Useful Links to other websites

Link Blog is for useful links to other websites such as writing resources, useful information or your own website.

It is NOT for your poems, short stories or diary entries!

These must be posted to your own personal blog!

Inappropriate postings will be removed so please check!

Yep, it's Thursday, and another day to go before I get back to my paid work. Been off since Monday, so should have done loads, but it's been mostly blogging and editing a poem into a right angle for the Writelink poetry comp (it's called Head of the Valley); it's the first time I've entered a Writelink comp for a while, so it's a positive.

Went to the Rodley wetlands nature reserve near Leeds yesterday, which is just off the canal on my long run, and have included a few photos; it was a greenygrey day, so perfect conditions for me!

I was recently at an all-day workshop on a writing/publishing course and the subject of blogs and websites was brought up. I found it very encouraging and
interesting when the instructor said that nowadays, blogs and websites are
very important for writers as a means of promoting and illustrating they written work. Websites tend to be a bit more static, whereas blogs change sometimes daily, with a variety of subjects and writing styles. If you are submitting work to be published you can refer to your website or blog as a point of reference for the editor.

This week I had a couple of emails from a well-known writer who I admire very much. I've read nearly all of Steven Pressfield's books and we have occasionally been in communication over my current work-in-progress because he also writes about ancient Greece. In the email he said how much he enjoyed reading my blog. I was so thrilled to think that he would take the time to do this, but it sort of underlined to me how important the blog can be. (The blog he was referring to is the one on blogspot "Living the Writer's Life" which I keep specifically to write about my writer's life. http://wynnbexton.blogspot.com

I used to have a very nice website too, which was dedicated to my writing and especially to my novel. However, due to my own neglect it was cached and I haven't had the time to restore it because it's all that http coding which takes so much time. However, I know I must put up another website soon as it really is a very important tool for a writer.

Hi,

I just wanted to say 'Hi!' I'm Sam, and have just created a blog for the Write Link community, so I'll be able to share the ups and downs of my writing life!

I'm a novel and article writer, so I cover both fiction and non-fiction work. I have also just completed a children's book, so I'm hoping to explore that arena too.

Alongside my writing, I run an editorial company called Words Worth Reading. We offer editorial services to Writers, Students and Job Seekers, so we cover a range of different services. It's my little baby, it takes up so much time, but I love working with our clients and supporting their writing needs and challenges. As with everything writing related, it does of course come with its headaches! I'm sure I'll keep you updated...!

When we set off on our Indian Ocean voyage, heading first for the French island of Mayotte in the Comoros archipelago, we had read in a sailing magazine article and been told by other sailors about a bakery on Pamandzi that was like no other. Nothing would do but that we should hie ourselves hence the moment we had anchored, and experience heaven in pastry. Our lives would not, could not, be complete any otherwise.

As it happened, we arrived in Mayotte in the afternoon, scampered around Dzaoudzi bay looking for good anchorage while avoiding myriad ferries plying back and forth between the yachts (!), and then had formalities to complete with corrupt officials (well okay, only ONE corrupt official, but that's another story altogether) - by which time it was evening. But, we promised ourselves, the very next day we would feast on the legendary croissants!

Not so. We searched for days for the famed bakery, but never found it. Even the locals frowned in puzzlement when asked about it, and pointed us to Pamandzi, where we indeed found a strange little bakery - without produce. We went back several times during our 8 week stay, but only once did we find that boulangerie open, and it's day's stock was almost gone. In our search we had covered all of Pamandzi and Dzaoudzi, and most of Mamoudzou, and had almost given up on finding a cheap cup of coffee with croissants - when we discovered, way over the other side of the main island (and a double taxi-fee away as it was in the next zone), an actual real supermarket with actual real supermarket food, and a little cafe that did pastries and coffee.

Bliss! and we make the best of this for the last few weeks that we remained in Mayotte. True, we had found other pastries, and even one place that did croissants (at an exhorbitant price, as it was the main tourist hotel in Mamoudzou!) - but everything else we had experienced was just plain "flat" against the ideal that had been described to us, and which we were vainly convinced must be out there somewhere.

Toughing it out in Mayotte!

The point of this little tale is: are we not all constantly searching for that perfect but mythical croissant, in a manner of speaking? Nowadays I find myself searching not for a croissant, but for the perfect manuscript (although a darned good croissant would not go astray!). Each time I pick up an author's beloved work, I am excited. Will this be The Big One? I hope against hope that it will be, but if you're about to sink several thousand pounds and a whole lot of work into launching a book, you had better absolutely and utterly LOVE that book! And, let's face it, love is a very personal thing. Otherwise we'd all be wanting to marry everyone else's spouse, wouldn't we?

And so it is with choosing a book to expend the next couple of years on. I have to adore the book. I have to believe it's a winner. I have to then adore the author. I have to believe the author will be a winner. I have to feel that wild urge to work on the manuscript, and to work with the author; that heart-flipping excitement that lights up a new relationship - in fact, that elusive passion that will drive this book forward and make it a success. My success, as well as the author's.

These pearls of great lustre are few and far between. Oh, many pearls do turn up, many of them with a very tempting sheen (still more, sadly, with little or no sheen at all) - many that I would really enjoy working on, if I had the capital or was being paid to do so - but every publisher has a budget, and I keep holding on for the next absolutely perfect oyster who will present me with an absolutely breathtaking pearl.

Or - a baker with an exquisite croissant would do, too. Cappucino with that, please ...

Independent publishers Legend Press publish novels and short story anthologies. The company is also involved in The Luke Bitmead Bursary for new writers. The press's website is at www.legendpress.co.uk .