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31 October 2014
In between closing the George and the Dragon Artwork competition and picking the winners and starting NaNoWriMo 2014 I'm taking a few minutes out while the kids are out trick or treating to surf the web and catch up on some Social Medial when I come across this:


“Wild in Art is delighted to be working with Break to bring GoGoDragons! to Norwich in 2015. This event will herald the arrival of the Norwich Dragon – a sculpture specifically designed to engage artists, people of all ages and communities in a summer-long celebration of Norwich and Norfolk’s rich cultural offer.”


This is Morgan the Dragon, very apt as it's Halloween. As far as I understand it he is representing Organ Donor Awareness which is also really cool.

Here's an article on the event on the BBC website.
I don't know how or if I'll try to get involved or even if I'll just go up to Norwich next year to check out all the dragons but it is certainly a great idea.

Phil
27 October 2014

...at least once :)


I've a confession to make;  I'm not a world famous, best-selling, highly popular author.....at least not yet I'm not.

In fact I've been a self-published author for less than a year and I'm still working out what works and what doesn't, what advice is good advice and what is not etc.

Like most people I suspect I learn most from things I try myself and what works I repeat and what doesn't work I file under B*.

Take the George and the Dragon artwork competition I am currently running.  I've tried various ways to reach out and connect with people and let them know the competition exists.

If you've read anything about competition on this blog then you'll know the most prominent method I've used is Twitter.  I've currently got over 17,300 twitter followers. Not everyone of them is interested in me or what I tweet but they are the best chance I have of reaching and even bigger audience.





This is taken from Twitonomy, just one of a number of Twitter apps I use for free.  It shows one particular tweet about the competition that was retweeted 7 times and reached a further 86,952 Tweeterers.

Other than twitter I also tried to mail shot all of the schools in the UK.  Unfortunately this had two issues; firstly the list I used was out of date and I received a large number of bounce backs and secondly the list was so large it broke my Outlook.

Although as I have learnt in recent days some emails did get to some schools and have resulted in several pieces of artwork being submitted.

As we get closer to Halloween and the competition closing date I am hopefully I'll receive more and the judges will really have a task on their hands picking the winner.

So until we have to start deliberating I thought I'd leave you with just one on the entrants:

Helen Davison - 17


























*for Bin! :)
17 October 2014
...or trying to reach a broader audience.

As any of you that read this blog will be aware I am currently in the process of running an artwork competition for George and the Dragon.

Of course this is to promote the book and see if I can't attract a wider target audience.   To this end I've tried a few ideas but have been largely relying on my 15,000 twitter followers, my Facebook page and my Google+ account to spread the news.




It was suggested to me by my sister that I look for websites that list competitions.  For reason unknown to me this isn't even something I had considered before.

So I've been on the hunt for various websites and have submitted details to some of them like Competitions Today.  

Hopefully this will have a far greater reach than I could hope to have just relying on Social Media.

If you have any other suggestions let me know.

Phil


16 October 2014

....and all you have to do is draw a scene from my book!


1st prize in the 16 and over category consists of:



  • A Nook eReader
  • A signed copy of George and the Dragon
  • A copy of The Battle of Britain: Portraits of the Few by Christopher Yeoman (Author), Geoffrey Wellum (Author) and David Pritchard (Illustrator)
  • A copy of How to Draw Planes by Frank a. a. Wootton
  • An official branded RAF Spitfire key-ring



1st prize in the under 16 category consists of:



  • A Nook eReader
  • A signed copy of George and the Dragon
  • A copy of inkBloom: Draw and Paint Fantasy Adventure
  • A Dragon Rivetz Kit
  • A Dragon hatching from an egg key-ring



There's just over 2 weeks to enter the competition so still plenty of time.

You can find all the rule and entrance details here:

http://georgeandthedragon.co.uk/competition/

15 October 2014

...what could possibly go wrong?




This November, I'm writing a novel. An entire novel, started from scratch, and completed in just one month, as part of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).

And you thought nothing interesting ever happened in November.

NaNoWriMo is free. I'm raising money to help the nonprofit that runs it:

Value and encourage all writers' voices, no matter their gender, race, or background.
Provide free curriculum, workbooks, and virtual tools to students and educators in 2,000 classrooms.
Guide 700+ community leaders in building vibrant, writing and literacy-focused oases in their local neighborhoods, libraries, and bookstores.

Every dollar I raise will keep my spirits high as I write my way towards the realization of my creative goals. More importantly, your contribution will help the nonprofit behind National Novel Writing Month build a more engaged and inspiring world. You can help by:

Making a much-valued donation to this page!

Spreading the word, and sharing my page with your friends via Facebook, Twitter, or email.
Thank you so much for your support of my writing! I'll be posting updates on my novel and fundraising on my sponsorship page throughout the month.

https://www.classy.org/fundraise?fcid=359920
14 October 2014
...or at least it could be.

According to the fantastic Prof. Brian Cox and his esteemed physics and mathematics colleagues there are an infinite number of universes.



Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter write about these infinite universes in their book The Long Earth and it's sequels.

That's an impossible number to fathom, however, it has some interesting ramifications for a fiction author like me.

Spoiler alert......

My debut novel, George and the Dragon, is a work of Historical Fantasy based in England on an Earth much like our own but an Earth where certain things are possible.  The book also dips it's toe into the presence of another realm which is effectively another earth in a parallel universe this earth is very different to our own as becomes clear when you read the book.

Now according to Prof. Cox they both exist, they must do because there are an infinite number of universes.

Let me take that one step further.

Silence Of The Lambs - true story.

Harry Potter, all 7 books - true story.

50 Shades of Grey - true story.

And so it goes on that every work of fiction be it book, film or otherwise are all true stories because in one of the infinite universes the events they portray would have existed.

Even Toy Story is a true story and I swear my toys used to play with each other when I went out.

So there you go.

Food for thought.

Phil