Now You See It…

…and very soon you won’t.

A book written in disappearing ink? It sounds like the stuff of childhood spy fantasies but now it’s all come true.

Which of us didn’t spend hours writing notes using lemon juice or top-secret kits purchased with our hard-earned pocket money from the ads in the back pages of the comics? I know I certainly did… before I discovered girls obviously.

Now, “The Book That Cannot Wait” (El Libro Que No Puede Esperar) has come along as an extraordinary writing/art concept. From the day the book is opened, you have two months to read it before the words vanish irrevocably.

You can read all about it in this article at Springwise – but be quick ;o)

Oh, and check out that cover too – I love it.

Summoning the Muse when all hope seems lost

Just a quickie from me today as I beaver away behind the scenes to put together a series of posts on how you can best use digital marketing to publicise your writing.

In the meantime, I came across this splendid infographic which shows that the many-headed beast known as writer’s block attacks the great and good every bit as ferociously as those of us tackling the foothills of ambition. (Sorry for the tortured metaphor, it’s been a busy week!) It also has some great tips on how to conquer the monster.

Click the image for the full version.

I’m sure everyone has their own techniques. Personally, I love Maya Angelou’s:

What I try to do is write… And then it’s as if the muse is convinced that I’m serious and says ‘Okay. Okay. I’ll come.’

So my friends, how do you summon your muse and convince her that you mean business?

Jumping From Cliffs

Edit: I wrote this post about a week before the great man died. He will be much missed, but his advice and inspiration will linger forever.
JS

So, why Jumping From Cliffs?

I was out of work and 18 months (on and off) into the putative novel now known as Dark Energies and massively doubting whether there was any point in continuing with it. Who was I to think I could write? Why put myself through the embarrassment and potential humiliation of committing my innermost thoughts and feelings to paper, thinly cloaked in the disguise of characters I’d invented? Then, serendipitously, I stumbled across this extraordinary interview with Ray Bradbury:

I didn’t know his work well and am still unfamiliar with far too much of it, but I had read Fahrenheit 451. His love of books and writing shines through in this interview, as does his enthusiasm, spirit and love of everything to do with the written word.

His exhortation that

You have to jump from cliffs every day and build your wings on the way down

should be tattooed on all our foreheads at birth.

Backwards, of course, so we can read it in the mirror.

Watch and wonder people, the man is pure authorial inspiration wrapped in a casing of skin. Like a wonderful sausage.