Back in the Saddle.

It occurred to me last night that maybe writing about my rejections here was not such a good idea. After all, every email I send to agents/editors has my website address on it. They can read everything that you can read, and seeing that others have already rejected a certain piece of work could be prejudicial.

Nonetheless, I’ve decided that I’m going to keep posting honest updates regarding the reactions of those I submit Children of the Resolution to. There are a number of reasons for this, but the principal one is that I feel I owe it to the friends and readers who have supported me through the novel’s development, from conception to completion. Those of you who visit this blog regularly, friends and relative strangers alike, are my potential book buyers. It would be a pretty lousy state of affairs if I didn’t keep you up to speed.

I think any editor/agent worth his/her salt will see the sense of this — especially when they take a look at my visitor stats in the sidebar.

Before signing off, I’d also just like to thank all of you for supporting me. Your friendship, advice and encouragement really does make this so much easier. The faith I have in my work and my ability is largely down to the reactions of people like you. Cheers!

Oh, nearly forgot! I’ve just heard back from Tom at Legend Press. He said Children of the Resolution sounds very interesting and he looks forward to reading it. He now has the full manuscript.

© 2008 Gary William Murning

An Introduction.

I’d just like to take a moment to introduce you to a young guy who’s just started his blogging career.

John is Lottie and Mike‘s son and his first attempt at blogging can be seen over at A Day in the Life of Me. It’s a well-written and insightful blog, offering a perspective that I personally find refreshing. His latest piece on bullies was both moving and thought-provoking.

Well worth a read. Drop by when you have a few minutes spare.

Brillante!

It seems I am once again honoured with a blogging award — this time from the wonderful thebeadden! It’s always nice to have one’s efforts appreciated. Thank you!

Over the next few days I will be passing the award along to eight of my favourite blogs. So… now might be a good time to start sucking up

© 2008 Gary William Murning

The Atheist Blogroll.

Gary William Murning Online has been added to The Atheist Blogroll. You can see the blogroll in my sidebar. The Atheist blogroll is a community building service provided free of charge to Atheist bloggers from around the world. If you would like to join, visit Mojoey at Deep Thoughts for more information.

An Almost Midweek Roundup.

Something I’ve discovered recently is just how popular the word “thong” is as a search term. It seems it’s guaranteed to attract a few hits, at least. With this in mind, I will from now on be dropping the word thong into my posts wherever possible. Be warned!

Seriously, though, there are a few things pending that I need to cover today — for fear, if I don’t, of provoking the wrath of Mike. I say “a few things”, but really there’s only a couple.

Firstly…

An Announcement Concerning the Idiosyncratica Group.

I was discussing recently with Mike just how the group should work and we came up with a few… guidelines (I don’t like the words “rules” — that isn’t what this is about — but for it to work successfully, we all need to be reading from the same page.)

1. We have decided to limit ourselves to a specific number of members. I think an upper limit of about twenty is about right, but I’m open to suggestions.
2. A new member must be recommended by an existing member.
3. Members must participate in group postings and activities. Slackers will be encouraged to get involved. If they don’t co-operate, we may have to send Lottie around to pay them a visit.
4. For the time being, we aren’t setting up a group website. Frankly, I don’t think there is any real need. We all have enough blogs to check as it is, I’m sure. Therefore, updates will be posted on this blog. All members of the group should, ideally, be checking the blogs of other group members on a regular basis but whether you do this or not (I really hope you do!) you should at least regularly check here for group announcements and group tasks.

Suggestions are, of course, always welcome.

Meme Me a Meme.

Mike works in local government so, consequently, he doesn’t have a great deal to do other than think of new ways to annoy his blogging friends

This is his latest effort:

The way the meme works is this:

1. Go to the latest comment you have from someone else. Go to the blog of the person who made it. If that person doesn’t have a blog, go to the next one.
2. Click the latest comment on that blog from someone else. Go to the blog of the person who made it. If that person doesn’t have a blog, go to the next one.
3. Do this again until you have gone six blogs away. If anyone on the way doesn’t have a latest comments widget, just pick the first comment you see.
4. Post about it. Tag at least a couple of other people.

Mine went:

1. Evanne.
2. Avery Beck.
3. Lexi Conner.
4. Kerry Blaisdell.
5. Teri Brown Writes.
6. Bring Kirstin Home.

I tag Will and Hayley.

Ideas (or Few and Far Between.)

Encouraged by the interest being shown in my little (story of my life) idea for a blog ring/group, it occurred to me today that now might be a good time to come up with an explanation of how it will work.

I have to admit, it was a bit of a spur of the moment idea. “I’ll start a blog-ring!” I thought, the way one does. (You don’t? You do disappoint me.) I happened to mention it on the forum, testing the water, and I didn’t expect much of a reaction, to be honest, so the details… well, I wasn’t sure they would be a need for any.

Wrong!

So, applying myself to the task in between bouts of strenuous (but highly heroic) novel-writing, this is what I’ve come up with.

1. I now have a name for the group. Idiosyncratica (inspired by something Archie said.) If you think it sucks like a Dyson, feel free to say.
2. In order to foster a sense of unity, I’d like to propose that, say, once a month, we all write a post on the same subject. The subject will be suggested by one of the members the month before (we’ll take turns.) Links to other members’ posts will be included at the end of each post. 
3. Each member must also include links to all Idiosyncratica members in their sidebar. (See right.)
4. Allegiance to the group must be… hmm? I’m getting a bit carried away? Oh, okay, we’ll leave it at that for now.

I haven’t got much further than this, I’m afraid – but, then, it isn’t just about what I want or think, is it? If you are an Idiosyncatica member, feel free to contribute your own thoughts/ideas.

I’m kind of counting on it.

Lazy, Foggy Sunday.

Okay, I did what I said I’d do and took off the whole weekend (thus far.) It’s true I did a little editing this morning, but that doesn’t count. (You really should stop pulling faces like that; the wind might change and then you’d have to stay that way. Forever.) It qualifies as a break for me, anyway, and, typically, I now feel as if I have a head chock-full of soggy cotton-wool.

Resting and I most certainly do not go together like ram-a-lam a-lamma-lamma ding-dong — and so I can’t wait for the new week to begin.

ANNOUNCEMENT.

As some of you may already be aware, I’m considering starting a (for want of a better) “blog-ring” aimed at writers and readers of fiction. I haven’t really thought about the details much , yet, but the aims are, I suppose, mutual promotion, the building of a sense of community and… well, generally having a bit of a laugh. It’s a cold and lonely world for we literary types, and we really need to stick together (Not literally, of course; that would be a logistical nightmare.)

So, if you’re at all interested, please comment.

And finally, What can make Tabasco sauce taste like hot doughnut glaze?

Let’s Pimp Again…

Carrying on from here, few more of my favourite blogs…

1. Rambling On. Lottie and her very precise Virtual Bitchslaps (and more!).
2. Hayley’s Online Soapbox. A very refreshingly sceptical and investigative approach to the “paranormal.
3. Andrew’s Tech Blog. Newly discovered. A wealth of techie info from a very nice guy whose brains I want to pick
4. Richard Dawkins’s “In the News” Section. News stories with on science, atheism and religion.
5. Wired Science. Science blog network from Wired.
6. On the Road Again. My stand-up mate, John.

[Please be aware that not being included in the list does not necessarily mean your blog falls into the "badly written blogs that claim to speak with authority on subjects they quite clearly know nothing about" category.]

Pimp.

I’ve been meaning to do this for a while, but what with my “creative endeavours” and whatnot, I just haven’t got round to it.

Until now.

The blogoshere is growing on a minute by minute basis. It’s estimated, in fact, to be growing so fast that by 2020 it will have broken free of its technological confines and turned the world and everything in it to a fish-paste-like mush… or was that nanobots? Either way, it’s a force to be reckoned with — and as our blogging skills increase I’m sure the trend for so-called “real journalists” to start sweating a bit and worrying about their job security will also continue to grow. Exponentially.

But, let’s face it, there’s a whole heap of dross out there. Silly, personal websites I have no objection to. They serve a purpose for the individual concerned and more power to them. What I don’t like, however, are the badly written blogs that claim to speak with authority on subjects they quite clearly know nothing about.

With this in mind, I thought I’d take a few moments to introduce you to some of my fellow bloggers who don’t fit into this category. These are the blogs I read on a daily basis. And they are a bit good.

See what you think.

1. The Odd Blog. Mike’s mix of Internutter de-masking and commentary.
2. PD Smith. Science writer par exellence.
3. The Will Rhodes Portmanteau. Will’s political blog.
4. Nectarville. Bekki’s blog. Slow down, girl!
5. Pharyngula. ”Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal.”
6. KurzweilAI.net. Science and futurism.

… that’s all for now, but more will follow soon.

[Edit: Please be aware that not being included in the list does not necessarily mean your blog falls into the "badly written blogs that claim to speak with authority on subjects they quite clearly know nothing about" category.]