St. George, Bill Shakespeare and World Book Night. All in one day, 23rd April.More than enough words have been written and spoken about any one of the three. Some titles on the l… Read More

Read All Ab'aht it!The cry of the vendor on the street corner. Rarely heard today. The world of the media has changed.The means of cummunication, of getting the news out may differ. Th… Read More

Greetings to one and all, may the best of the season be yours and for the coming year, health and happiness.Happy Christmas and New Year Read More

There's a downside to everything. The silver lining has a cloud in tow. A grey, damp blanket of misery to smother the sunshine.Nanowrimo is no exception. Feelings run hot and high in t… Read More

Gets late early!l heard what she said and knew what was meant by it. Getting late early was the evenings drawing down towards night as summer drifted from the solstice to the equinox a… Read More

Hold the Phone!Everybody's doing it these days!Not in the way it originally came to be.It goes back to the days when reporters phoned in their copy.Stop, wait, hang on a minute.A sign that s… Read More

Coming around, going around, with a Shakespearean twist of calling on a triumvirate for inspiration, courage and resolve through difficult times and challenges. World Book night, the F… Read More

Ebook week's alive. Reminds me of Brian Blessed in Flash Gordon,  with his famous exclamation at the durability of the eponymous Hero."Gordon's alive!"It's with us again, Rea… Read More

Here we are again, standing on thr brink of Read an E book week. The calendar flagged up the notification, 7th to 13th March, 2021. Annually, the first full week of March.Twelve months ago… Read More

   Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!Martyn Read More

 No longer for perfection, but for the opne, the fittest.Not the grandest, the strongest or the like. The one most suited to me, which fits me the best of all.A bit Darwinian, a process… Read More

Did you fare well? Put it another way, how was it for you?I hit the target with a day in hand, and a strange sense of "Yeah, I can do that!"I knew I could do it, and this year there was more… Read More

Is there such a thing as the perfect notebok, or is it a quest for the impossible?The Traveller's Notebook story is infectious. It has got under my skin.Type, traveller's notebook or Midori… Read More

Nanowrimo v Hallowe’enThat’s the real battle, not the ghouls and the reindeer squaring up across the aisles in the supermarket from October onwards, we know how that one ends. Th… Read More

Not the first notebook I ever had, that is a long forgotten memory. I can hazard a guess it was probably a Silvine brand notebook with lined pages and a stitched spine.This first notebook is… Read More

No pun intended, but the idea of the Midori, Traveller's notebook or whatever brand name your variant may, or may not have, it strikes me that is what this item does. It gets under your skin… Read More

I found the time, and the place, to break the surface of the Wanderings Notebook. The brand of the "Midori-style" notebook I had been given. It was either birthday or wedding anniversry, I c… Read More

Tradition, an explanation of how and why things are done in a certain way, and always appear to have been done. It can be a way of drawing a conversation to a fairly abrupt end.Don't ask, do… Read More

Is there such a thing, a combination so tuned to you, the author, that words flow unhindered on to the page? The Notebook, the one, a soulmate whose signature beckons you between crisp white… Read More

Greetings on this day of God's own County, according to the golden telephone story, its a local call, and in the spirit of generosity for which the men of this fair county are legendary. The… Read More

Ne'er cast a clout 'til May is out. Either the Hawthorn, traditionally May flowering and a sign the weather is losing the cold edge of winter, or the month itself, it's gone for this ye… Read More

The smashwords Authors Give Back Sale is on until the end of May, currently set to wind down at midnight on the 31st.Don't rule out the possibility that they end date may be rolled out again… Read More

I have signed a petition suporting Sheffield Hallam University Students Claim for compensation. Check out the link, and and this 1828.org.uk article.The recent strikes affected their st… Read More

Life changes and the shift in normal has been profound in many countries, including my own, Smashwords have thrown their weight behind finding ways of coping with self-isolation and quaranti… Read More

The latest from Smashwords to authors, is sign up for Read an eBook week.Preparations are underway for the annual read an eBook week sale. Discounts and promotions on the site. Find yo… Read More

A whole seven days to gorge!Seven days dedicated to the wonder and variety of electronically formatted literature.   The first full week in March. The ebook distribution site, Smas… Read More

Primarily aimed locally to where I live,  well the bits covered by the UK Parliament, a bit more work to add to their load, on top of everything else.A serious note, picked up from Guid… Read More

Belated good wishes to everyone, I hope you are enjoying a good start to the new year. May your words flow freely, inspiration rain down on you and dreams become a part of your reality.Marty… Read More

Blow your trumpet, You've earned it. I've earned it!Polished off the 50 grand last night, I crossed the line sometime after 1.00 am local time. Had a brew and crashed.Now comes more po… Read More

The clocks have stepped back from Summer time and the temperature's dropping. The air tingles with anticipation. There is tension where worlds will shift around one another and doors will op… Read More

The seagull has flapped its wings and flitted.I gave it a lot of thought, discussed it internally at great length and finally decided that the website should fly under a new banner.  Fo… Read More

Lionel Bart's Musical interpretation of Charles Dicken's novel, Oliver Twist, simply entitled 'Oliver!' has the criminal ring leader Fagin, considering his options when confronted by a chnag… Read More

Occasionally the best decision is to pull back, regroup, lick your wounds and work out a new way forward.The seagull question raised its head once again, and I know that previous considerati… Read More

What goes around comes, around. Aware of my absence from these pages for quite some time I picked up the threads with a tweet that bounced into en email this morning with a sense of deja vu… Read More

July is here, and The Grange series is enrolled at Smashwords in the Ninth Annual Summer/Winter Sale. Whatever the season, wherever you are;  the discounts are lined up, the best s… Read More

June is fizzling out, the brief spell of unseasonable weather here in England is ending. The brilliant blue skies, tropical heat are once more sliding into familiar greys and rain speckled p… Read More

It came as an email, and the first glance and first reading sounded good.  An interest in "The Obedience of Fools," and invited  me to submit the work to a... competition! Hey… Read More

Ne'er cast a clout 'til the May is out!  The usual accompaniment to rubbish weather until June. A warning not to get caught out by the variable weather outdoors, and it has nothing to d… Read More

Last post I pondered on the book I would give a friend on World Book Night and I had a title in mind. The story is Sir Walter Scott’s “Ivanhoe.”Why? The local connection, t… Read More

We are drawing nearer to the annual celebration of reading and literature on the anniversary of Shakespeare's birth, and death. The Patronal festival of the national saint of England, George… Read More

A couple of posts ago I commented on a feeling of lethargy, inspiration dried up and looking for a kick start. Something to rekindle the enthusiasm and looking for that spark. I ventured on… Read More

Website update: The website has taken advantage of the mobile friendly fomatting offered by Freeola and Instant Pro. cheekyseagull.co.uk will now display easily on most devices. I… Read More

Sunday, at last, a plethora of literary gems waiting to to be snatched up - OK - downloaded.Read an eBook week is here.Ready, press startCheck out The Grange series at Smashwords, enter the… Read More

Your country needs lerts! Yeah, I know, it's an old one, goes way back as far as I can remember, but joking aside yesterday's email flagged up advance notice of something bang up to date.The… Read More

I've been absent for the whole of January and taking a break sounds more considered than the actuality. Truth is, when the skies are grey, the heating is on the blink and a dozen other thing… Read More

Rotherham, England 11:5 am GMT December 31st 2016The other Rotherham, a village in the Hurunui District of Canterbury Region on New Zealand's South Island is already there. Thirteen hours ah… Read More

If you prefer, Merry Christmas, and the compliments of the season to one and all.An odd little thing caught my eye while wandering around the internet a few days ago. A discussion on the cor… Read More

1st December 2016, I posted a congratulatory note for the valiant band who had emerged from the thirty day maelstrom of NaNoWriMo. Successful or not, maybe the truth is that it doesn't matte… Read More

Not this November, Congratulations to all of you. The valiant who plunged into a month long journey of discovery. Charging headlong into a mealstrom of creativity at the witching hour of hal… Read More

One of the surprising threads on social media after the US elections discussed the colour of Hillary Clinton's jacket lapels, many tweets expounded theories about the colour choice. Comments… Read More

I often think about him at this time of year, an old gentleman I used to see quite often. Almost every morning close to a war memorial, roughly the same time of day, about nine o’clock… Read More

November the Fifth, Bonfire Night, the Million Mask March through London, all connected by the face of one man. Guido Fawkes. Some say he was the last man to enter the Houses of Parliament w… Read More

November 1st, another year and another challenge for hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, of writers?NaNoWriMo swung into gear at 00:01 this morning wherever you are in the world. If you… Read More

It kicked off with a conversation about language with a colleague and an attempt to introduce him to the delights of the arty bollocks generator, I've touched on this before, but this time… Read More

It was a sequel to Jaws, the not entirely originally titled Jaws 2, but it had the tag "Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water..." A classic line from Peter Benchley.After… Read More

That moment, you reach the point of searching for something and lift the corner of the carpet  to peer underneath, you know full well that what you're looking for isn't there, but you h… Read More

Still working with the idea that Brexit could be the source material for future creativity had me digging through the Spectator online the other day and an article about the Creative and Art… Read More

David Gaughran posted a piece about the current state of the publishing industry and its attitude towards books and publication. Read it, go, read it, and then come back here. I have my own… Read More

I recently bought my first Kindle device; not, I hasten to add the first e-reading device I've had, but definitely the first Kindle.I've used the Kindle software on other devices, PC, laptop… Read More

Declining eBook sales, and this has nothing to do with the effects of Brexit, this is routine sales figures for the last quarter. Nate Hoffelder at the-digital-reader.com flags up the recent… Read More

My forays into twitter land can be somewhat erratic, hit one day and skip the next two or three. Tonight, after the day job had finished and I found myself at my desk - the one that looks ov… Read More

A week is a long time in politics, and a fortnight must seem like an eternity. A couple of weeks ago, in the immediate aftermath of the EU Referendum and the knee jerk reactions from both si… Read More

Spot of shameless plugging of the books coming up.Smashwords summer promotion is in full flow, a shed load of books by authors from all over the globe available at a discount,The whole of Th… Read More

Brexit - what happens when the big guy sits the wooden bench; he brexit? A slightly modified version of Yorkshire humour that dropped into my inbox from a friend across the border in Barnsle… Read More

Bit of light relief, Fed up with the endless stream of news and comment, looking for the way out? Smashwords Summer and Winter promotion is now on, All the Grange Series are listed, Iceline… Read More

Not an opportunity I could miss really, to post a comment on the EU referendum. Yesterday's vote has been discussed,  argued over and specffulated about for months. For some of us the o… Read More

I've had a slack couple of weeks from a writing point of view; the day job and life generally disrupting the yet to be achieved ideal habits of creativity. After I had spent April punching G… Read More

The previous post "Who's the Man," touched on the identity of a character in Iceline, a voice heard over the telephone and referred to as The Man. Suggesting a person of power and influence… Read More

Working through the text of Control Escape the other night, the regular plod of edit and check gave me a moment to stop and think. The writing time between Control Escape and Iceline was qui… Read More

400 years, Four whole centuries since the greatest writer in English passed this way, April 23rd, the day he was born in 1564 and the day he died in 1616. William Shakespeare. A playwright… Read More

 Eleven days to go23 April, a portentious date in English literature, the birthdate, and the day he died, of William Shakespeare, shared with the festival of George, England's patron.Sh… Read More

March 2015, a little over a year ago I posted "A Cautionary Tale from Becca Mills" which linked to Becca's own post at The Active Voice and recounts how her book Nolander was block… Read More

Time on your hands, space on your device? Are you still enjoying that break from the day job?Visit The Grange and check out the action.Discount codes available until the 31st March, Don't ha… Read More

One way of putting it, more like dropped a ball, in a manner of speaking. Had a phone call this morning from a friend and reader about What You Ask For. I had the manufacturer's name wrong f… Read More

Gone to Earth comes off line tonight, I shall unpublish the work in progress at Smashwords. Not ready for the premium catalog the uncompleted text has noly been available as a download at Sm… Read More

Read an Ebook month kicks off tonight, as the last stroke of the witching hour fades into the silent darkness, March comes in, Roaring like a lion, or a page turning maniac, devouring words… Read More

"Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to hang in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully," was Dr  Samuel Johnson's take on a deadline. Not something we are likely to f… Read More

Read an eBook Week kicks off for 2016, seven days of discounted and free ebooks at Smashwords. The Grange thrillers are involved, with a 25% discount code - especially for this week.Check th… Read More

 Today's the day, World Book Day, check the website for the latest updates on the day's progress. and to throw in my sixpenn'orth discount codes are online for all The Grange thrillers… Read More

3 March, 2016, just over a week to go and the literary initiative takes on a global perspective with World  Book Day. Here in the UK vouchers to buy a book for £1 are distributed… Read More

Flanders and  Swann introduced me to the romantic melody with The Hippopotamus Song. Too young to grasp the nuances of romantic entanglements, I would sit mesmerised; listen to the… Read More

"Throwing spaghetti at the wall," ark Coker made the comment in a conversation on Late Night Library, and as such a brilliant description it stayed with me, the red glutinous mass, stragglin… Read More

January already kicked into touch, the march of crossed out days snaking across the calendar into February, Candlemas, Groundhog day gone already and the meteorological prognostications made… Read More

An article on Philip Pullman in the Guardian over a letter penned in his capacity as President of the Society of Authors kicked off a cluster of blog posts. Warning of the likelihood that th… Read More

What do you call a fledgling work in progress, where the title is provisional and the story-line is embryonic? Where everything about is insubstantial and ephemeral? An idea!Daylight saving… Read More

Clear Water, the provisional title for this year's attempt at NaNoWriMo. by the time you read this the starting gun will have fired and the crack of the shot been drowned in the clatter of k… Read More

A lighter touch this time, a bit of fun for the festive season with a glass of something at your elbow to lift the spirit? I love playing with words, twisting their meanings to shift the con… Read More

NaNoWriMo packed away for a another year, chalked up the fourth win with Clear Water, a look at the beginnings of the Grange and its residents and visitors, still very much a work in progres… Read More

Not the end of the year post, but the start of the New Year, 365 days to build on whatever has been achieved so far and on day one of the first month a personal milestone. At 1800 GMT on the… Read More

Further reflections? Clear Water production has eased, the word count has slowed from the furious outpouring during November it is now meandering gently through December. The flow curtailed… Read More

Wishing you all the bestMay your storylines never tangle,your plot holes be marvellously filled,words pour effortlessly from your fingers andtime flow gently until your deadlines are met!Hap… Read More

The complete text of The Obedience of Fools went through auto-vettor earlier tonight (22 October) and is now being processed for Smashwords Premium catalogue in preparation for distribution… Read More

The Obedience of Fools; text completed and undergoing an edit and proof read to nail down the obvious glitches and grammatical goof ups. The updated and formated text should be uploaded to s… Read More

The countdown is under way, NaNoWriMo have rebooted the website ready for a fresh assault on creativity and a 30 day jaunt through imaginative abandon. Professional and amateur writers alike… Read More

I woke up to an email on Sunday from West Cumbria Writers, not all of them obviuosly, but one of their number and after reading the mail over a mug of Yorkshire Tea chased up the website and… Read More

Behind the front page of this blog is a list of blogs I follow, one particular favourite is the Passive Voice, that  puts out something to chew over on an almost daily basis. Running th… Read More

I wonder myself sometimes, most of the posts on this site, and perhaps many others are a link in a chain reaction, someone posts on the net and the search engines lob it down the line to a f… Read More

E-Book sales fall after new Amazon Contracts; the article in the Wall Street Journal (and posted at The Passive Voice) examines the recent sales figures in the wake of the recent negoti… Read More

A lot of the chatter lately has been about the pitfalls facing independent self publishers, but what about the positive aspects of the challenge. How do I get my book out to the world, and I… Read More

The Mid Year event at smashwords, all through July ebooks are discounted for hours of holiday reading.Control Escape and What You Ask For are down to 50% of their new price, $2.00 each with… Read More