Christmas shopping.

Well Christmas shopping feels a little bit lonely this year, only having 4 people to buy for (plus secret santa for work).  I had been planning to go into Birmingham and make a start this weekend, but seeing as I've been stopping up until stupid o'clock watching The Ashes I completely overslept.  But through the wonder of the internet I've got 3/4 of my shopping done (budget-wise) - it does feel a bit less festive buying everything through your laptop instead of walking round the shops, but convenience-wise it's great.  I think I'll feel a bit more Christmassy next week when everything arrives and I can get it all wrapped up.

Don't know why I'm blogging about this, I know it's not an interesting read.

Fail

I just epic failed at Ultramarines.  20-0.

Xbox Live, I does love ya :)

First expansion for Fable III is now available (w00tage!).  I wouldn't say it's as good as those for Fable II, but for a thoroughly reasonable 400MS points it's worth picking up :) And I finally got my 800 bonus points off Microsoft today. And to make everything all the more shiney, Portal: Still Alive is on sale for 400 points instead of the usual 1200 (uber w00tage).  So I've breathed an extra lease of life into Fable III (which, I'm saddened to say, it did need) and I have more Portal to enjoy.  Ye gods Still Alive had better have weighted companion cubes...

Altogether now, everyone!

"This was a triumph,
I'm making a note here - 'Huge success'..."

Sweet Zombie Jesus!

It's COLD!

Sorry for the gratuitous use of capital letters, but the point really needed to be emphasised.  Just checking the thermometer it's 17.5 degrees in here at the moment, and that's with the floor heater blazing away like a monkey on steroids.

I'm not actually sure where this is going, but I'm just going to natter, as seems to be my lot in life.  At least until I think of something to watch anyways.  I really want to indulge my inner geek and carry on painting my Venerable Dreadnought (which I started painting 2 weeks ago) but it's just so damn cold that I don't really think I can do anything fiddly and dextrous.  I could probably manage an Xbox game, but there's nowt I really fancy playing.  So dvd's are once again the answer.  But what?  Hmmm... I'm thinking mebbe Dexter.  But then I may be OD-ing on our favourite serial killer at the moment.  Ah well I'll think of something.  Food is arriving at the door now anyway, hopefully my brain will tick over a lot better with some chinese in it.

Hmph!

Right now I'm just feeling a little bit narked with myself for not being better company this afternoon.  I'm hoping that copious amounts of tea-drinking is going to help to combat this feeling.

Unproductively productive

Isn't it odd?  Yes it is, don't argue.  I can still hear you arguing.  Listen, if you don't stop this right away then I'm going to just walk away and that won't benefit any of us.  Except maybe you at the back.

That's better.

Isn't it odd, how when you're actually doing something productive it can feel like you've actually achieved nothing with your evening?  I mean I spent 20 hours playing Mass Effect 2 the first weekend that I got it, which pretty much eclipsed my entire weekend.  And then I followed that up by playing all evening every evening for the following week.  But even though I'd done nothing practical, I felt like my evenings/weekend had been worthwhile, and I still stick to that.  Okay, the galaxy that I saved only exists on my 360's hard drive, but I had an absolute blast, and if you spend your free time doing something you enjoy then I think it's time well spent.

Perhaps that's why this evening feels wasted.  I've been making serious headway in my quest to make 'Seagulls see the light of day, but I haven't really been enjoying myself.  I'm trying to get some reviews and feedback on the opening chapters from youwriteon.com - so far I've had one, which was positive but suggested a bit of polishing up was required.  But in order to get reviews you have to give some of your own.  I've written the odd review on Amazon and Play, but it's always been about something I felt so passionate about that I felt compelled to tell the whole world!  Having something handed to you and being told "Read that, review it, and give some practical feedback" is another matter altogether.

So that's how I've been spending my evening, having a flick through other folks' books and giving my two cents' worth.  I think I may be reaching my brains reviewing limit for the night though, I'm feeling compelled to return to my beloved Dexter.

Babble over.  Have a grea weekend everyone!

He really is darkly dreaming...

Considering how much I love writing, I don't seem to buy too many new books.  You'd think I would, out of professional courtesy if nothing else.  But as it stands I have a few dozen books which I love to read, and I just re-read them over and over again.  The Harry Potter books are firm favourites, as are Koji Suzuki's ring trilogy, Douglas Adam's Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, and Dan Abnett's Gaunt's Ghosts.  But last weekend I did something altogether unprecedented in my little world - I went into Waterstones and bought four brand new shiney books, none of which I'd ever read, and one of which I knew absolutely nothing about.  I decided to pick up the first book in Jeff Lindsay's Dexter series, and then when I saw they were on 3 for 2 I ended up buying the first three instead; Darkly Dreaming Dexter, Dearly Devoted Dexter, and Dexter in the Dark.  And then I got to the counter to discover that if you were buying anything at all, you could get The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo half price, so that ended up in my basket as well.

I love the Dexter TV series, which is why I wanted to read the books and see where it all started, and I have to say that Dexter in the books is a much darker creature!  He's still a wonderful character, but I think the word "monster" is much easier applied to him in the books than the series.  I think the first-person perspective helps - unlike the show where everyone's doing their own thing, in the books you're purely getting Dexter's thoughts and perspectives on everything that goes on.  I have to say that at the moment I'm absolutely loving it :)  I wouldn't say I like the book (I am still only on Darkly Dreaming Dexter) more than the series, but I wouldn't say I like the series more than the book either.  They're both fantastically entertaining in their own ways.

Anyways, I just wanted to share that with you.  You can go back to you normal, Rob-free, lives now :)  Unless you're name/a family member's name is also Rob, in which case you should probably make sure that you/they are still a part of your life.

Wecome to me, please take a number and I'll be with you shortly.

Hello there, and if you're reading this then welcome to my blog.  If you're not reading this then you're not on my blog, or you're simply not paying any attention.  Either way, I don't think you've done enough to earn a welcome.  Come back tomorrow and try again - I may give you a cherry bakewell if you improve.

My name is Rob, or Robert for... well, long, I guess.  I am a writer.

I'm not an author.

What's the difference, you ask?  Well I was asked the same question by a friend once, and I instantly replied "authors get paid."  I know that's not an accurate definition in the slightest, but it just rolled off the tongue so nicely at the time that I still like to use it to this day.  I've been writing novels since I was fourteen years old, and was inspired by the work of Douglas Adams to try my hand at comedy when I was roughly eighteen.  It would be very conceited of me to say I found a flair for it, but I certainly found it was something I enjoyed, and my work seemed to get a positive reaction when circulated amongst friends.  Now, ten years later, I'm still writing comedy, but perhaps with a more refined and polished edge that only a decade of practice can grant a man.

I have just published my first comedic novel - Beware of the Seagulls - as an eBook for Kindle on Amazon, and I must confess I'm starting this blog to try and drum up a bit of attention.  However, blogging "Buy my book!!!" on a daily basis would get tedious for everyone involved, regardless of how much I choose to overuse punctuation.

So, I will be posting my thoughts, my rambles, the inner workings of my strange little mind.  I'll also be making mention of the progress I'm making on my other books, my primary project at the moment being the follow-up to 'Seagulls.  I hope that anyone reading this may take some amusement from the odd bits and pieces my head comes out with.

Thank you for listening, and enjoy the film.

...oh no, wait.  I think I'm getting confused again...