Your Fish Has Got Away and other Unusual Translations

Today, I would like to share a long-awaited, incredibly entertaining guest post by fellow author Nicholas C. Rossis. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

One of the best ideas of Douglas Adams had to be the Babelfish. Just stick it into your ear and presto – you can now understand all languages. One of the things that always made we wonder, though, was how Babelfish might translate terms. For example, if someone said their computer has crashed, would it conjure an image of a person flinging their PC out of a window?

Now, I may be Greek, but I can easily understand what someone means when they say that their computer has crashed or that they didn’t save their file. Our culture and education have taught us these things. What about the rest of humanity, though?

Enter a lovely Economist article, describing the pitfalls of translating cultural idioms. When Mozilla tried to translate its web browser into as many languages as possible, it soon became clear that some words simply cannot be translated. For instance, a cookie (not the edible one, the digital one) has absolutely no translatable connection in some African dialects and people know a mouse as the little rodent most of us would like to keep out of our house.

It’s while reading this article that I realized the extent to which our language is geographically and culturally bound. In essence, words that the Mozilla people wanted to translate had to relate to things that are actually present in African peoples’ lives. Hence, translators had to find culture-specific words, closely related to livestock, farming and fishing because these are the activities that local people can associate themselves with.

The result? A computer crashing was translated into a word that basically means ‘a cow falling over but not dying’, which I think delivers the message nicely. Timeout was translated as ‘your fish has got away’ and cached pages were turned into ‘bits of leftover food’ – which I love as a comparison as it really gets the message across (even to me!). As for some people in Mexico who simply have no windows in their homes, Windows became ‘eyes’.

Why did I love this article? First of all, for its poetry. We use words to convey a message, and for the most part that works fine. However, we are so caught up in delivering the message, that we don’t consider the concept behind the words. We know exactly what Windows is and are happy to communicate in a fast and concise way about it. Everyone around us will understand us*. I find it poignant and inspiring that there are so many other – and beautifully written – ways to present Windows.

(* Although I’m reminded here of a dear old lady who was a client of mine back in Edinburgh. When her computer crashed, she called her son for help. He told her to close the window. After a moment, she returned to the phone. “Done! Would you like me to close the door as well?”)

I also find it remarkable – which highlights how presumptuous I am – that other people have no understanding of many words I use in my everyday life. I could have a conversation with some of these people and they would simply blink in desperation, completely ignorant of what on Earth I’m talking about. We assume that our way of talking and communicating is the ‘normal’ and universal one. However, words reflect a culture and civilization. They are representative of people, and since people are very different, it’s only natural that words and notions should be different as well.

And a last reason why I really liked this article: I tried to imagine how I would translate my books into Fulah (a Senegalese dialect), Chichewa (a Malawian dialect) or Zapotec (a Mexican dialect) and I had to laugh. So many words would have to be translated in culture-specific meanings, and I would love to see how a spaceship, an Orb, an e-lib and so many other words in my books would turn out. I’m betting that my books would become much more poetic, but also a good deal more surreal. Perhaps they could even be entered into whole new book categories!

Space cows, anyone?

From toonpool.com

Check out my children’s book, Runaway Smile.

About Nicholas

Nicholas Rossis lives to write and does so from his cottage on the edge of a magical forest in Athens, Greece. When not composing epic fantasies or short sci-fi stories, he chats with fans and colleagues, writes blog posts, walks his dog, and enjoys the antics of his dog and toddler daughter, both of whom claim his lap as home.

His first children’s book, Runaway Smile, won the Gelett Burgess Children’s Book Award, among other distinctions. You can check it out for free on his blog. You can check out his second children’s book, Musiville, on his blog. He has also written the epic fantasy series, Pearseus. Many of his short stories have appeared in various collections and anthologies. He has published The Power of Six, Honest Fibs, You’re in for a Ride and Infinite Waters, which was voted as one of the best 50 Indie books of 2015.

Nicholas is all around the Internet, but the best place to connect with him would be on his blog. Anyone interested in his books can check them out on Amazon.

Other places to connect with him include:

• Twitter – www.twitter.com/Nicholas_Rossis
• Google+ – https://plus.google.com/+NicholasRossis
• Facebook – www.facebook.com/NicholasCRossis

Request an authorgraphed copy of Nicholas’ books!

Got my mojo back!

Where to start after such a long period of absence from my blog and publishing? The last few years have been one hell of a ride for the world and for me personally. Most of my writing sort of stagnated while I threw myself into work, which grew busier than usual during the Covid period – luckily for me, considering how many people battled during this time.

I did do some writing to keep me sane – mostly for the Grumpy Old Gods anthologies and Original Souls, which I’m co-authoring.

The next Wizard of Ends and Legends of Origin books are still coming. To all those who have been waiting endlessly for the next books, please accept my apologies – ‘life’ just didn’t allow me to work on these books the last few years and I would hate to put out a subpar book just so I can say I did. Of these two series, the next Wizard of Ends book will probably be published first, simply because that’s the closest to being ready. The first book in both series is free, so grab them if you haven’t already!

Original Souls (working title) will be the next book I publish. Although it’s a fiction book, it’s very technical in some ways, so it was vital to get it all straight and in a way that will make sense to readers. It’s been four years in the making and the last chapter has finally been written! Original Souls, a thriller fiction book based on fact, is now in the first editing stage! I cannot begin to describe my excitement! You will hear more about this book soon.

I’ve also been tortured with a brilliant idea for a sequel to Ashes to Ashes – tortured, because I’ve been unable to actually start writing it yet! Ashes to Ashes was always intended to be a standalone book, but a sequel demands to be written, so I must comply! I’m currently doing some research on the side for this book, which I think I will title Lust to Dust. This will be the next book I start writing, because I will go mental if I don’t get it out of my head. That said, the next Wizard of Ends book might still be published first, since it’s very close to being ready. I’ll have to see how it goes – I don’t want to make promises and then break them.

I will also soon have a new and improved author website and blog! It’s an exciting time for me and I’m looking forward to the next stage of my author journey. This time, I’m doing my best not to overextend myself so I can actually get something published this year (I’m aiming for at least two books) – too much at once and my mojo seems to vanish! I have a feeling this will be my busiest year yet with regards to writing, so watch this space!

Within the Land and Within Humanity…

Following is a guest post from Jamie, co-author of Original Souls, a thriller fiction book (based on fact) that is in the process of being written. The post gives a little insight into Jamie as a person and some whopper clues as to the fiction book’s main topic. Without further ado, I introduce…

Hi, my name is Jamie. I farm with horses in Paarl Valley. I was religious up to the age of 18. I actually grew up in a very religious family and quite a number of family members are either missionaries or ministers in the church. At the age of 18, I just ‘out of the blue’ became agnostic. I was never atheist, as I always knew that something was going on and never, ever thought that we were just a result of a Big Bang and time and chance. I just could not get my head around any plausible explanation for how existence would work and how everything could have begun. One day, around age 36, as I was walking on my farm, I had a vision. It was the most incredible experience (and will be detailed in the fiction book). It lasted for about 20 minutes. From that moment and for about three months after that, I was able to see clearly. It was as if someone touched my brain with a magic wand. It felt as if someone had opened the curtains and I could, for the first time, look outside and see what I never thought existed. Someone talked to me in a way that is difficult to explain and yes, in medical terms, this talking is categorised as so unreal that it would necessitate the prescription of strong medicine.

So indeed, I went to see a psychiatrist just to make sure, but the pills he gave me made no difference and the talking and teaching just continued undisturbed. Day after day, I was taught how the world works and I was shown some things. I was shown that this world is like a pre-programmed movie. Everything that happens, even our thoughts, are not our own (however, we do still have free will – this will be explained in my next post). Take for example a movie full of adventure and intrigue. The movie is already designed from beginning to end and everything is on the disc or on the recording. If you press ‘play’, the whole movie will play out from beginning to end. Now imagine that you can project yourself into the main character. You do not manipulate the character and you do not think for the character, as the movie is already created – you only experience the character. You are fused with the thoughts and the being of the character. You are so much one with the character that you actually perceive the character as you. The thought processes of the character become your thoughts; the actions and worries and delights the character experiences become as real to you as your thoughts or actions or pleasures. In other words, you experience it as your reality. This is how I was shown that this world works. Everything, even the smallest and most bizarre and random events, are already part of the movie and we are passengers who experience. The magic is the randomness, the fact that there are so many small and unrelated events dispersed throughout our movie. These events contribute in creating a world that seems so real. We live in another world as spiritual beings and this world is our experience world, the place where we can experience things that are not possible to experience from the realm where we really exist in all truth. This is a mouthful, I know. As I mentioned, for three months, I could see things clearly. I could see how people talk and walk in a way that was predetermined. After this three-month period, everything just stopped as quickly as it had appeared. I was normal again. I could no longer see beyond what others could see, but I continued knowing and remembering what I learnt. During the three months, I was shown that there exists a signature, sculpted and designed and programmed within the land and within humanity. It cannot be seen as such, as it is hidden. It is like the watermark that hides within a banknote. You will only see the watermark if you know that it is there and if you hold it up to the light. The signature is from a creator and up to this day I am not really sure what I am supposed to do with it. I am no longer ‘gifted’ like in those first three months. I am back to being a farmer who struggles to express myself and who struggles to get my message across. So, I decided to contact Vanessa so that she can write a fiction story, a story that would tell my story in a somewhat more digestible way. I tried to write it myself, but ended up trying too hard and the whole book was just too complex and the codes and detail of the signature too tiresome to read. I am a farmer and not a writer and that is just the way it is. So, I have mentioned how I could see things in those three months and that after the three months all the crispness and clarity of the things I saw was gone. At the end of this post is a short demonstration in video format so that you can understand how I perceived things during those three months.

The video is of a mountain wherein there are lots of images that form part of the signature. During my time of clairvoyance, the images popped out crystal clear and the message surrounding each image was clear and without a doubt. After the three months, everything became dull again, but, since I know that it is there, I can still see it. The video shows the outlines of a man who sticks out his tongue. I have drawn the lines so that you see where the man is in the mountain. This is how I saw things during that special period. I can no longer see it as clearly as that (and maybe you can’t either), but I can still see the faded lines where the images lie. Can you see the faded lines? If you cannot, do not worry about it. Throughout the whole world, there are images placed and even events are designed to ‘fit the bill’. This man in the video symbolises something very specific that fits into the signature. In number format, the signature reads 9-11 and yes, the event of 911 is part and parcel of the message the signature conveys.

What Publishing Will Look Like After COVID-19

I am pleased to share this guest post with my readers, written by Desiree Villena:

We are living through ‘strange and unprecedented times’, as many people like to remind us. Publishing in the time of COVID-19 is something that nobody has encountered before, and while there is no easy way to predict what the fallout will look like, the pandemic is bound to have lasting effects on the book trade and the broader media industry.

It might be difficult not to think that the future looks bleak. Yet while lockdowns have forced the industry to a temporary halt, the crisis has also unleashed sparks of innovation when it comes to how people read — and how publishers and authors get books into their hands.

We may wish for a crystal ball to foretell how we’ll make it through this. But while we will just have to wait and see what the true effects are, we can start to see inklings of how publishing a book will look in the aftermath of the pandemic.

Below, I offer some of my predictions on how the publishing landscape might be transformed for authors, publishers, booksellers and readers as we enter a whole new world of publishing.

For Authors: DIY Alternatives for Reaching Readers

While lockdown may have given some authors the time to finally finish their manuscripts, the crisis has forced radical reconsiderations of the publishing process. The cancellation of events like book tours, workshops, lectures and public readings has forced authors to think of new ways to market their book.

Some writers have simply delayed their launches, but many have gone ahead with their original dates — relying heavily on online word of mouth, using social media to interact with readers, and going on blog tours to promote their books. Even after restrictions have lifted, the way that authors engage with their audiences will likely continue to make use of the unique opportunities afforded by digital technology.

Virtual approaches to book promotion will continue to grow in popularity, as many authors have enjoyed the strange intimacy they can foster even through the screen. Some authors have found their attendance numbers are higher for Zoom, Crowdcast or Instagram Live events than traditional bookstore readings – after all, virtual events allow readers who live far away from urban centres to take part in a robust literary community.

A rise in self-publishing is likely to continue as well, with more and more authors dusting off old manuscripts or writing new works over recent months. Self-publishing allows authors to make their works globally accessible online, avoiding the difficulties associated with physical printing and distribution. It also circumvents the long turnaround times associated with traditional publishing – an especially valuable advantage as social distancing measures continue.

It remains to be seen how long it takes for the ‘great coronavirus novel’ to hit the market. But it’s undeniable that an important new chapter in publishing history is being written.

For Publishers: Adapting to Digital

After a return to some normalcy, publishers may find themselves inundated with manuscripts produced during lockdown. In fact, it may be difficult for authors to find literary agents or editors to contend with the sudden submission volume. Even as they face distinct challenges in staffing and scale, small presses and big publishing houses alike will encounter similar struggles in bringing new books into the post-virus world.

With the evaporation of the trade shows and book fairs where rights could be purchased for next season’s slate, publishers will have to adapt so that new releases are not delayed even further. The cancellation or postponement of physical events will force them to come up with virtual alternatives, and they’ll have to invent new digital marketing strategies to get sales back on track. In sum, COVID-19 likely marks a point of no return for publishers to transition to digital tactics if they haven’t already done so.

Just as it is with authors, though, the market transformation brings new opportunities as well as challenges for publishers. Increased demand for e-books and audiobooks has already encouraged some publishers to pursue digital subscription services or investigate producing new podcasts or video content.

As virtual events and remote work grow in popularity, the publishing industry may also be able to expand beyond its urban epicentres, creating more jobs for editors, translators and designers in geographically distanced settings.

For Booksellers: Moving Online

For some retailers, demand for books might have actually increased during the pandemic — as isolation wore on them, readers turned to books to escape. During lockdown, retailers started offering digital orders and curbside pickup, while at the same time, book purchases through Amazon and other online outlets grew.

Even when bookshops and publishing companies that were shut down reopen for business, they can’t return to ‘business as usual’: they must adjust to the cultural shift in readership. Continued social distancing measures are bound to prompt a continued boom in online purchases while further expanding e-book and audio book sales.

While it may seem that the virus has pushed purchases further from brick-and-mortar stores toward online spaces, many local bookstores serve as important community hubs and cultural centres. When it becomes safe to do so, these spaces will welcome the return of visitors, many of whom crave the chance to roam the stacks of their favourite bookstores and look forward to gathering with fellow book lovers.

Even though the future of publishing – like the future of anything – remains incredibly hard to predict, one thing is for certain: books aren’t going anywhere. They provide comfort, entertainment, escapism and connection even in the darkest times, and the people who make them and read them will find a way to survive anything. The publishing world won’t end with a whimper – hopefully, once the peak of the pandemic passes, it will come back with a bang.

Desiree Villena is a writer with Reedsy, a marketplace that connects authors and publishers with the world’s best editors, designers, and marketers. She’s very passionate about indie publishing and believes the industry will emerge from this crisis stronger than ever! In her spare time, Desiree enjoys reading contemporary fiction and writing short stories.

New Year’s Writing Projects

Happy New Year!

May 2020 be the year that hopes and dreams become reality.

It’s been a while since I posted, so I thought I’d pop in quickly to wish you all a happy New Year and update you on some of my projects. Although I’ve been silent on my blog and haven’t published anything new recently, I am super busy with writing projects, which will all hopefully be published this year.

Wizard of Ends, Book 3

This book has been a loooooong time coming. I am truly sorry about this. No excuses – life happens… to all of us. This time, it delayed my writing and publishing. The first draft of Book 3 is complete; it’s now just to do at least two more drafts and then off to my editor, at which time I will make it available for pre-order. I cannot wait! In the meantime, if you haven’t read Books 1 and 2, you can get Book 1 for free and Book 2 for only $2.99 at Smashwords.

Legends of Origin

Unfortunately, as much as I want to continue to write the next Legends of Origin book, it’s unrealistic to think it will be ready to publish this year. That said, no promises, but I am going to try to publish at least one Wizard of Ends and one Legends of Origin book a year as of next year. I hate to have disappointed thus far, but it’s difficult to write a good-quality book in a short time when you are also working full time and have young children and 20,000 other responsibilities – as most writers will verify!

Grumpy Old Gods

As many of you know, I have been published in the Grumpy Old Gods short story anthologies. I am also now official editor for the anthology, which I am super chuffed about! Readers can expect the next three anthologies soon, including a Grumpy Old Love Gods edition and a Grumpy Old Trickster Gods edition. You can get Volume 1, Volume 2 and Volume 3 on Amazon. If anyone would like to be a part of the anthology, there is still time to submit stories for the trickster edition.

Dragons, dragons, dragons!

Together with the Stormdance team, I will soon be launching a new fantasy anthology. I will send out calls for submission for the new anthology in the first quarter of 2020 if all goes according to plan. I can’t share the details yet, but there will be lots of dragons and humour!

Original Souls

I have hinted at a secret book project that I started working on last year. I am not ready to share too much just yet (the title of this section is a huge clue). However, I can tell you that I have a silent writing partner for this project – an illuminated person who seems to understand the language of the universe and who claims to have unravelled the code that underlies the secret and mysterious symbols of life and the universe (I myself am still trying to grasp some of it). This co-author (let’s call him/her ‘Jamie’ for the sake of brevity) wants to remain anonymous due to the nature of this book, which has a rather interesting take on religion, god and life. While I am not yet a ‘true believer’, I do see much merit in Jamie’s arguments, some of which are things that have crossed my mind before I met Jamie and some of which were new and helped me to understand things differently – and much of which simply ‘feels right’ to me. This book will offer a new way of looking at life and death and the world in which we live, and is bound to bring positive change to anyone who ponders its contents. While the book is not intended to offend or upset anyone, it most likely will – let’s face it, this is quite a touchy subject, since there are so many different religions and beliefs, all of whose followers are usually devout and strong in their beliefs. Hence, Jamie’s desire to remain anonymous so as not to offend anyone in his life.

To start off, we will be publishing a fact-based fiction book, because we believe that the knowledge will be easier to digest in fiction form. We will move from that to some non-fiction books, some of which we will make available free of charge – these books will be much heavier reading for those readers who are interested to know more about the ideas in the fiction book. There are also plans for a second, shorter fiction book with a different perspective on the subject matter. It’s an exciting project and I’m looking forward learning more as we progress with the book, and to the time I can finally share my newfound knowledge in detail and publish!

Life After an Author’s Mistakes

Prismatic Prospects

I recently took a survey that asked me, “What’s the biggest mistake you’ve made as an author?”

Oh. Ouch. All the ouch.

There’s a lot of research, trial and error, learning, and growth that comes along with this authoring and publishing gig, especially for those of us who are in it for the long term. It’s a journey that requires creativity, business know-how, and oftentimes a combination of both.

Yet, my biggest mistake as an author wasn’t exactly a creative one or even all that business-related. It was part of the result of being grievously maltreated for ten years.

I’ll not go into all of those details in this post. But suffice it to say that I published some books in reaction to the constant demands for marketplace productivity from a twisted, abusive manipulator who feigned to care about my success and wellbeing—because my productivity would help the manipulator look…

View original post 513 more words

Grumpy Old Gods, Volume 2 – now available for pre-order!

I’m excited to announce that Grumpy Old Gods, Volume 2 is now available for pre-order at Amazon, with the publication date set for 9 August. If you would like an advanced review copy in return for an honest review on Amazon, please let me know – we are happy to oblige and are grateful for all reviews.

A plethora of grumpy old gods are back in a second anthology of mythical fun. Join us for 13 new tales of deities that are retired, reborn, waning or AWOL from their assigned posts as they hilariously navigate life, death and everything in between.

Don’t forget to grab Grumpy Old Gods, Volume 1 if you haven’t already – review copies are also available upon request.

Wizard of Ends, Grumpy Old Gods and On the Premises

I’ve been a busy bee since my last blog post, my life filled with endless hours of work, 20,000 things to do and our national power company’s constant load shedding (in which, lately, they often cut the electricity three times a day for 2.5 hours each time)… and not so much writing. The good news is that I have recently been able to start writing again – something I have been aching to do for a very long time.

Wizard of Ends fans will be glad to know that I completed Book 3, Mountains of Eclador. That said, it might still be a while before it will be ready to publish. Although the last word is written, there is still a lot of work to be done in perfecting it, and I would also like to revamp the series covers before Book 3 is published.

In other news, earlier this year I submitted a short story to the first Grumpy Old Gods anthology and was over the moon when it was accepted. My story, Out of Luck, along with 12 other short stories, will be included in the anthology, which you can get on pre-order at Amazon. If you enjoy the anthology, please don’t forget to leave a review on the Amazon book page – I would very much appreciate it!

Another thing I am super-chuffed about is being asked to be one of the judges blind-reading short story competition entries for On the Premises, an online fiction magazine started in 2006 by Tarl Kudrick and Bethany Granger. The magazine offers a diverse range of stories in all genres. If you don’t already read it, you’re missing out! You can read the latest issue here – for free. Incidentally, all are welcome to enter the competitions – if your story makes the top ten, but did not win a prize, you can get a free critique as a consolation prize if you want one (other stories can also be critiqued on request for a fee of US$15), and there are monetary prizes for the winners. To keep up to date on the latest contests, visit the magazine’s contest page.

SA Indies Rock Lit Awards – I’ve been nominated! Author of the Year 2015 & Editor of the Year

I promised you news today and here it is! I’m happy to announce that I’ve been nominated for the SAIR Editor of the Year and Author of the Year 2015 awards.

I’m honoured to have been nominated for these awards and hope you will take a minute to vote for me. This year is certainly looking up, and these nominations have given me some much-needed motivation to get down to writing again.

Voting closes 12 March 2015, so get your votes in before then!

Good luck to all my fellow nominees!

 

A New Year and a New Way

Good morning and happy New Year!

I know it’s a little late to be wishing you a happy New Year, but better late than never, right?

I had a smashing first post of the year written and waiting to post on 1 January, and then…

…And then my life was shattered and, it felt, my dreams.

On New Year’s Eve, I left the house for no more than twenty minutes… and returned to a house that had been burgled.

I was devastated, numb, and so very angry with God or the universal consciousness or whoever runs this universe. It seemed as if, no matter what I did to help myself, something outside my control would destroy it. My PC was stolen – along with all the books I had started writing. I lost everything I wrote on Legends of Origin, Book 4: Beyond Orion. I lost three years of research on another book. For a few weeks, I thought I had also lost Wizard of Ends, Book 3, but thankfully I had worked on that in the last few days before the robbery and had saved it to email. I lost work templates and documents for three companies. I lost over a year of work for one client. I lost all my baby and personal pictures, other than the handful I had posted on Facebook and emailed to friends and family. Book covers, promotional material, blog posts for my company… So much lost… It left me shattered and feeling as if my very soul had been raped.

For the last two months, I’ve been demotivated and unable to write. Every time I sit down hoping to continue with Wizard of Ends, my mind shut down, as if my creativity had been stolen too. It doesn’t help that I am oh so short on time. We are still trying to recover from the loss. Yes, I had back-ups – on my laptop and a few USB sticks… all of which were also stolen in the robbery. Insurance took over a month to replace all our stolen items, and then, because we did not have proof of the expensive PC equipment we had, they replaced our jacked up PCs with entry level junk. Insurance paid out for many of the stolen items, but not nearly enough to replace them.

It’s taken me this long to motivate myself to write my first blog post of the year. For a few weeks, I was so demotivated that I didn’t believe I would ever again write to publish, and perhaps not at all. Now, I know I will – because it is not only my passion, but part of what makes me the person I am; thus, without writing and sharing my work, I am an incomplete slab of misery.

Then there’s the time it took to recover what I could from email and friends/family. I have only just recovered the last of what I can. What I had filled almost 2TB of HDD space. What I recovered did not fill a 2GB USB stick. I’m sure you can imagine how upsetting this was, and it sent me spiralling into depression – something some of you already know I battle with when things get too tough.

Thankfully, there is a silver lining (although there are still many days and moments where it feels as if the silver lining is not worth it). The money insurance paid that isn’t near enough to replace the stolen items is now being used to increase security and to toddler-safe our garden. Finally, I can put a timeframe on when my daughter can safely play in our backyard 🙂

I have decided that I will no longer pre-write blog posts to keep my blog busy three times a week. I do not have it in me – emotionally or time-wise – to do that again. I also probably won’t have time to write three blog posts a week like you are used to (which is why I pre-wrote six months’ worth of blog posts, all of which were lost in the theft). However, you can rest assured that my blog will indeed go on, just a little more flexible than before. I still believe that regular blog posts increase visibility and sales, but I can’t say that I’ve experienced any major increase in sales since starting my blog just over a year ago. Thus, I am removing the stress factor and my blog posts will be more sporadic than usual, but, hopefully, more entertaining and relevant too. I will still be sharing guest posts, but am going to be stricter about people following my guidelines, as I no longer have the time or inclination to reformat blog posts that come in a format other than what I requested. Those of you who are waiting for guest posts to be shared, please send me an email reminder along with the details – all my notes were stolen with my PC and I cannot remember who arranged what with me (if you have already emailed me about this since the robbery, you don’t need to do so again; I will get back to you the second I am able). I apologise for the inconvenience.

Of course, I am also looking for fresh guest posts – entertaining topics and relevant to writing and/or reading. Be creative and send me your ideas.

I also have two lots of exciting news that I will share with you shortly – one tomorrow (because I don’t have time to share those details today) and the other once everything is finalised.

Watch this space!