Finding joy in small things
April 29, 2020
…or, staying sane in the Lockdown. … More Finding joy in small things
Category: Writing
An Awfully Big Adventure
April 17, 2020
My first tentative photo walk for two weeks. … More An Awfully Big Adventure
And not forgetting Bernard…
March 29, 2020
A general update on where I am with the cancer, and how we’re doing under lock down. … More And not forgetting Bernard…
Bernard’s non biopsy
March 12, 2020
More red herrings, and writing again, yay! … More Bernard’s non biopsy
A lesser-known Bionicle anniversary
December 5, 2019
As has been said many times elsewhere, and by me here, September this year marks 20 years since Bob Thompson and I started developing my reworking of Lego’s original three and a half pages of Boneheads of Voodoo Island into what would soon become Bionicle. But it was also 1999, and the Millennium Eve was … More A lesser-known Bionicle anniversary
To Whom It May Concern…
February 18, 2019
Yes. This.
The Flying Monk
February 3, 2019
A pub full of alcoholic psychics, an apprentice witch who prefers vacuum cleaners to broomsticks and a ghostly black dog that houses the spirit of an eleventh century monk called Eilmer, who history states once built himself wings and flew from the roof of the Abbey, and who has been trying to recreate the feat … More The Flying Monk
The Writer: Episode #8
January 27, 2019
You don’t have to write like this to be a writer, but it helps. … More The Writer: Episode #8
Feel Like Giving Up? Read this.
January 24, 2019
Sound advice from one of the top bloggers. … More Feel Like Giving Up? Read this.
Getting back on the self-promotion horse
January 14, 2019
I’m not one of those people who can blog every day, about their day, regardless of whether it’s interesting or not. I’m certainly not one of those people who is organised enough to blog about something interesting every day! I also can’t just dash off a quick blog over the first cup of tea in … More Getting back on the self-promotion horse
Remembering Erika
November 9, 2017
It would have been my Canadian friend Erika Strobel’s birthday yesterday. I never met her, and without looking it up, I don’t know exactly how old she would have been, but I loved her anyway. We had many mutual friends, and several very dear ones in common, and we would often find ourselves conversing in … More Remembering Erika
An enviable lifestyle, apparently…
April 15, 2016
I recently had someone connect with me on LinkedIn who turned out to be a huge Bionicle fan. It’s not the first time, and it is quite satisfying to hear from these guys who grew up with the toys ten, fifteen years ago, although not as satisfying as royalties would have been of course… 😉 However, in his post-connection … More An enviable lifestyle, apparently…
Getting back out there
February 3, 2016
It’s not been the best month. The death of anyone close to you is always a blow, but that of your oldest and best friend is more like being repeatedly hammered by Mohammed Ali. But life must eventually restart, and my book ‘The Multiverse of Max Tovey’ needs attention. The sequel needs starting of course, but before … More Getting back out there
Reading again – it’s a miracle. A book review.
November 2, 2015
I haven’t read fiction for many years, until now. I just couldn’t. My justification went like this – most of the time it was better than anything I could write, which just depressed me, or it was worse, which made me shout at it a lot, or the worst of the three, it was inspirational and sent … More Reading again – it’s a miracle. A book review.
Teenage dyspraxia, anxiety and PTSD within ‘The Multiverse of Max Tovey’
October 22, 2015
The character of fourteen year old Time Traveller Max Tovey arrived one night, while idly watching something on TV that I wasn’t that interested in. My gaze wandered to the door next to the TV, wondering how many people had walked through that door in the life of the house, imagining the ghosts of occupants … More Teenage dyspraxia, anxiety and PTSD within ‘The Multiverse of Max Tovey’
Solidarity, of a kind
September 13, 2015
I don’t normally do this kind of thing, but one of my new-found gang of fellow writers just posted about being suckered into doing some chain letter post thing called 7-7-7-7. The idea it seems is to post seven lines from seven lines down on the seventh page of one’s book, then get seven other … More Solidarity, of a kind
Bionicle – my actual part in its origins
September 7, 2015
The Wikipedia page about me says that I’m known mostly for my involvement with Lego Bionicle. Obviously I hope one day that will change to ‘author of ‘The Flying Monk’ and ‘The Multiverse of Max Tovey‘, but for now, Bionicle is arguably my biggest ‘claim to fame’. Not that you’d know it if you looked on Lego’s … More Bionicle – my actual part in its origins
Publication day
August 31, 2015
So, the day finally came. After twenty five years of being distracted from book writing by the animation industry, my first novel ‘The Multiverse of Max Tovey’ is actually released. It’s a strange feeling. Obviously every novelist dreams of being sat in a book shop at this point with eager purchasers queuing around the block, but not all of … More Publication day
Dialogue and punctuation
August 29, 2015
This might get a bit geeky and OCD, but bear with me! An advance reviewer of ‘The Multiverse of Max Tovey’ emailed me, concerned that I wasn’t putting enough commas in my dialogue. Yes really. So for instance, where I had written “Get out of here Max!”, he suggested that it should be “Get out of here, … More Dialogue and punctuation
The actual physical book
August 28, 2015
Every writer remembers their first credit, or their first by-line, and they’re wonderful moments, but today the first copies of my debut novel arrived. I know, there are a million writers out there who have had that moment, but this is MINE, and in the words of ‘Almost Famous’, “Damn I’m going to enjoy this!” Something like three years … More The actual physical book
So you want to write about Time Travel…?
August 9, 2015
Hmmm. Tricky one. Which way do you go – machine, wormhole, spirit guide, something-plugged-into-the-brain…? So many choices, so many pitfalls. A few years ago I was watching a film on TV that my wife wanted to watch but about which I wasn’t that bothered, and my attention drifted lazily to the door into the kitchen … More So you want to write about Time Travel…?
The things you do for writing
August 4, 2015
Writers are traditionally supposed to starve in garrets for their art. I did it in gas stations. And pubs, and restaurants, and anywhere else that would pay the rent and give me enough time in the day, or more usually at night, to pursue the mad dream of being a professional writer. The gas station job was … More The things you do for writing
Up and running
July 2, 2015
Well, it’s official, I am now a .com and an @. Ahead of the publication of my first children’s/young adult fantasy novel ‘The Multiverse of Max Tovey’, I now have not only an author site, but I have also joined the Twitterati – I am @alswinn. Not quite sure what to do with it yet, … More Up and running
Afternoon all
July 1, 2015
Exciting news – my first novel, ‘The Multiverse of Max Tovey’, a children’s and Young Adult fantasy book, is to be published later in 2015 – more news to follow on all the usual social media outlets.
Alastair Swinnerton 