William Axtell's Blog - Posts Tagged "olympics"

Urgh, this blog is so boring!!! How on Earth am I going to keep anybody interested if I keep posting long-drawn-out platitudinous drivel! Right, that's it, this is going to be a lot better from now on - promise!

First, The News! The good news is that I have finally heard back from the first agent :) ! The bad news is that it was a no :( !

That's triggers a thought in me. It is one of the best and worst things about agents is how polite they are when saying no! They alomst always try and let you down gently, don't tell you that you are rubbish and wish you luck with another agent publisher. This is truly lovelly but at the same time you can't let out any frustration! I mean, when one has just had one's tenth refusal, one wants to scream and shout and call them meaningless buzz-words like "Conservative-taste", "Commercial" or "Lacking Vision", whatever they really means beyond thinking that the tale of Bingle-botts the happy pig who lives on the moon and explores deep emotional problems through the power of cake is unlikely to be a page-turner! But when they are polite, one can't, because it stops an instinctive response and makes me for one feel that to mouth off, no matter how FRUSTRATED one feels, would basically be extremely immature.

Ah well, got to keep ploughing on! At least I get to write again now, after the Olympics. It was wierd, it was like they mattered so much to me that no other thought could intrude. Couple this with the fact that every hour of the day seemed to be crammed with scintilating sport and writing simply ceased to happen. But what a triumph those Games were! It was an absolute honour and a treat to host such a magical contest, the pinacle of sporting competition and probably the only event which brings the whole world together in peace. Thank you IOC for giving us the games and thank you world for sending you finest men and women to compete. May the Paralympics provide much more exciting and inspiring sporting action in the weeks ahead!

The News!
Thank you everybody who dowloaded my book in the free giveaway and extra special thank you to the TWO people who actually BOUGHT my book - what a lovelly suprise! Anyway, I am delighted to report that I sold 267 copies in my sale which is super-duper awesome - I just have to hope that I get some good reviews from it! Anyway, if anyone who is reading this downloaded or bought my book, a heartfelt thanks :) !

My Reading!
Well, I've rejigged the order of my life and now I have a bit more time to read - woo! So, with that, I have managed to finish this book, The Ancient Greek Olympics by Judith Swaddling - http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17...! It was a truly lovelly book, the small size irrelevant as it packed more actual information, minus waffle, than many other books. Absolutely lovelly - here's my review:
The Ancient Olympic Games: [2nd Edition] by Judith Swaddling

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book is wonderful! It covers every single aspect of the games in great detail, answering the sort of question most books skirt around with blather. Excellently supported by beautiful and well chosen photographs, this book covers everything from the ceremonies, organisation, setting, training of athletes and the events themselves. Added to this is a fascinating chapter on the modern games and the various other attempts to resurrect them. The writing style is lucid and engaging and I cannot recommend this book enough, a great book!



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