What makes any magazine collectable? Well, at the risk of stating the obvious, the principal reason is that it still exists to be collected; yes, there’s likely to be some value placed on a particular publication because of what’s inside its covers, but what’s most likely to make any issue collectable is the fact that […]
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Avoiding Spoilers
As I write this, the Edinburgh Festivals – in particular the Edinburgh International Festival, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and Edinburgh International Book Festival – still have more than a week to run. My Festival, however, is already over; I’ve reviewed all the shows I’m reviewing, and am back to pitching for work – albeit taking advantage, whenever […]
‘I saw him before he was famous, you know!’
Mark Gatiss is, for the time being, the one. No, not like that! With one notable exception, we’ve never breathed the same air. Nevertheless, Mr Gatiss is the one. To elaborate: the much-admired actor/writer/producer/etc is the one person I can honestly point at and say: “I saw him on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe before he […]
Writing non-fiction: 1
There was a time when I foolishly associated “being a professional writer” only with someone who wrote fiction. Or a journalist. From quite an early age, I’d decided that I certainly wasn’t the latter; those journalists I had seen (either in films or on the TV news) were clearly determined, news-hungry hounds with no compunction about […]
Tipping Point: My Freelance Journalism Tips
When it comes to writing, I see myself as a sprinter rather than a marathon-runner. Few of the articles I write break through the 2,000 word barrier; the majority of my commissions are under 1,500. So, I’m actually pretty pleased – even surprised – that one self-generated writing project now stands at more than 20,000 […]
What’s in a name?
A sure sign that I’m something of an GEEK is that I find the company’s current product line a tad annoying – not because of the products but the ever-so-slight mess (in my not-so-humble opinion) of the brand names that have been attached to them. It’s all a far cry from the simple four-quadrant […]
Keeping out of the interview
It’s a matter of personal taste, I know, but whenever I’m reading an interview, the last person I want to be aware of is the interviewer. There are exceptions, of course; TV writer Graeme Kibble-White wrote a fascinating article for Doctor Who Magazine a while back about the evolving relationship between himself (as a journalist) […]
