It's nice to get a stack of books with your name on. Even when it isn't your name. The other day I was asked, again, why did I use a pseudonym on Reaper. Actually, I didn't. My agent told me she had sold the book and added: By the way, you're Jon Grahame. The only problem is trying to market it and having to explain that I've had books published under my own name.
It was difficult, even in Huddersfield, where I'm known because I write three columns a week in the daily paper. At least Waterstone's made the effort, put a local author sign on it and told customers who I really was. Which is nice. At my advanced age, I sometimes don't know who I am, myself.
The second book in the trilogy was completed some time ago and I am stuttering through the third. This is because I lack a sense of urgency. It's all sorted out in my mind and only needs bashing out on a keyboard but the deadline is ages away and I work best against the clock. I have 60,000 words written, a vague plot outline for the rest and I guess it will turn out at about 90,000 words when complete. If the publisher said he needed it in a month's time, I would get beavering and it would be ready. Make that two weeks. No, I can do better than that, I could have it finished by a week on Friday. I just need the incentive of a deadline.
It's the same reason why I am so lax in keeping up to date with this blog. My chum Donkin has a brilliant blog that he maintains on a regular basis. He makes me want to spit. He is a writer, author, journalist, round the world yachtsman and angler. The last may seem a bit tame for someone with his attributes except that he usually goes fishing in Alaska or hunts sharks off the Florida keys. His pieces are superbly crafted and often deceptively simple. Click the link and try him.
I, on the other hand, have struggled because I think a blog needs a Big Topic and I have never gone fishing in Alaska and never will. For one, I hate the sea, for two, I hate the cold, and for three, the only fish I like comes with chips. But I have realised it doesn't have to be a Big Topic. A little topic will do. Such as me quite often forgetting who I am.
I was at a gathering the other day and was introduced to the sister of an old school friend. Remembering first names in busy circumstances can be difficult and, when the lady heard I had just had a book out, confusion set in. For me rather than her. She took a note of the title and author and from thenceforth called me Jon. After a while, I gave up trying to say who I was and responded to it.
Hah, she said. You're answering to it now.
So I really am Jon Grahame. I can only hope he'll be better at writing blogs than that bloke Kilcommons.
It was difficult, even in Huddersfield, where I'm known because I write three columns a week in the daily paper. At least Waterstone's made the effort, put a local author sign on it and told customers who I really was. Which is nice. At my advanced age, I sometimes don't know who I am, myself.
The second book in the trilogy was completed some time ago and I am stuttering through the third. This is because I lack a sense of urgency. It's all sorted out in my mind and only needs bashing out on a keyboard but the deadline is ages away and I work best against the clock. I have 60,000 words written, a vague plot outline for the rest and I guess it will turn out at about 90,000 words when complete. If the publisher said he needed it in a month's time, I would get beavering and it would be ready. Make that two weeks. No, I can do better than that, I could have it finished by a week on Friday. I just need the incentive of a deadline.
It's the same reason why I am so lax in keeping up to date with this blog. My chum Donkin has a brilliant blog that he maintains on a regular basis. He makes me want to spit. He is a writer, author, journalist, round the world yachtsman and angler. The last may seem a bit tame for someone with his attributes except that he usually goes fishing in Alaska or hunts sharks off the Florida keys. His pieces are superbly crafted and often deceptively simple. Click the link and try him.
I, on the other hand, have struggled because I think a blog needs a Big Topic and I have never gone fishing in Alaska and never will. For one, I hate the sea, for two, I hate the cold, and for three, the only fish I like comes with chips. But I have realised it doesn't have to be a Big Topic. A little topic will do. Such as me quite often forgetting who I am.
I was at a gathering the other day and was introduced to the sister of an old school friend. Remembering first names in busy circumstances can be difficult and, when the lady heard I had just had a book out, confusion set in. For me rather than her. She took a note of the title and author and from thenceforth called me Jon. After a while, I gave up trying to say who I was and responded to it.
Hah, she said. You're answering to it now.
So I really am Jon Grahame. I can only hope he'll be better at writing blogs than that bloke Kilcommons.
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