iPad apps for writers
Just a quick post to point out a blog post over on Copyblogger that highlights 8 iPad apps to help you with your writing. Go check it out!
Posted by oneofus on 10 December at 05:37 PM. Category: Tech for writers
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Amazon ebook deal bypasses publishers
A top litery agent angers publishers by bypassing them and striking a deal to sell ebooks through Amazon: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jul/23/publishers-wylies-ebook-deal-amazon. Times are changing in the publishing industry and the need for a traditional publisher may indeed be diminishing. What’s their role in these modern times? Is this the end of traditional publishing? What does it mean to you - the writer? Let us know over on our forums: http://www.oneofus.co.uk/forums/index.php?/topic/2015-what-do-you-think-of-wylies-ebook-deal-with-amazon/
Posted by oneofus on 23 July at 11:31 AM. Category: Ebooks
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iPhone apps for writers
My two favourite things come together: iPhone apps for writers! For the little geek in us all - http://appadvice.com/applists/show/apps-for-writers.
Posted by oneofus on 23 July at 10:13 AM. Category: Tech for writers
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New! One Of Us Creative Writing Bookshop
We’ve got a new addition to the website, a bookshop dedicated to creative writing books! You can now browse through loads of books about creative writing. The bookshop is in association with Amazon UK so once you’ve added a book (or books!) to your shopping basket you are then taken to Amazon to make the purchase securely using your existing Amazon account. Buying books through the shop helps support this website too. :)
In the near future I plan to put together a few lists using Amazon’s Listmania feature and will include these in the shop. If you’ve got a list yourself, send me a PM (personal message) on the forums and I’ll see about including it too.
Posted by oneofus on 05 July at 10:24 PM. Category: Site news
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Hiking the Inca Trail for charity
I know this isn’t related to creative writing but I’m heading to Peru in August and will be hiking the Inca Trail. It’ll be a challenge for me so I’ve decided to do it for charity! My charity of choice is a UK one, Macmillan Cancer Support, and my company npower will match all donations up to a total of £1,000 so your donation will go much further to help people.
If you’d like to donate, please pop over to my Justgiving page http://www.justgiving.com/paulnattress. Thanks for your support!
Posted by oneofus on 01 June at 05:45 PM. Category: Site news
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5 top tips to overcoming writer’s block
Got writer’s block? Stuck on what to write next? Over on Google Knol I’ve published a short article with 5 top tips on overcoming writer’s block.
Posted by oneofus on 05 May at 05:49 PM. Category: Cool writing stuff
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BookRabbit
This looks very interesting. BookRabbit is a website, similar to Last.fm, that recommends books based on what’s on your current bookshelf. Check it out and read the e-consultancy review of BookRabbit.
Posted by oneofus on 08 June at 07:55 PM. Category: Cool writing stuff
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New Dark Tales Short Story Competition
The new Dark Tales Short Story competition (summer 08) is now open. Read the forum post Dark Tales Summer 08 Short Story Competition Launched. Don’t forget to let us know on the forums if you’ve entered. And I’m sure you’ll let us know if you win!
Posted by oneofus on 25 May at 12:24 PM. Category: News and opinion
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Writers’ Rituals
The BBC website has an interesting article where several of Ireland’s writers describe their writing routines. Read the article - “writuals”.
Posted by oneofus on 11 April at 11:45 AM. Category: Cool writing stuff
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Join our Facebook group - One Of Us Writers’ Circle!
We’ve created a Facebook Group to help you find other writers to form a writers’ circle with - One Of Us Writers’ Circle.
If you have a Facebook account, just add yourself to the group. Pop some notes on the Wall or the Discussion Board and see who’s out there. IF you know any other fellow writers, tell them about out group!
Posted by oneofus on 07 October at 10:22 AM. Category: Site news
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We’re on Facebook!
One Of Us are now on Facebook. Search for “Oneofus Website” and we should be the only on there (in the West Midlands network). Add us to your friends list!
Posted by oneofus on 26 September at 03:07 PM. Category: Site news
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Ever wanted to write a script?
If the answer is yes, then I’ve got some good news for you! I’ve just published a new feature called Writing a Screenplay. Check it out.
Posted by oneofus on 23 September at 09:52 PM. Category: New content!
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Writer’s Digest 101 best websites for writers
Writer’s Digest have published their latest list of best websites for writers - 101 Best Websites for Writers.
I’d like to say that One Of Us came in at 102 but really, it’s probably not true so I can’t. If you find a website on their list that’s utterly fantastic, let us know. Pop over to our forums and sing its praises.
Posted by oneofus on 15 August at 05:34 PM. Category: Cool writing stuff
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The dilemma of dilemna
I was taught to spell dilemma as “dilemna” at school. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I found out that it was incorrect and I’m asking why…
So, I started a discussion on our forums (Dilemma or dilemna? How do you spell it?) which has had quite a few replies over the years. Can anyone offer any final explanation on how a small percentage of us are convinced that we were taught the incorrect spelling of this?
Posted by oneofus on 17 July at 04:51 PM. Category: News and opinion
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New feature about fan fiction
Our latest feature talks about fan fiction...
We have links to fan fiction sites, information about fan fiction and invite you to share your opinions on fan fiction.
Posted by oneofus on 21 June at 04:11 PM. Category: New content!
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Where’s your list of links?
Are you looking for a “links” page on One Of Us? Well, you won’t find one and here’s why…
When you come to One Of Us, you’re looking for content on creative writing. One way or another, you’ve find this website from searching or following a link. If I present a page full of links to writing sites to you, then that’s probably not going to be much different to the page that took you here.
Instead, this website is categorised into sections that deal with different aspects of writing. Check out our writing tips section and you’ll see tips organised into various aspects of writing such as editing and tone and style.
All pages have a further reading section at the bottom. I’m populating these sections with links to articles and websites about that particular subject. So if you’re interested in editing your writing, the page contains link specifically about editing. You’ll also find links to books at Amazon.co.uk about that subject.
I believe this is much better than simply presenting a whole bunch of links out of context. It also stops link swapping to a certain extent. Link swapping is where another writing site links to One Of Us in exchange for a link back. Links such as these really don’t benefit you, my lovely reader so I won’t include them. You’ll only find links to good resources, simply because they’re good resources.
Only a few pages include these links right now, but quality links are well worth the wait.
Posted by oneofus on 20 June at 03:21 PM. Category: Site news
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Comments now available
You can now add comments to blog entries.
I’ve added in the feature to let anyone post comments on blog entries. I’m also experimenting with allowing people to comment on pages within the site. I’ll keep you updated on that one.
Posted by oneofus on 19 June at 03:37 PM. Category: Site news
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Should Harry Potter be censored for “promoting witchcraft”?
A recent Guardian news article tells us of how a teaching assistant quit her job after she was disciplined for refusing to hear a child read a Harry Potter book (Teaching assistant quit in protest at Harry Potter).
To me, this opens up the debate on whether fantasy writing should be censored because it offers up views that may differ from the Bible.
Personally, I don’t think that the Harry Potter books promote witchcraft at all. Wizards and witches and magic are a fundamental part of a lot of fantasy writing. I don’t believe that fiction should be censored just because it touches upon something (or is heavily based on something) that is frowned upon in the Bible. If someone can’t accept fiction as fiction, then don’t read fiction. What do you think? Join our discussion on Should Fiction be Censored?
Posted by oneofus on 08 June at 05:55 PM. Category: News and opinion
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Fun with RSS
One of the most exciting parts of the new site for me, is the ability to use RSS (Really Simple Syndication). If you haven’t heard of RSS before, it’s basically a format to share content. Read on to find out what I’m doing with RSS on One Of Us…
With RSS, I can share content from One Of Us and also include other people’s content on the site. If you go over to our forums, you’ll see an orange button on the very bottom left of the page called “RSS”. This button allows you to subscribe to the RSS feed from the forums. You’ll get the latest forum posts direct to your feedreader or web browser. (I’ll share more about how you read RSS feeds below.) If you check out our news section, you’ll see headlines and summaries of content from the Guardian Books website and About.com’s fiction writing website.
All of this is fantastic as it allows you to easily keep up to date on new content on One Of Us. It also allows me to provide you with a gateway to much more content about creative writing than ever before.
So, how do you read RSS feeds?
Well, if you have the latest version of the Firefox web browser (which I would highly recommend) then you will see a little orange icon in the right hand side of the address bar. Clicking this will let you subscribe to the feed and it simply appears as a bookmark link on your bookmarks toolbar (if you have it activated).
You can also use feedreader software to view all of your RSS feeds. Just Google “rss feedreader” and check out the links.
I hope to do more with RSS over the coming weeks and months. There’s a lot of cool content out there from words of the day, to writer’s block unblockers. I’ll keep you posted on any new cool stuff that I add to the site.
Posted by oneofus on 06 May at 12:57 PM. Category: Site news
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New site!
It’s been a bit quiet here lately and here’s why. Look around, we have a brand new site! Read on to see what’s changed…
One Of Us has been redesigned - I’ve been working away on this for a long time now and I’m sure I’ll be tweaking it as I go along.
I’m managing the site in a completely different way. I’m using a fantastic Content Management System called Expression Engine which should let me change the website much, much quicker than before. I should also be able to do some groovy things with it. This weblog that you’re reading now is just the beginning! I’ll explain more of the new features as I implement them.
Not everything is perfect. I wanted to get the work that I’ve done so far up on the web as soon as possible. This is mainly so that I have more motivation to get things done! So you may find a few things that don’t quite work the way they should. Don’t worry, this is normal. There may be some quirkiness around the forums too as I try to put some templates together (read that as “mangle a lot of things until they work”).
Some things are missing. I’m doing a major overhaul of the writers’ directory section so I’ve put this to one side for now. Also you’ll notice that the “further reading” section and the “recommended” box aren’t quite filled out on all pages. This should be temporary.
Some cool things are starting to appear. If you read our brand new news section we have magically updating (RSS feeds for those in the know) news from the Guardian Books website and the Writer’s Weekly website. More of this stuff to come!
Let’s hope everything runs smoothly and I hope you like the new site!
Posted by oneofus on 27 April at 10:16 PM. Category: Site news
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