http://www.matthewhillswebsite.co.uk Writing, copywriting and other stuff like that Thu, 20 May 2010 06:28:47 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Well, I'm chuffed to be hosting Chapter 17 of Caroline Smailes' brand new novel, Like Bees to Honey. Chuffed because Caroline's a full-blown champion; chuffed because it's ace to be part of a grand idea. So: if you've come here from the last chapter, a warm hello to you, and if ... http://www.matthewhillswebsite.co.uk/2010/05/like-bees-to-honey-chapter-17/ There was no way to prove -- actually prove, really prove -- that that man was me. The story was familiar -- I knew I had written it -- but that name on the paper still was not me. It was a symbol, a name. It was alien. And then ... http://www.matthewhillswebsite.co.uk/2010/05/youre-a-writer-and-nobody-really-cares/ I’m doing the Bupa Great Manchester Run to raise a bit of cash for the National Literacy Trust this Sunday. I hated running. Really. I bobble at the best of times, don't I; a bunch of pale meat with noodles for limbs. That’s why when I'm really motoring – which is ... http://www.matthewhillswebsite.co.uk/2010/05/manchester10/ After last week's moan about writing anxiety, I spent the days since tricking myself back into writing. Has it worked? Well, I’ve got myself 4,000 words for the trouble. Below, I’ve listed what I think I did better. It’s not a methodology. It’s not life-coaching for writers. But it’s something. Use Microsoft ... http://www.matthewhillswebsite.co.uk/2010/01/nine-ways-to-trick-yourself-into-writing/ I am pregnant with a story. It's overdue, but I can't get myself into labour. It won't crown. It's kicking my belly but it doesn't want to play. It's a distraction; I feel it most of the time. It'll be the third time. The first time it was diarrhea. The second ... http://www.matthewhillswebsite.co.uk/2010/01/on-new-writing/ Manchester's had more snow than anyone remembers. We woke to drifts a foot deep in places, and transport that scarcely worked. But there's no meaningful way to write about snow without cliche -- no point, even -- not least when so many pictures have already coloured our day. The south's ... http://www.matthewhillswebsite.co.uk/2010/01/manchester-snow/ I’m on fences about aeroplanes. You know the cold physics add up, but it’s one of the few occasions you really fear gravity for what it is; for what it will do. My throat lumps every time the wheels leave tarmac. The lurch as the tail section dips, the engines screaming, ... http://www.matthewhillswebsite.co.uk/2010/01/flying/ I’ve moved in with a girl whose legs I fancied in school. It’s a kind of deferred success. Back then, 13 years old and sprouting limbs, I asked her out. She wouldn’t mind me saying her hair was kind of weird. It went all up and out -- a hair-sprayed mushroom ... http://www.matthewhillswebsite.co.uk/2009/12/new-flat/ We overtake the ghost of winter floods on the motorway North – a lorry with Cockermouth written all over its flanks. Past Lancaster, and the digital boards start shouting about closed bridges. Later, while the night tips fully into black, we see a couple of dented road signs. And that’s ... http://www.matthewhillswebsite.co.uk/2009/12/somewhere-in-furness/ Let's get dramatic. In July, my book was unpublished. It fell from the pre-order listings of a dozen online book shops, was deleted from Nielsen Bookscan. The galley proofs were unbound, de-covered and bleached back to white. Reps got in their cars after really successful meetings with booksellers -- who liked and ... http://www.matthewhillswebsite.co.uk/2009/11/getting-unpublished/