Mark McClure, writer

The Writer’s Magic Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Email List Building OK!

Writing by Hand < A silver-colored tin sits on my bookcase.

One Page Business Plan for Writer me The plan is made, printed out and now clipped to a shelf in front of my study desk.

Snowed In (a wee bit) I should have known my previous post would waken snow gods from their slumber.

Life and Books in the Land of the Rising Sun The cold, mostly dry winter is now here on the Pacific (eastern) coast of Japan.

After testing out the free version of the My Book Progress plugin for a while, I finally took the plunge and bought a license for their professional version.

Sci-Fi Short Story Magazines It’s been a wet October here in Tokyo but now that the typhoon season is finished I’m hoping for a pleasant, warmer November before winter’s cold winds make their appearance in late December.

Newslettering Just a quick update with this post.

Yet to be written My first science fiction novel, The Zelkova Sphere, is available for pre-order on Apple Books.

AI Vignette My fascination with Gabriele Rico’s clustering techniques continues.

Writing The Natural Way This is a followup to my November 2016 post about an idea for a Nanowrimo story, tentatively titled Lunar Blackout.

Camp Nanowrimo Nope, it’s not an April fool’s joke.

Trapping Words NASA’s press release last week about the seven exoplanets orbiting the Trappist-1 red dwarf star generated a lot of interest.

Ghostdusters The Chinese lunar new year brings many tourists with money to spend to Japan.

Priscilla Long, Creative New Year’s Eve is an important part of the Japanese holiday calendar and we are fortunate this year, despite various family illness issues, to be able to enjoy seeing out the old and welcoming in the new.

Xmas Still Life The Xmas racket’s already started in my local supermarket but be of good cheer, it’s almost the end of another year, and the world’s still here.

Clustering for Sci-Fi Novels Nanowrimo’s underway and so is my story, Lunar Blackout.

Movember 2016 Another November.

Dr.

Musings about Books I ought to Write Tokyo’s humid summer weather and cold beer always go well together with me.

Wot I read on my summer hols The hot and muggy days of summer are just about here in Tokyo.

The Zelkova Tree, a book-in-waiting With the hot and humid Tokyo summer only a matter of weeks away now, I’m determined to enjoy what’s left of a pleasant spell of warm and mostly dry weather.

Book Progress Business Japan’s golden week break came just when I needed it.

Logan Leaps “Logan, I hear you were planning on leaving us for some undeveloped system beyond the Federation’s governance.

Working with Language A shoutout this month to Priscilla Long’s book, The Writer’s Portable Mentor.

Stephen Pressfield I finally got around to purchasing and reading Stephen Pressfield’s, The War of Art.

Another Year Starts (2016) Over the winter break I’ve been writing some scenes for The Zelkova Tree, in between quaffing the odd beer or two.

Backstory The Zelkova Tree is the title of my work-in-progress debut novel.

Five Writing Tips Last year’s Nanowrimo ended in defeat for me: no 50,000 words.

Japanese Rugby The heat I referred to in the previous post has been and gone, helped on its way by a number of cold brews!

Running, Beer, Curry Summer’s almost here in Tokyo but this year’s rainy season still has a week or so to run.

A Writer’s Journal Update I am enrolled on Coursera’s MOOC, Astronomy: Time and Space, which begins on 15th February.

2015 Writing Resolutions December is a busy time in Japan as people rush to finish projects before the January New Year holiday slow down.

Writing Prompt He believed in ritual and routine.

Writing Challenge I doodled this story opening on a smartphone while riding the trains in Tokyo.

Katsudon and Beer Well, summer’s stifling heat has all but gone and it’s now autumn in Tokyo.

Blogging Break I am taking a break from regular posting on this blog to concentrate on my own writing projects see I should be writing and also The Write Stuff by Barry B.

“Dewitt Jones, perspective and humility” I’ve often thought we are probably a lot more creative than we think.

Man Caves In I’ve made a few changes in my man cave aka writer’s hangout.

Destined 7:15 train lurched book down strap tight passengers calling knees stiff conductor passing through sirens wailing voices shouting rescue team here

Writing and Mind Mapping I’ve been interested in mind maps since the early 1980s.

Books on my Kindle in 2014 Here’s a post about what I’ve been reading in February.

Empty Dolls House I wrote about the Japanese dolls festival back in 2008.

Taskpaper, Wool, and Longer Days A quick writing update as the Tokyo days get longer and Earth begins to draw away again from the Sun.

Other World MOOCs By the time this is posted 2013 will be retiring and 2014 getting ready to ride.

About 2007… The words that follow are from my About-me page of Nov. 2007, the year I started to blog.

Completed the Seven Summits Stair Climb The good news (at least for my feet and knees) is that the seven-summits-and-otsuchi-curtains-of-love project, begun 18 months ago, was completed on Friday 25th October, 2013.

Men’s Health I wrote in 2008 about Dan Fogelberg’s life, his work, and his untimely passing from advanced prostate cancer.

The Practice of Writing Here are some notables from the writing stuff getting done (or not!)