Holiday time on Lanzarote. Lots of boat and beer spotting options. Might even get a walk or two in.

Letter from Philip K. Dick to Jeff Walker (The Ladd Company) about Blade Runner. #scifi #sciencefiction

Time to wake up the writing brain again. I've had a couple of weeks of doing bits and pieces, but nothing structured. That's very freeing, but it doesn't make projects progress. I've got half a screenplay and a novel skeleton to work on - get moving, he says to himself. #writingcommunity

So today I became Dutch. Just a typical Monday.

A brilliant article about the existential crisis for programmers that is Claude Code: matduggan.com/i-sold-out-f...

This seems to point the general direction in which publishing is going. Never been a better time to be an indie if you want to keep your voice true.

Same for French

It’s a beautiful spring day in this concrete jungle and the lyrics to Solsbury Hill are rattling around in my head

I've recently joined the Alliance of Independent Authors (@indieauthoralli.bsky.social) and have just published Human Software via their bookstore. bookstore.allianceindependentauthors.org/author/richa...

Mingulay, July 2025.

Learning from the last week: when you pitch a bookshop in person, it really helps if you speak to the owner. #writingcommunity #selfpublishing

Some of these places were where me or my family lived in Sandwich. Some of them made it into “Human Software”

Sitting on Folkestone beach

I've been travelling around South-East Kent today, marvelling at the number of housing developments that have sprung up and being amazed that the road infrastructure hasn't been updated to cope with them. It's a bit of a joke, really. I have some inspiration for Book 2. #writingcommunity #kent

Brilliant day of two halves today. Lovely enthusiastic bookshop owners on the one hand, slightly less welcoming and interested ones on the other. I understand it's tough for independent booksellers, but it's also for authors, so best to be polite just in case. Just sayin' #booksky #writingcommunity

No notes

Yeah punk as fuck. In that a couple got super rich off the back of a successful grass roots marketing strategy. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I’ve not seen some brilliant bands recently

I'm heading over to the UK this week to tour HUMAN SOFTWARE around some bookshops in the part of the world it's set in - South East Kent. To celebrate, I’m giving away 10 signed copies of my corporate/IT thriller, Human Software. humansofwarebook.com #writingcommunity #books #authors

A suitable thread for St David's Day

Great advice for writing

The starting point of my next book. Fun fact, during the Great Storm of 87, I was in a bedroom on the right of this pub, and a chimney fell through the roof just above my bed. Good job that the beam was there and nice to see another chimney getting some TLC back in 2016.

What's a good way to arrange a book giveaway? I have this terrible imposter syndrome that makes me think people won't even want FREE copies of my book. How do I overcome that and have a successful giveaway? #writingcommunity #booksky

Getting back out on the road next week and will be in South-East Kent - home of "Human Software" visiting bookshops and hoping to get them to stock it. You might think independents would be jumping with joy, but so far this has very much not been the case for this first-time author!

Kubernetes configuration is like I made it up

Was talking last night about a million things - the Detectorists, Pulp bringing about the end of the UK, loneliness and isolation. David Copperfield and not Demon Copperhead. Good times.

It’s time for more hope and to stop with all this nonsense. I’m writing a second book. You can all calm down now.

Mystic beer church

Right now, as ever, we have more use for hope than for despair. That's why Star Wars was called "A New Hope", right? It's our job as authors to instil hope. A Tuesday night revelation. #writingcommunity

"I had to show him that I was down in the gutter with the rest of them. Broke my boy." - Mike E. Jonathan Banks and Rhea Seehorn should have got Emmys for Better Call Saul. No questions.

Hi KodeKloud, thanks for the reminder and gosh, do I feel stoked for learning now?

Detectorist's Little Chef. Big nostalgia vibes got bigger.

"There’s a major difference between a novice writer holding down two jobs and an experienced professional writer. But when it comes to the natural affection one has for the act of writing novels there shouldn’t be much of a difference." - Haruki Murakami "The City and Its Uncertain Walls"

Engineering with Empathy Writing Like Murakami https://richardwbown.com/writing-like-murakami/ I walk into the corridor. It’s long and bright, with glass walls to little cubicles on eit

I was interviewed a few weeks back about leading from where we are in engineering, ambition vs being kind and whether they are mutually exclusive and how to stay sane in our jobs. Also spoke about why I felt compelled to write "Human Software"

Is there any Udemy course created that doesn't absolutely fucking kill any interest in any subject? No wonder I'm rewatching Small Prophets and The Detectorists.

Also trying to work out the best way to sell copies of Human Software direct from my website. Stripe kind of works but do I want to be even trying this? My stock says I do.

A new week. Got dentist, office move, DIY to do. Plus job search I hope to get some writing in as well. I have an almost spec short screenplay almost done. Completely uncommercial but has been fun to write.

Good to see Worldcom getting some “love”. I worked for them for a stint on their billing software back in the day. We didn’t get much done. m.slashdot.org/story/452710

That feeling when you deliberately let a domain lapse and it gets bought and parked

"I can remember a time when we weren't obsessed with nostalgia. Those were the days." -- Jasper Carrott

It's been almost five months since I self-published my debut novel. What did I get right, and what did I get wrong, and how do I protect myself from marketing burnout the next time around? Some thoughts. #writingcommunity #booksky richardwbown.com/what-ive-lea...

"There are fields, Neo, endless fields where human beings are no longer born. We are grown."

Loved Small Prophets and had to go back and watch the Detectorists and now I'm smitten with gentle English stuff. Good thread of recommendations: www.reddit.com/r/BritishTV/...

This is great. I’m terrible at it

Until people stop buying the tech and the services that they proclaim are enslaving them, they will never be free.

I had to look up today's XKCD: xkcd.com/3209/

The music in the gym is, as always, execrable but luckily I’ve discovered Joshua Burnside to keep me right

Every time I watch the winning shot from yesterday's GB US women's curling match, I burst into tears. I really don't think I'll be able to stomach today.

Gosh, I thought I was angry until I read @bobbyllew.bsky.social llewellyn.substack.com/p/its-not-ga...