Curinating

It’s been a while.

Honestly, I haven’t felt like there’s much to write about on a blog recently. The last year has been busy, and while good, there have been things I needed to deal with more urgently than composing and delivering blog content.

Advertisement

New Game, UKGE, catching up and half an idea

Were I even halfway concerned about my audience (rather than this entire blog being largely a vanity exercise) I would open with a meaningful apology for my recent absence. The only issue with such an opening gambit is that I’m really not sorry at all. I’ve been rather busy. However, I have few things to share with you.

Improvising my way into the Gig Economy

I’m fascinated with alternative ways of selling and procuring services. The recent trend towards self employment rather than having a fixed contract is a mixed blessing, and we’re seeing new vocabulary to describe it. There’s even a helpful article on BBC News to explain it.

So one night last week I sat down and introduced myself to the gig economy. I don’t expect to make any money from this but it’s an exercise is trying the principle out and seeing what happens. Right now, users of fiverr.com can offer to pay me £3.98 ($5 in GBP at today’s rate) to either write them a 500 word story or design a bespoke card/dice game.

The rise and rise of self publishing

OK, I’ll admit to a little self interest here, but bear with me.

I’m involved with publishing. You’re reading it. Blogs have unequivocally levelled the playing field when it comes to getting one’s thoughts out there for others to see at little or no cost. There is something unspeakably cool, however, about seeing your words printed and bound, and self publishing is on the rise.

White Hermione and Straight Biggles

When I first read Harry Potter, Hermione was white. Well, she was in my head because I’m not particularly inventive and I was much more interested in the story than painting a picture of every character in the book.

Now, she isn’t. Or rather, she doesn’t have to be. Likewise, Biggles the pilot of Sopwith Camels in the Great War didn’t strike me as being either particularly gay or straight and yet apparently his orientation has been the subject of speculation.

2017 in review

It’s only a couple of weeks old, so it’s probably harsh to try reviewing 2017 already, but I know there are a couple of things coming up I wanted to muse on, so here goes.

[tl:dr Reflections on stuff that’s coming up, a couple of name drops and a quick delve through recent events. Normal service continues sometime soonish.]

Well that’s (a) novel

I’m writing a story. So far it has only a few hundred words, but already I want to find out what the characters in it do next. In fact, that’s the most exciting bit about writing so far. I have some idea about the general scheme of the story and what I want to be “true” for the world I’m weaving, but as it evolves gently before my eyes I’m still constantly in awe of the ease with which I can conjure and construct whatever suits my needs.

Big Adventures. With a Dragon

I suspect it must be a weakness for the obscure which drove me to name my little company notejuste. A pun in a kind of schoolboy French and also completely available as a domain name. How convenient.

So it’s come as no surprise that my latest venture has wandered into similar territory. From this week, I’m working with two partners to launch and maintain a kind of co-branding exercise to support our efforts (solo and joint) by providing a unified publishing house.

Why should the Presbyterians have all the good music?

It’s been a while since I wrote about Christian music, but something this morning really made me pause and think.

Horatio Spafford is known for a few things, principally as a chum of great evangelist Dwight Moody and the writer of “It is well with my Soul” – a hymn inspired by the tragic loss of his four daughters in a shipwreck when crossing the Atlantic to holiday in England. The hymn, published by Sankey to a tune by Philip Bliss, is a standard in traditional protestant Christian churches, an inspiring message that whatever the world throws at a person God’s love and grace are sufficient to meet the challenge. It’s a hymn strong on key Christian themes, and recognised and sung across the English-speaking world.

Which is why I’m rather disappointed that Matt Redman nicked the chorus to shore up one of his recent compositions.

Writing about Games, Writing Games to Write About

I’m a massive fan of the Metrozone (Petrovitch) series by Simon Morden, and have read a number of his other books. He’s been a speaker at Greenbelt, which was fun to listen to. On the side column of this blog, you can even see the Freezone flag. Click it to find out more.

So, I was delighted to read recently that he’s invented a new game too.