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"Fabulous Storytelling" Mick Herron

I have been writing and publishing books on a variety of topics since my bestselling Angry White Pyjamas came out in 1997. Other bestsellers include Red Nile, a biography of the River Nile. In total I have written 15 mainstream books translated into 16 languages. The include creative non-fiction, novels, memoir, travel and self-help. My publishers include Harper Collins, Picador, Penguin and Hachette. I have won several awards including two top national prizes- the Somerset Maugham literary award and the William Hill sportsbook of the Year Award. I have also won the Newdigate Prize for poetry- one of the oldest poetry prizes in the world; past winners include Oscar Wilde, James Fenton and Fiona Sampson.

A more recent success was Micromastery, published by Penguin in the US and the UK as well as selling in eight other countries.

Micromastery is a way of learning new skills more efficiently. I include these methods when I coach people who want to improve as writers. If that's you, go to the section of this site titled I CAN HELP YOU WRITE. I have taught creative writing in schools and universities but I now find coaching and editing is where I can deliver the most value. In the past I have taught courses in both fiction and memoir at Moniack Mhor, the former Arvon teaching centre in Scotland.

MICROMASTERY ON AMAZON

"Micromastery is a triumph. A brilliant idea, utterly convincing, and superbly carried through" - Philip Pullman

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My instagram account is roberttwiggerinstantart HERE

Sunday
Nov182012

liars

Apparently a stranger will lie to you three times in the first ten minutes of meeting. What about a friend?

Wednesday
Nov072012

the new currencies

 

The old currency was things. In the beginning, and until, say, a 100 years ago, there wasn’t much stuff in the world and to make something required a lot of concentrated energy. A hand made thing has a certain quality, so focusing on things meant you’d imbibe energy along the way, or come into contact with it in a beneficial way. Kind of like encouraging kids to eat blackcurrants because along the way they’ll get their daily dose of Vitamin C. But what if our blackcurrants were GM specials with no Vitamains at all?(You have to imagine for the sake of this example we are briefly in a parallel reality where most people don’t accept that vitamins exist). What happens is that people start dying of scurvy.

The cure? Stop eating blackcurrants and start talking about Vitamin C and how to get it into your system.

So in a world which goes from not enough things to too many (my kids turned toys into a kind of plastic mulch we had to periodically throw out, a bit like that swirling plastic detritus pool in the middle of the Pacific) in this kind of world we have to refocus on a new currency. Things are way too diluted, the valuable stuff in things is way too diluted. No vitamins!

The old currency was things, the new currency is human energy (which was what was valuable about things anyway).

Most things now(but not all) are so low in useful energy they actually just weigh you down. Hence the current craze amongst multi millionaires (like CD Baby founder Derek Sieves) of owning as little as possible, of employing no one on a permanent basis and travelling all the time. Human energy is the new currency and all of that behaviour is about energy conservation and generation.

It’ll happen anyway. We’ll get the energy equivalent of scurvy otherwise. Start looking at the world differently, stop trading in the old currency and start dealing in energy.

 

Friday
Nov022012

paranoid

Paranoid people believe everything is someone else's fault. We're living in an increasingly paranoid world it seems. Take the rap for something you didn't do today!

Friday
Oct122012

change the world/change the conversation

Some people change the world, others change the conversation. The other day, outdoors, round a campfire though it was not night, the conversation changed. Someone said: this is like a self help conversation and no one minded because we were allowed to laugh too. Playful people change the conversation, others like to keep it the same: safety, world situation, getting old etc. Who are the conversation changers?

Thursday
Oct112012

spanish dream farm for sale

My very good pal Jason Webster is selling his dream farm an hour or so out of Valencia in Spain. It also includes a 40 hectare mountain, almond trees, olive trees, incredible views, bees and bee hives if you want them. There are pics and more info at the below:

http://spanish-mountain-property.co.uk/ 

I have stayed on this farm several times. It is AMAZING. High in the hills on its own hill with a river in the valley with waterfalls and rock pools you can swim in. If you read his book SACRED SIERRA, this is the farm described in the book. Yep, your chance to live the same dream.

Thursday
Sep202012

the good news...

Pavlov discovered that there are always a few dogs in any dog population who are extremely difficult to brainwash...indeed they ony succumbed after being castrated and then starved for thirty days...

Sunday
Sep162012

tactics and strategy

Tactics is how you win a battle.

Strategy is how you win a war.

Grand Strategy is how you implement what you want after the war is over.

These terms can have other meanings but I like the idea that Grand Strategy could also mean an overall approach to life, a bigger aim, a super long term goal, a reason for being; anything in fact that is one's real and perhaps even embarrassing motivation. Or lack of it. Lots of people have 'being confused' as their grand strategy.