Trials and tribulations of an unpublished crime writer
This is my first attempt at a blog so I'm not really sure what to do, although I understand it is supposed to be some sort of a journal. So here goes.
I have been writing since the late 1980s and following a lengthy apprenticeship period I started to be published in various magazines in the UK and the US. I moved from writing short pieces in the mid 1990s to concentrate on novel writing. My first novel, a saga written just as sagas went out of fashion, languishes in the bottom drawer and, as far as I am concerned, will stay there forever. I quickly switched to writing crime novels which I enjoy inmmensely and have two of those in the bottom drawer, jostling for space beside the saga, and a third one almost completed.
I have almost made it on several occasions but always success slips from my grasp (I must be doing something wrong). Like the time I was one of the Creme de la Crime winners, I was in the half that they let go. But I think that 'determination' must be my middle name because I keep on writing.
I am a member of various writing organisations such as the Society of Authors, the Sottish Association of Writers (SAW), and Angus Writers' Circle, of which I am a founder member. I love going to writers' conferences. The SAW have one every March at Erskine Bridge, near Glasgow. This year I have been asked to adjudicate the unpublished authors'short story prize, and last year I was on one of the writers' panels. Harrogate Crime Festival is another one that is really good and I had a marvellous time there earlier this year.
At the moment I am attempting to set up a website and have been teaching myself Dreamweaver (I'm a bit of a computer buff, maybe geak is a better description). I've done oodles of dummy websites and I think I'm almost there. I suppose this blog is a trial shot before the website. But when I get there I'll link it to my site. I've already purchased my domain name so one of these days I'll have to take a deep breath and start uploading the files. Let's hope it works.
I have been writing since the late 1980s and following a lengthy apprenticeship period I started to be published in various magazines in the UK and the US. I moved from writing short pieces in the mid 1990s to concentrate on novel writing. My first novel, a saga written just as sagas went out of fashion, languishes in the bottom drawer and, as far as I am concerned, will stay there forever. I quickly switched to writing crime novels which I enjoy inmmensely and have two of those in the bottom drawer, jostling for space beside the saga, and a third one almost completed.
I have almost made it on several occasions but always success slips from my grasp (I must be doing something wrong). Like the time I was one of the Creme de la Crime winners, I was in the half that they let go. But I think that 'determination' must be my middle name because I keep on writing.
I am a member of various writing organisations such as the Society of Authors, the Sottish Association of Writers (SAW), and Angus Writers' Circle, of which I am a founder member. I love going to writers' conferences. The SAW have one every March at Erskine Bridge, near Glasgow. This year I have been asked to adjudicate the unpublished authors'short story prize, and last year I was on one of the writers' panels. Harrogate Crime Festival is another one that is really good and I had a marvellous time there earlier this year.
At the moment I am attempting to set up a website and have been teaching myself Dreamweaver (I'm a bit of a computer buff, maybe geak is a better description). I've done oodles of dummy websites and I think I'm almost there. I suppose this blog is a trial shot before the website. But when I get there I'll link it to my site. I've already purchased my domain name
posted by Chris Longmuir | 8:40 AM
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