A month on from the publication of “Trousers” I finally yielded to temptation and looked at how many people had obtained a copy. I was hopeful that I might have been up towards the top end of my wildest expectations because of the contact that I have had from people who have read it, but the figures from Amazon show that it is close to six times those wild dreams. Continue reading
Category Archives: writing
the joys of writing part three
Happy New Year to all of those who follow these jottings.
My holiday period has been spent with a heavy cold and so I have been more than happy to sit and write. My first book, I Don’t Have My Decision Making Trousers On, or “Trousers” as it has become known around my closest circle, was released on Kindle before Christmas and I’m delighted to see that a couple of hundred people have obtained a copy up to the end of December. I will not be buying a yacht of the proceeds, or not at that price, but it is a real pleasure to know that folks are interested enough to have clicked the link on Amazon. If you don’t have a copy there is a link you can click on at the top of the page here to buy yours. If you don’t have a Kindle you can download Kindle for PC or Mac from Amazon. It’s free and you’ll get three free classics delivered with it (or that is the current deal). Continue reading
Filed under about me, Books & Reading, writing
the joys of writing part two
Over the last month I have put together my first eBook, published yesterday. I’ve also written my regular column, a few other blogs, an article for a sports industry magazine and about another 10,000 words towards another project. An enforced inability to do what I normally fill my days with has allowed extra time for all this writing, but it has also heightened my respect for those who earn their living from the written word for, whilst I do earn an element of income from some of my writing, most of what I put on paper is not where I earn my crust. Continue reading
Filed under Books & Reading, business life, writing
the joys of blogging
There are those days when there is so much that you want to say that you just don’t have time to get it all down, and other days when you stare at a blank screen with your fingers waiting for messages to flow down from the brain and tell them what to type. Some days they can wait a long time…. Continue reading
Filed under writing
why are publishers so reluctant to pay up for content?
I’m in the process of having to take strong action against one publishing house and am actively chasing another for payment for articles that I have written for them and, in the former case, for several photos to accompany the article. Both articles have been published against agreed terms, so what is the problem with coughing up what is owed?
One problem is that it is taking me longer to chase them than it did to write the darn things in the first place, but I am going to keep going even if I end up taking them down the small claims route.
It is a shame as it takes away both the pleasure of having something published and any feeling of support for that publication, but such is life. There are a lot of shysters out there.
Filed under business life, random rants, serious stuff, writing
Over a year of weekly column writing
It is more than a year since I started writing my weekly column on the Monday Musings blog, and almost a year since I started to make it a 600 word column to try and get some further discipline into my writing.
Others have to be the judge of success, but Monday Musings has been picked up by a professional journal and gets a mention on their web site and in the magazine, so I have acheived something in the way of producing a worthwhile output every week.
When I first blogged about 18 months or so ago I had no concept of finding myself with half a dozen blogs, nor of them generating any revenue, let alone to have written over 275 blog entries. All I wanted was to practice my writing and see where it all led.
Monday Musing number 54 gets published at 0600 UK time next Monday. I hope that I can be celebrating the 100th musing somtime next Autumn.
Thanks for following my words. I hope that they have helped, amused or inspired.
is nature out of control? no, the media can’t use their language
I’ve just read that statement on a news channel talking about the earthquake in Chile and the possibility of a resultant tsunami in the Pacific.
What a stupid statement; when was nature ever under control? Nature is nature. It’s part of the life we live in sharing this planet and every now and again it will bite us. Of course I’m sorry that people have lost relatives, homes, property or whatever when we have these disasters, but this post isn’t about that.
It’s about the stupid things that the media say. A personal peeve has long been the soccer writer or commentator who says that such and such team were saved by the woodwork/crossbar/post. Now I’ve played, watched or refereed hundreds of games and have never seen the woodwork move to save a shot. If the ball hits the woodwork and goes wide or back into play then the shot wasn’t quite on target. Saved by the woodwork is a stupid thing to say.
Another one that has been prevalent of late is that someone has died in Afghanistan after being hit by a mine. No they weren’t hit by a mine; their vehicle drove over one. It’s of no consolation either way to those killed or maimed and their families, but can’t the media show some respect by reporting accurately?
Another of my blogs will, on Monday next, be critical of education standards, but what chance have folks got when the media, hugely influential as they are, can’t get it right?
Somewhere along the way the news went into the entertainment business. I can’t quite work out when, but standards went South with the change. I started to realise it had happened when it dawned on me that news bulletins had started to refer to TV programmes, the bulletin effectively promoting the channels own entertainment programmes. I can rarely sit through a news bulletin these days, and don’t often read a newspaper cover to cover any more. The standards or reporting and use of words irritates me so much that the topic gets lost.
Another example of getting old? Just a grumpy old man moaning about how it wasn’t like that in my day? Maybe, but something well written, whether for reading yourself or having it read to you, is a joy. Our language allows great expression and should be used to good effect. Why waste it?
Filed under random rants, writing
Getting Started
John Bowen
Not my first blog, but my experience over the last 6 months suggests that I need to have this blog for the more personal stuff and keep my original blog for more business, or at least serious, topics.
So here I am. The about me page is loaded and a link is over on the side that will take you to my website. More will come later, but, for now, there is paid work to be done.
Thanks for looking in.
The Voice of the Bloke at the Back 