I'm returning to Vietnam on vacation next month, and that got me thinking about the many hours I've spent in coffee shops in Hanoi, especially one on Ngu Xa in Truc Bach... By Alison Bate The cafe owner smiles the smile of many mornings as she brings over my iced coffee and green tea chaser.… Continue reading Coffee in Hanoi
By Alison Bate Hi! I'll be joining four other authors at the Vancouver Public Library this Sunday to talk about my upcoming debut novel. The novel's set in Sudan, where I taught English for a while, and tells the story of three very different women confronting their individual fears. Fatima, the second of three wives,… Continue reading Speaking about Sudan novel at Vancouver Public Library
By Alison Bate The corpses filled the river valley, their hands stretched toward the sky. It was 1979 and Hanoi artist Muoi Trong Nguyen had been sent north to the border with China to record the war scenes for historical purposes. The fighting between China and Vietnam lasted less than a month, but in that… Continue reading War, peace and the artist: Muoi Trong Nguyen
Author and writing instructor Julie Ferguson asked me to write a guest blog about my experience writing a novel while living overseas. Here's the article in full: Hanoi is a surprisingly good place to write a book. The capital of Vietnam boasts good coffee shops with Wifi, teaching jobs where you don't have to work… Continue reading Writing in Hanoi
Two articles I wrote shortly after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre have just been reprinted in a 10-year retrospective. The first one, Armada rescues trapped New Yorkers, was based on extensive phone interviews with tugboat owners with Reinauer Transportation and Moran Towing, as well as officials with U.S. Coast Guard Activities New… Continue reading My 9/11 rescue and survivor stories reprinted
June 22, 2011 I was working the evening shift at The Vancouver Sun the night the first hockey riot broke out. Depressed about the Canucks losing, we’d just about finished laying out the front page and “put the paper to bed”. Then news came in that a mob was forming at Robson and Thurlow, with… Continue reading Three thoughts about the Vancouver riot
I've just set up a new blog for the Write On Bowen festival. I'm on the board and also interviewed a couple of the presenters last week. Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen runs six blogs and plays around a lot with different ads on her sites. “It takes a long time to earn money from a blog but… Continue reading New blog for Bowen Island writing festival
What an absolute pain! I have to say, don't make this switch lightly. I wanted to change the look of my website/blog, which I've run happily on the free wordpress.com site for the last couple of years. But I wanted a more sophisticated layout. I found a new template I really liked, from Elegant Themes,… Continue reading Switching from wordpress.com to wordpress.org
By Alison Bate I learned about Freemiums and Long Tails on Saturday while moderating a panel at the Write on Bowen festival on Bowen Island, near Vancouver, B.C. As traditional media outlets struggle to make money on the web, panelist Lisa Manfield said Freemium was one way for companies to adapt. Freemium involves promoting services… Continue reading Online tips at Bowen Island writing festival
I joined four other freelancers and publishers on a discussion panel at the Write on Bowen! festival on Bowen Island, B.C. last weekend. Here are some of the tips I gave in a handout afterward: 1. If you freelance full-time, try and have at least three regular clients. That way, when one goes bust, you… Continue reading Ten tips for freelance writers
