And the winner is....

Me! But it's nothing to do with books and writing. Last Sunday with my partner Jonathon Walker, I was lucky enough to win the men's doubles trophy at our tennis club. Okay, okay - so it's not Wimbledon, but who cares; it felt like a grand slam to me!! It's funny, but playing in front of a crowd (about 20 - if I'm being generous) and knowing it was the final felt like a drug. Now I know what a true champion must feel like. Being there just wasn't good enough; I wanted to win, I had to win - at any cost.

Kissing the trophy and holding it aloft made me feel like a god - or at least not some aging, cack-handed tennis hack with two left feet! If I can ever work out how to post a pic of the event I will do so.

Now - back to The Valkyrie Sagas.

It's been a busy week: frustrating - but busy. The second edition of 'Mimir's Well' is now published with the uber-cool new cover. At the moment, it is only available from http://www.lulu.com/ but in a few weeks time it will be listed on Amazon around the globe. Annoyingly, there was a small glitch with the bar code for 'Hel' so we've had to adjust the cover and order another proof. Hopefully that will arrive within the week and I can hit the publish button for this book, too.

In other news, the posters, bookmarks and other proofed merchandise was delivered and it looks amazing - seriously, seriously cool. Do check them out on the website; blown up full sized they look even better.

I'm now about half way through my final edit of the manuscript for 'Odin's Curse' and this remains on schedule for a spring 2011 publication. Chris has the specs for the cover and I can't wait to see the first draughts. It should look utterly amazing - I'll keep you posted.

There are loads of other things lined up - but I'll say more next week so you're just going to have to wait and be patient!

One last little thing, I thought I might do a spot where I give some down to earth tips about writing a book. Not artsy-fartsy stuff about writing styles and subordinate clauses and such, but just some good old fashioned basic starters for ten.

First and most important tip: LOVE what you're going to write about.

If you don't, then the project is doomed from the start. You have to feel really, really passionate about your book - fact or fiction - if you're going to complete an endeavour that will take at least six months and fill your every waking minute.

It's a simple and obvious tip, but it's worth repeating.

LOVE your story and characters - because if you don't, how can others???

All the best


Greg