Ben Westerham non-fiction related blog posts.
I am one of life’s natural recyclers. I simply hate to throw anything out. Books are a case in point, where a volume that I’ve finished with has to be literally falling apart before I will drop it in the recycling bin rather than add to the stack destined for the charity shop.
Somebody asked me recently if I write with a pen or pencil. My initial, non-thinking response was to laugh. Well, isn’t that just old hat, I might have added. Well, it’s true, I haven’t written a novel using anything other than a keyboard in a very long time.
Writing stories is essentially a repeated attempt at trying to understand the impossible, by which I mean people. People are the subject of stories and stories are all about people. But they are a slippery species, prone to catching you out. Layer upon layer and constantly changing.
In recent weeks I’ve been exploring the emerging options for authors with NFTs and the wider Web3 space. One thing that struck me is just how vast an array of opportunities are out there and more seem to pop up every day. It’s simply staggering and exciting and I’m definitely going to be running some experiments in this space just as soon as I can.
I’ve noticed during the course of writing the first five books in my Banbury Cross Murder Mystery series that there has been a steady but definite creep in the word count and I’ve been asking myself whether or not this might be a problem.
I’ve noticed more and more often in recent times that as I’ve pushed on through the years I have become increasingly lacking in tolerance and forbearance whenever I find myself reading a book that has turned out not to be what I was expecting.
Good news, this week I’ve completed the initial draft of book five in my Banbury Cross Murder Mystery series. It’s a stage in the production of a new book that’s highly pleasing, especially when I’ve managed to come up with a great ending. But it also points to the beginning of some seriously hard work.
I’ve mentioned more than once in the past that I am what is usually referred to as being a ‘wide’ author and, no, this isn’t a reference to the width of my body. It means that I make my books available to buy across all possible stores, not just the biggest in the marketplace.
I’ve encountered an interesting problem with my writing this year. Although not altogether unexpected, it’s still something I’m working on getting to grips with.