Category Archives: Personal

The Aftermath: Everything I regret doing (and not doing) in The Excision

Posted on January 29, 2012 by joelyblack

This is what happens at the end of every book. Like grief, there’s a process to finishing a book that includes the pre-finish “ARGH! Now I have to finish it!” and then the aftermath, the hours of saying to everybody … Continue reading →

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2011: Learnings and musings

Posted on December 31, 2011 by joelyblack

Everybody everywhere is doing a retrospective for 2011, apart from everybody on the other side of the dateline living in a magical future where things are fluffy and sparkly (or the vampires are) and everything is very much the same … Continue reading →

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The 10 awful sins I’ve committed on Twitter

Posted on September 24, 2011 by joelyblack

I’m in the middle of reading Grace Dent’s How To Leave Twitter. Aside from laughing so hard my stomach hurts and the neighbours think something dreadful is happening to me, it’s reminded me of all the times I’ve failed at … Continue reading →

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20 Reasons I’m not following you (or have unfollowed you) on Twitter

Posted on September 23, 2011 by joelyblack

In a mood of deep snark, I posted this more privately on Google Plus. Since it proved popular, here it is for everybody else. Once upon a time, Twitter was the kind of place where you followed everybody who followed … Continue reading →

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Maps, fantasy maps and an awesome video about them

Posted on September 8, 2011 by joelyblack

Ever since I started writing Amnar, people who like it have asked me for maps. And ever since I started writing Amnar, I’ve been resistant to making them. “But you’re a geographer! You love maps!” True. I do love maps. … Continue reading →

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Accusations of geek

Posted on September 5, 2011 by joelyblack

A couple of weeks ago, my book club teamed up with the venerable Manchester Girl Geeks to discuss our book of the month, Ray Kurzweil’s Age of Spiritual Machines. Being far more organised than me, they had stickers and postcards … Continue reading →

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They sing it better than me: Fascinating Aida and Cheap Flights

Posted on September 4, 2011 by joelyblack

I wasn’t sure organising flights to Devon could get worse than last time, but it did. It started when I tried to book online yesterday. I ran through the process as usual, avoiding all the extra charges (do I want … Continue reading →

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Ninja-ing. For real.

Posted on September 3, 2011 by joelyblack

I meant to write up about my first ninjutsu class, after I made such a big deal about it here… what feels like a million years ago. That was when everything was perfectly normal, and I was due to take … Continue reading →

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Extra time

Posted on August 30, 2011 by joelyblack

Something came out of reading Confessions of a GP last night, and I’ve been scratching my head over it ever since. After Granny died, Mum and I had a conversation while we were doing some work in her flat assessing … Continue reading →

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Tomorrow’s serial

Posted on August 29, 2011 by joelyblack

After writing yesterday about Granny, I wasn’t sure whether to post again about any of the aspects of going through a death. Somehow, I’ve got into my head that once you’ve calmly and bravely mentioned the issue, it’s best to … Continue reading →

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