Voice of Treason

The oath to your nation writhes,
cries, crawls and falls.
I’ve been courting your enemies,
meeting behind closed doors.

It’s not through your failings that
I turn to them; in truth, I’ve begun to
enjoy our recurring civil wars.

Let it be known:
I take no pleasure in my deceit,
nor do I turn to her out of greed.

My heart rules my brain,
as your image fills my head, believe
me please, I didn’t mean this pain.

Switzerland cannot always be my name,
the law of the land states I need to choose
a place to rest, and call my home.

Sweetest England lazes by my side,
easing the passing of each day
while Sensuous Russia spurs
creativity and my emotive side

Intelligent conversation, deep
philosophical debate, humour
and comedy runs rampant
across both sides of my border lands.

Simply: I have too much love to give;
stringing you both along just isn’t fair,
If possible I’d choose the two of you;
or neither, or either/or . . .

The cursed fact is that I may be better off alone.

...two words to grab the attention; given the numerous YA authors and self-proclaimed chocoholics on the Cloud, if one doesn't get you, the other just might.

And all in the interest of a little shameless self-promotion -

Some folk here read Nicola Morgan's regular blog posts and so this might be old news. But for those who don't, Nicola ran a small competition in conjunction with top of the charts chocolatiers Coco to describe a brand new, imaginary chocolate confection. So here's a link to the shortlisted entries: http://helpineedapublisher.blogspot.com/2011/10/coco-competition-results.html

Number six also goes by the name of Guero Davila.  Whoever he is.

I write this on three hours sleep after a day at Covent Garden (rubbish sales as half brings only hordes of families trying to distract them selves by looking at bright lights) followed by a night of extreme mayhem at my favourite club. There will be more pictures to follow, not for the faint hearted, but here is a little mobile camera number to wet your appetites!

What will be revealed in better images is the fab deer skull with a watch face inthe eye socket I am wearing on my head, I foud it years aso washed out of the ground in a flood, can't say more halloween than that!

Check out the 'Blue Steel' onthe man in the hat - Mr Flux in all his glory!

Hi all fellow Clouders. All who hae asked me how te move went and what has been happening.

The move was daunting - we did it - we still have not decorated, or opened the boxes.
The air is wonderful, whatever the weather, the scenery superb.
There are a lot of activities and art groups, concerts, and writing group. However, I have a slipped disc, low back and have exacerbated my long standing neck injury so I am wishing I could go back in time.
 I read cloud, and hope to be better in a while but from experience it will be weeks/months not days.
All my editing/writing and painting plans are on hold. It is sad and everything sits temptingly outside.
Would I swap being back in Cambridge and better than I had been for ages; I have to admit that I would - only because I now have an unknown future and do not know what to do for the best.
I have to be hopeful that I will regain some of the new found freedoms that I have enjoyed briefly.

My US editor 'friend' suggested I could add some sensory (fictional)description to set the scenes in my Hawaii novellas. So here's hoping you guys can help out, as my scene setting is weak ...

Hawaii Big Island west coast (Pacific) has sandy tourist beaches and rocky adventure beaches  - surfing and diving amongst coral reefs. Hotels abound, so does fast food. It's expensive, though.

Inland there are active volcanoes, national parks, lush rainforests and coffee plantations along the volcanic slopes.

Imagine you were flown there for a day at the speed of light. What would be your first impressions? 

So, today I would like to talk about my various techniques for handling the beast of



Hey! There's a cat playing piano on youtube! 

Has anyone heard of these people:

http://www.bibliotastic.com/

Apparently free publishing and free to download books?

Since I have become an occasional bus passenger, it is how I get to the railway station to go home from one of my current jobs, the bus timetable has become quite important to me. This is mainly because there are not many minutes between the scheduled arrival time of the bus at the station stop and the scheduled departure time of the train I need. So I become irrationally annoyed when passengers step on the bus and only then realise that the transport company require them to make a contribution towards the cost of the journey. Adopting a surprised expression they then spend what feels like an eternity in their handbag or pockets locating the means to settle their part of the contract, be it payment card or cash. Then the next candidate steps up and, not having noticed that the established practice requires funds, adopts a similar surprised expression and does the same thing. In the days when we had conductors on buses (yes I can remember them) this may have been amusing eccentricity. In these modern times when things have improved to the extent that we do not have conductors and the driver must wait for the transaction to be completed it may soon lead to a violent incident in a particular north western suburb of London.

Then we have the person that steps on the bus and has a leisurely discussion with the driver about whether or not this service goes to Lesser Gobbling or stops anywhere near Disembowelment Lane. Can’t they read!?! It’s nailed to the bl****y sign post!!

Oddly, I get over these crimes against my human rights, even on days when they cause me to miss the train. But there is one thing that leaves me grumbling for days. Why oh why, when I pay for my lunch with a tenner, do they lay a crisp stiff new fiver, straight from Her Majesty’s Royal Mint, on my outstretched hand then then drop the coins on top, so they scatter all over the counter and the floor. My other hand is engaged in the business of clasping my comestibles and can’t rescue the situation. Why not place the coins in my warm soft welcoming palm and follow that up with the crisp new five pound note! Why not?!?!

I feel better already, Caffeine I think.

Next month is surprisingly enough, November, so I've decided to become one of those barmy masochists who subject themselves to bashing out 50,000 words in 30 days, lest they condemn themselves to literary obscurity.

Why am I doing this? Because my creative writing needs a kick up the backside, because if I surround myself with fellow sufferers, some mutual motivation will surely spring and things will get written. If those words amount to anything of any substance, that's a bonus.

If you're of a similar mental frailty, you can register at www.nanowrimo.org There are well established local groups and a friendly mix of ages and experiences on the forums. The Birmingham group will meet every Saturday in the Coffee Lounge, Navigation Street, for write-ins and general consolation. Hopefully there are a couple of us forming a Lichfield sub-group too.

GeroniNaNoWriMo...!

Hi all..do you like to write zombie fiction?  Adventure with a bit of blood and guts? How about writing collaboratively?

CYOA ( choose your online adventure) is a collaborative writing project gathering the talents of authors and editors around the globe to create a uniue reading and writing experience. AND we are looking for team members for our next project....

 CYOA’s next adventure takes us into the heartland of Zombies – where it will be survival of the fittest – or smartest – or perhaps the luckiest characters.

Its been so much fun to write with a bunch of committed, passionate and very talented writers these past two series. I’m excited and desperate to start this new one. Please do pass on the information and follow this story along on facebook

Its a little different this time round. Writers are asked to submit a short story introducing a character they’d like to bring along to the CYOA. the editors will be looking at all of the stories and choosing a wide range of characters to come and play. Below are the details of the call out.

Please read through ALL of the information and follow links before submitting.

1. Submissions will be accepted from midnight AEST 20th of October 2011 through to midnight AEST 6th of January 2012.

2. Submissions will only be accepted through Submishmash 

4. Our Zombie Writing Line Up will be announced on the 17th of January 2012 through FB and Twitter, after contacting the relevant successful applicants.

5. The CYOA Zombie Project’s main writing commences the 4th of Feb 2012 with final drafts due on the 6th April 2012.

6.The project aims to launch the online access to the stories on the 1st of June 2012.

* Please read the scope for writers in the Details Page. As this is an experimental writing project, the perimeters of writing collaboratively may be a little different to what you may have experienced before hand. Please also read the details about editing and the weaving process, as it too, may be very different to what you may have worked with in the past. This project does not pretend to be the end all and be all of collaborative writing, rather it is pushing towards the limits of what collaborative writing could be and the opportunities it can offer. Its meant to be fun and interactive as well as a tool for you to grow as a writer.

* Please read the world view and setting for our Story. This will act as a guide only to initiate our stories. Specific information and details will be added when the project begins – and the team begin to collaborate on ideas.

To be considered for inclusion as part of the project