Oops. This blog went quiet for a little while! The world spins fast and vanities such as blogging vanish behind the tide of things to get on with. I'm back, and still here.
I am sad to inform you that my three months as Editorial Assistant (Intern) at Myriad Editions are up! My last day the rain fell from the sky and I walked home carrying at bunch of flowers as big as my body with me.
I've moved on to a two week Work Expeirence placement with the Salariya book company. Salariya's books are all anachronistic, but in a good way. I get a very Steampunk vibe from them, which for me is fantastic, as Victoriana is one of my passions! It is but my third day, however I'm enjoying working with such a diverse list of books...
On very good advice from a friend I'm expanding this blog. My time at Myriad helped me to realise that in the long run I'd like to be a fiction commissioning editor and now is the best time to start expressing my opnions on things!
So hold your hats, blog-o-sphere, for maddening experiences and reviews of any and everything that falls into my hands.
Also, as many of you know, I write myself. I'm 13,000 words into my new manuscript, one which, for the first time ever, I plan to submit to some publishers and agents and see what kind of response I get. So again, here is where I shall record my progress. Go blog fantastica!
Love and fiction,
Nicola x x
Wednesday 29 June 2011
Saturday 30 April 2011
"Prague doesn't let go. This little mother has claws."
(Disclaimer: This blogpost is entirely unrelated to Editorial internship.)
Kafka said of Prague, "Prague doesn't let go. This little mother has claws." and he's entirely right. Prague is the city of cities, the most beautiful place I've ever been. Prague is all arches and clock-towers, all cobbled floors and atmospheric rain-storms. To personify Prague would be to call him an old man, who smells of whiskey and cigarettes, who slaps you on the back and pours you a drink and pours out an anecdote. I'm getting married to Charlie 2Moons in Prague, as soon as he'll have me. My family all cheered when I told them this.
To blog about everything we accomplished in the past five days would be excessive. There were too many events and fantastic moments to condense into one blog-post. Those of you who know me well enough in real life may one day get the privilege of seeing the scrap-book I'm planning; the rest of you can read the ghost story I'm now 2,073 words into in six to eight months when I finish it. (If I finish it - I think I'll finish it.)
For now here are some sporadic highlights. Forgive the gushing, Prague puts me into a constant state of Noumenon Fantastica:
Market - On the first day when we went a wondering we came across this market in the square. I never did find out if it was a permanent feature, or if it was simply in place to celebrate Easter. At any rate, it was full of life and bands every evening we went through it. All the tourists huddled round in little groups whilst the homeless people and the Czech locals danced away to the various bands that played. I love parties where everyone dances.
Museum of Medieval Torture - There's nothing like seeing the devices that one human used to inflict horror on another human being to make you feel alive. Or something along those lines. Some of the torture implements used for ill-tempered or quarrelsome women were quite worrying!
Kafka bookshop - They really, really, really like Kafka in Prague. This bookshop was one of many examples. The bottom shelf here is full of Kafka editions, and the top shelves were related or Kafka-esk writers. I managed to duck into lots of the bookshops and the literary scene in Prague seems to be very rich. They have a Prague Writers Festival at the end of May, which seems to include plays and performances. One day I plan to go back for it, because it looked wildly interesting.
Propaganda is one of my favourite words.
This is Sedlec Ossuray, where Charlie 2Moons and I are getting married. Except he doesn't know it yet; but we are. There are no words to describe how beautiful this place is. It's quite the opposite of the catacombs in France, being very serene and quiet, rather than loud and over powering. We all agreed that you felt kind of humbled being in the building, rather than harrowed like when you see the catacombs. It took as a hour on the train to get out to it, but it was entirely work the pittance train fair and the looked-confusing-but-actually-pretty-easy change of trains. I took too many pictures of the ossurary.
This is Kafka. Chillin' out on his own headless shoulders. They really, really, really do like Kafka in Prague. You can also see here how beautiful Prague is, as behind Mr. Franz is a typical Praha street.
Love and Illuminations,
Nicola x
Kafka said of Prague, "Prague doesn't let go. This little mother has claws." and he's entirely right. Prague is the city of cities, the most beautiful place I've ever been. Prague is all arches and clock-towers, all cobbled floors and atmospheric rain-storms. To personify Prague would be to call him an old man, who smells of whiskey and cigarettes, who slaps you on the back and pours you a drink and pours out an anecdote. I'm getting married to Charlie 2Moons in Prague, as soon as he'll have me. My family all cheered when I told them this.
To blog about everything we accomplished in the past five days would be excessive. There were too many events and fantastic moments to condense into one blog-post. Those of you who know me well enough in real life may one day get the privilege of seeing the scrap-book I'm planning; the rest of you can read the ghost story I'm now 2,073 words into in six to eight months when I finish it. (If I finish it - I think I'll finish it.)
For now here are some sporadic highlights. Forgive the gushing, Prague puts me into a constant state of Noumenon Fantastica:
Communism Museum - Both moving and terrifying in equal measures. I don't actually know very much about communism, for my sins, so visiting the communism museum was a steep learning curve.
Market - On the first day when we went a wondering we came across this market in the square. I never did find out if it was a permanent feature, or if it was simply in place to celebrate Easter. At any rate, it was full of life and bands every evening we went through it. All the tourists huddled round in little groups whilst the homeless people and the Czech locals danced away to the various bands that played. I love parties where everyone dances.
Museum of Medieval Torture - There's nothing like seeing the devices that one human used to inflict horror on another human being to make you feel alive. Or something along those lines. Some of the torture implements used for ill-tempered or quarrelsome women were quite worrying!
Kafka bookshop - They really, really, really like Kafka in Prague. This bookshop was one of many examples. The bottom shelf here is full of Kafka editions, and the top shelves were related or Kafka-esk writers. I managed to duck into lots of the bookshops and the literary scene in Prague seems to be very rich. They have a Prague Writers Festival at the end of May, which seems to include plays and performances. One day I plan to go back for it, because it looked wildly interesting.
Propaganda is one of my favourite words.
This is Sedlec Ossuray, where Charlie 2Moons and I are getting married. Except he doesn't know it yet; but we are. There are no words to describe how beautiful this place is. It's quite the opposite of the catacombs in France, being very serene and quiet, rather than loud and over powering. We all agreed that you felt kind of humbled being in the building, rather than harrowed like when you see the catacombs. It took as a hour on the train to get out to it, but it was entirely work the pittance train fair and the looked-confusing-but-actually-pretty-easy change of trains. I took too many pictures of the ossurary.
This is Kafka. Chillin' out on his own headless shoulders. They really, really, really do like Kafka in Prague. You can also see here how beautiful Prague is, as behind Mr. Franz is a typical Praha street.
Love and Illuminations,
Nicola x
Friday 15 April 2011
London Triptych is a winner!
London Triptych - 15.04.11
A quick blog post, simply to say a big old congratulations and well done to Jonathon Kemp, winner of this years Author's Club Best First Novel competition with his book London Triptych.
A quick blog post, simply to say a big old congratulations and well done to Jonathon Kemp, winner of this years Author's Club Best First Novel competition with his book London Triptych.
Hit the image to go the Amazon page for the book.
Love and Oscar Wilde,
Nicola x
Love and Oscar Wilde,
Nicola x
Tuesday 12 April 2011
The London Book Fair (Feat. Noumena II)
The London Book Fair (Day Two) : 12.04.11
Oh yes:
I want to fast forward you for a few moments to the end of the day. My Noumena Fantastica today came courtesy of West Brompton station, where I stood, panting as I'd run for the train, in the blistering heat of this afternoon. When you're running in a suit and heels you barely have time to take in your surroundings so I arrived, kerfuffled - but in one piece - on the platform to the train home, three minutes left before the train arrived. I caught my breath and a small breeze picked up across the platform, serving both the purpose of cooling my brow and scattering blossoms from the wild-trees opposite the platform across the tracks. All of a sudden the wind smelt of summer and the day that'd happened to me sunk in.
(So rewind)
Today I had the honour of attending day two of the London Book Fair.
To prove this statement, here's a picture of me looking pleased with myself at the Myriad stall:
There is literally no way to put across the excitement of the London Book Fair in words. It's expansive, spiralling through all the available space of Earls Court with a low chatter; a hubbub of important deals being negotiated. Tables everywhere, suits and badges in badge holders, uncorrected proofs by the bucketload. Ipads, tablets, Iphones and a hundred different languages only some of which I know. All united by one single passion: books. There's literally every type you can think of here: fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels, atlases, apps, interactive media, text books, translations, kids books. At one point I even walk past a stall selling Harry Potter brand merchandise: lit subtly with backlights, making the whole thing seem mysterious and ethereal.
Myriad have a table at G455, at the edge of our distributors Turnaround. Here we are, hard at work. Here's also a sneak peak of Isabel Ashdown's "Hurry Up and Wait" cover, for the keen eyed! If any of my audience out there are reading this by chance, and happen to be at the book fair tomorrow come say hello! We do love a chat:
Aside from the tables and deals being made, the London Book Fair also runs seminars for eager eyed Interns such as myself to gobble up. I managed to get to three of these today, the first being "Apps And What They Do For Consumer Publishers", the second being "The Tweet Smell of Success?" and the third being "Film Adaptation: Review of the basics and what the future holds."
All of these were exceptionally informative and an honour to be present at, but a special mention here goes to the "Tweet Smell of Success?" seminar - so popular that most of us ended up huddled by the (open) doors listening in! A strange sense of solidarity develops in this hour between me and a flurry of editors, students and booksellers; notes are passed between each other, someone caught a name someone else didn't, or a spelling that somebody else forgot. You can listen to the podcast on the Oxford Brookes website when it's available (and yes, someone did Tweet them whilst we were listening. Drop into the P-Cast to hear what they said!).
I make furious notes at all, most of which I'm transcribing as we speak.
Tomorrow (and tomorrow, and tomorrow) I'm going back to this world of bright words and glaring, hyper-interactive, hyper-exciting content. Expect another blog post in awe of the Book Fair. One thing's for certain; you definitely can't keep the written word down.
Love and cherry-blossom,
Nicola
Oh yes:
I want to fast forward you for a few moments to the end of the day. My Noumena Fantastica today came courtesy of West Brompton station, where I stood, panting as I'd run for the train, in the blistering heat of this afternoon. When you're running in a suit and heels you barely have time to take in your surroundings so I arrived, kerfuffled - but in one piece - on the platform to the train home, three minutes left before the train arrived. I caught my breath and a small breeze picked up across the platform, serving both the purpose of cooling my brow and scattering blossoms from the wild-trees opposite the platform across the tracks. All of a sudden the wind smelt of summer and the day that'd happened to me sunk in.
(So rewind)
Today I had the honour of attending day two of the London Book Fair.
To prove this statement, here's a picture of me looking pleased with myself at the Myriad stall:
There is literally no way to put across the excitement of the London Book Fair in words. It's expansive, spiralling through all the available space of Earls Court with a low chatter; a hubbub of important deals being negotiated. Tables everywhere, suits and badges in badge holders, uncorrected proofs by the bucketload. Ipads, tablets, Iphones and a hundred different languages only some of which I know. All united by one single passion: books. There's literally every type you can think of here: fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels, atlases, apps, interactive media, text books, translations, kids books. At one point I even walk past a stall selling Harry Potter brand merchandise: lit subtly with backlights, making the whole thing seem mysterious and ethereal.
Myriad have a table at G455, at the edge of our distributors Turnaround. Here we are, hard at work. Here's also a sneak peak of Isabel Ashdown's "Hurry Up and Wait" cover, for the keen eyed! If any of my audience out there are reading this by chance, and happen to be at the book fair tomorrow come say hello! We do love a chat:
Aside from the tables and deals being made, the London Book Fair also runs seminars for eager eyed Interns such as myself to gobble up. I managed to get to three of these today, the first being "Apps And What They Do For Consumer Publishers", the second being "The Tweet Smell of Success?" and the third being "Film Adaptation: Review of the basics and what the future holds."
All of these were exceptionally informative and an honour to be present at, but a special mention here goes to the "Tweet Smell of Success?" seminar - so popular that most of us ended up huddled by the (open) doors listening in! A strange sense of solidarity develops in this hour between me and a flurry of editors, students and booksellers; notes are passed between each other, someone caught a name someone else didn't, or a spelling that somebody else forgot. You can listen to the podcast on the Oxford Brookes website when it's available (and yes, someone did Tweet them whilst we were listening. Drop into the P-Cast to hear what they said!).
I make furious notes at all, most of which I'm transcribing as we speak.
Tomorrow (and tomorrow, and tomorrow) I'm going back to this world of bright words and glaring, hyper-interactive, hyper-exciting content. Expect another blog post in awe of the Book Fair. One thing's for certain; you definitely can't keep the written word down.
Love and cherry-blossom,
Nicola
Tuesday 5 April 2011
"The man on the late news laughed, showing a gap in his teeth, and for a moment he looked like Joel's dead father"
Ed Siegle's Invisibles Launch, Canning House, London (05.04.11)
When the time draws to and end on my life and the credits role, this memory will definitely be a resounding one. 8:30pm, one glass of white whine consumed, A2 folder containing press material for Ed Siegle's Invisibles under one arm. Taxi waiting outside, vintage lace dress from a Brighton thrift store billowing, running down the steps of Canning House with heels clattering, hand on hair-band that stands risk of being whipped away. Into Taxi, into darkness with the Myriad team. Heart racing, pounding. We're headed for the 9:01pm train. This is everything I ever dreamed.
Enough gushing:
Tonight we launched Invisibles to a crowd of 50+ at Canning House in London. The event was a huge success, with much enjoyment. Here's a teaser photo from the event, with the full album and videos to appear on Facebook and Youtube tomorrow.
The crowd pulled into the event were varied. From linguistics students, to reviewers, to art dealers, to Ed's highly devoted friends and family - the function room at Canning House was packed to the brim with eager faces ready to hear extracts from the novel. Myriad were lucky to feature Martin Raven, who introduced the book with a reflection on his own personal accounts and experiences of living and working in Brazil.
Ed perfectly read three extracts from his book, prior to which he explained a little bit more about his motivations and ideas behind writing a book about Brighton and Rio, and Myriad sold out of copies that later had the opportunity to be signed by the man himself! The Q & A section revealed yet more insights into the world of Invisibles, some of which are highlighted on the origins page on Ed's personal website.
Stay tuned for news of event reviews and the full gallery of photos tomorrow!
Can't wait and want to know more? Get the book on Amazon here, or download the Kindle version now here.
Love and Dindi,
Nicola
When the time draws to and end on my life and the credits role, this memory will definitely be a resounding one. 8:30pm, one glass of white whine consumed, A2 folder containing press material for Ed Siegle's Invisibles under one arm. Taxi waiting outside, vintage lace dress from a Brighton thrift store billowing, running down the steps of Canning House with heels clattering, hand on hair-band that stands risk of being whipped away. Into Taxi, into darkness with the Myriad team. Heart racing, pounding. We're headed for the 9:01pm train. This is everything I ever dreamed.
Enough gushing:
Tonight we launched Invisibles to a crowd of 50+ at Canning House in London. The event was a huge success, with much enjoyment. Here's a teaser photo from the event, with the full album and videos to appear on Facebook and Youtube tomorrow.
The crowd pulled into the event were varied. From linguistics students, to reviewers, to art dealers, to Ed's highly devoted friends and family - the function room at Canning House was packed to the brim with eager faces ready to hear extracts from the novel. Myriad were lucky to feature Martin Raven, who introduced the book with a reflection on his own personal accounts and experiences of living and working in Brazil.
Ed perfectly read three extracts from his book, prior to which he explained a little bit more about his motivations and ideas behind writing a book about Brighton and Rio, and Myriad sold out of copies that later had the opportunity to be signed by the man himself! The Q & A section revealed yet more insights into the world of Invisibles, some of which are highlighted on the origins page on Ed's personal website.
Stay tuned for news of event reviews and the full gallery of photos tomorrow!
Can't wait and want to know more? Get the book on Amazon here, or download the Kindle version now here.
Love and Dindi,
Nicola
Sunday 3 April 2011
Prologue
Hello all, and welcome to the blog. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Nicola, and I look a little bit like the photo below. Recently I had the honour of landing myself the position of
Editorial Assistant at Myriad Editions, a local Brighton publisher specialising in atlases, graphic non-fiction and fiction.
This blog is hopefully to be a record of that time, and my adventures with the Myriad team. I'm already loving what I'm doing with the team, setting up the social networking promotion and emailing authors and editors to drum up some noise for the books we have / are about to publish.
Myriad Towers is a beautiful building, about three blocks down from the sea, in the middle of Hove, which is about half an hours bus ride from my house. I still feel a little rush of pride when I leave my house in my business clothes and get on the bus with all the other business men and women. It's akin to the feeling I'd get when the bus pulled up at the entrance of Sussex campus, a pride and true belief in what we're doing at Myriad HQ.
As we're on that note, Myriad have a policy of accepting unsolicited manuscripts. The full submission details are here, but for many of my writer friends out there it might be a good opportunity to get your work read by the Editor, my dear Vicky Blunden who shares my passion for cats and cake.
My first two days at Myriad have been filled with exciting fun! From helping whittle down the cover for Nina De La Mer's upcoming novel 4 A.M. to setting up a facebook event for our launch next Tuesday at Canning House for Ed Siegle's Invisibles, I'm loving all the experience I'm getting from working for the Myriad team. Here's a photo from our meeting with the lovely Nina on Wednesday:
I also set up a Spotify playlist for anyone on their way to the Invisibles launch (Or anyone who just wants to get in the mood!) Click the book below to hear the music that's featured in and inspired by Invisibles itself.
I hope you all enjoy it! Enough rambling for now. Stay tuned for more exciting installments of my adventures in Editorial Assistantship!
Love and Samba,
Nicola x
Editorial Assistant at Myriad Editions, a local Brighton publisher specialising in atlases, graphic non-fiction and fiction.This blog is hopefully to be a record of that time, and my adventures with the Myriad team. I'm already loving what I'm doing with the team, setting up the social networking promotion and emailing authors and editors to drum up some noise for the books we have / are about to publish.
Myriad Towers is a beautiful building, about three blocks down from the sea, in the middle of Hove, which is about half an hours bus ride from my house. I still feel a little rush of pride when I leave my house in my business clothes and get on the bus with all the other business men and women. It's akin to the feeling I'd get when the bus pulled up at the entrance of Sussex campus, a pride and true belief in what we're doing at Myriad HQ.
As we're on that note, Myriad have a policy of accepting unsolicited manuscripts. The full submission details are here, but for many of my writer friends out there it might be a good opportunity to get your work read by the Editor, my dear Vicky Blunden who shares my passion for cats and cake.
My first two days at Myriad have been filled with exciting fun! From helping whittle down the cover for Nina De La Mer's upcoming novel 4 A.M. to setting up a facebook event for our launch next Tuesday at Canning House for Ed Siegle's Invisibles, I'm loving all the experience I'm getting from working for the Myriad team. Here's a photo from our meeting with the lovely Nina on Wednesday:
I also set up a Spotify playlist for anyone on their way to the Invisibles launch (Or anyone who just wants to get in the mood!) Click the book below to hear the music that's featured in and inspired by Invisibles itself.
I hope you all enjoy it! Enough rambling for now. Stay tuned for more exciting installments of my adventures in Editorial Assistantship!
Love and Samba,
Nicola x
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