange, as I’ve read so many great novels in ebook format this year and remember the scenes vividly. I think the writer’s skill is the key to transporting the reader into a different place and state of mind. The Iliad and Beowulf didn’t suffer from being recited around a campfire. Dickens and Poe used to write serialised fiction in throwaway newspapers, and other writers got their start in weekly magazines. It’s the story that stays with you, not the medium.

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Lastly a huge thank you to all the readers out there who take the time to post a review. There’s nothing nicer than finding someone has read and appreciated your work. I found this review of “Midnight in Dublin” on amazon.de the other day.

And also, I don’t believe I reblogged this fabulous review by Anneque Malchien earlier this year of “The Wary Traveler”. This review is a great piece of writing, is a great reviewer’s review – and certainly makes the story sound rather wonderful! 🙂

Happy Spring/Fall to you all!