This week’s Shelfie has just gone out. If you’re in Edinburgh, your diary just got busier! edinburghshelfie.substack.com/p/another-we...

Authors, do you have a book event scheduled in Edinburgh any time soon? Let me know and I'll add it to the list that goes out weekly in the edinburghshelfie.substack.com

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! It's start-the-next-novel day and I've written the first 116 words, and now I'm off, there's no stopping me till I reach the end.

A new edition of the Edinburgh Shelfie has just gone live. What better way to spend a drab Sunday afternoon than choosing brilliant book events to go to. Check it out here: edinburghshelfie.substack.com/p/all-good-b... Subscribing for free to get it every week.

😭😭😭 Covid means I'm missing @bloodyscotland.bsky.social for the first time ever. Consoling myself at home with somewhat suitable reading, thanks to lovely book post from Jody Cooksley.

This week's Edinburgh Shelfie is out with details of all the best book events across the city. edinburghshelfie.substack.com/p/who-will-y...

Hopefully an indication of better weather to come 😂

It's here! The first edition of Edinburgh Shelfie has gone live with more than 120 book events listed! Subscribe, share and enjoy! open.substack.com/pub/edinburg...

Sunrise this morning. Wexford.

Missing the Book Festival already? You don't have to... Sign up for the new Edinburgh Shelfie newsletter for details of all the bookish events scheduled in September & beyond. There are book events nearly every day to keep that festival feeling going! edinburghshelfie.substack.com/p/coming-soon

Guess how many book events are scheduled in Edinburgh during September... At least 59!!!* (*I say 'at least' because no doubt there are some I haven't come across yet.) Want to know what they all are? Sign up to this new substack, launching Sep 1: edinburghshelfie.substack.com/p/coming-soon

I’m going to be starting a new Substack in September 🍁 Edinburgh Shelfie will be a weekly listing of book launches and events in Edinburgh and round about. If you’re a reader, subscribe now and you’ll never miss seeing your favourite author again! edinburghshelfie.substack.com/p/coming-soon

I wonder if baby name websites realize how much time novelists spend on them

So, playing Yahtzee last night and this happened. In one throw. (I know, anyone could fake that - but honestly, I have better things to do with my time, so you can believe it!) I'm informed by one of our AI overlords that it's a chance of 1 in 7,776.

Right after "Don't use semicolons," "Don't use adverbs," "Don't use speech tags beyond 'said' and 'says,'" and "Don't ever use the word 'that,'" my favorite piece of writing advice is "Don't listen to people giving writing advice who only ever tell you not to do things."

Look - there's Fred. I hadn't seen him in a while.

Edinburgh. 9pm. Look at that sun.

I finally got to an ARC, only to find I was way late and the book is already published. That notwithstanding, The Rush by @bethlewis.bsky.social is a brilliant read. Set in the Klondike gold rush, the lives of three women collide & intertwine. Fantastic writing. Thanks, @viperbooks.bsky.social

Look! Fred's back, sitting on his chimney pot.

Just as well he didn't have a dog. A few years ago, I bought a tiny bear, carved in bone, in Santa Fe, and when I got home, my dog assumed it was a treat for him and crunched it up! I'm still sad about my little bear statue.

It's good. But what about, for every revision, drink a shot? 😂

The graveyard on Holy Island, with a suitably moody sky

Absolutely gorgeous book post from Black & White Publishing. Thank you so much - my tbr shelf overfloweth! Looking forward to your words, Mairi Kidd and Lucy Ribchester ❤️🖤❤️

Favourite line so far in the book I'm reading: "He was past sixty, and fond of pastry. Just think of that!" The book? The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins.

Right after "Don't use semicolons," "Don't use adverbs," "Don't use speech tags beyond 'said' and 'says,'" and "Always delete the word 'that,'" my favorite piece of writing advice is "Don't listen to people giving writing advice who are incessantly telling you not to do things."

All hail the Plot Bison, who's come to guide you toward a better story. Tread carefully. Keep your hands inside the vehicle at all times.

It's good night from Fred x

I look at it as stockpiling books for my retirement - a reading pension of sorts 😁📚

My cartoon for this week’s @theguardian.com Books

This has to be the start of a novel, right?

Fred's back for his evening vigil. (Yes, I've named him Fred.)

Lone bird enjoying the evening sun...

Chuck Wendig: “Plot does not drive characters. Characters drive plot. Characters want, fear, need, feel, act, react. This creates plot.” #screenwriting #scriptsky

My alter ego can do the writing. I'll just eat the ice cream!

Strawberry ice cream? Don't mind if I do!

At last night's event at the @edinburghbookshop.bsky.social - @alibacon.bsky.social tells @janeandersonwritet.bsky.social and the audience about her fabulous book #TheAbsentHeart.

If you're into bad boys, Byron's your man! I've just finished #Dangerous by @essiefox.bsky.social - sumptuous settings, a glamorous anti-hero, tales of vampires, gondolas, and murder... What more could you want? Thank you, @orendabooks.bsky.social!

No matter that all of my books have funerals in them, I can never spell cemetery right first time...

Chekov's matrix #writing #plot #humor

This (among other things) will apparently prevent you from becoming a successful writer: 'taking a break for a “quick” game of solitaire' 😂😂😂 I spend more time playing solitaire than writing, and I've had 8 books published. (I know - 'successful' is perhaps a different argument)

I have waited my whole life, for this moment....

I went to a drawing class this evening - we were working on texture, drawing bark and moss etc - and I surprised myself. I'll definitely be doing more.

In fact, it's only by doing these things that you can become a competent writer.

Could be a character in my next book...

After nine years of trusty service and spectacular driving, I've waved goodbye to the Crossfire - it really was on its last legs. 😭 Gone, but never to be forgotten - I really loved that car.

New Town blossom lifting the spirits on a dull, cloudy day.

And today was an ice cream day!

STOP what you are doing, find some headphones or a secluded location, and watch this. I am crying with laughter and admiration at an idea seen through to its (nearly) bitter end. www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD3Q... Sound--as they say--on.