Karavansara

East of Constantinople, West of Shanghai

Category Archives: Other


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Smile, breathe and go slowly

zen21Going back to zen practice is a good strategy to handle the small acts of daily brutality that seem to be part of the deal when you start writing – be it a blog, a series of ebooks or anything public.
Stick out, speak your mind, tell your story, and somebody will decide that putting you in your place is their life’s ultimate mission.

After all that’s one of the perks of writing, right?
We motivate people.
We put something in their lives.

So, considering I got myself three king-sized servings of brutality this last week, I went back to my zen books and resources, looking for some quick-and-dirty wisdom. Continue reading →


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Original, on topic, impossible to misspell

Despite my continuing PC problems, I felt like sharing a good laugh with my readers.

tumblr_lymilaeYLF1r421yoo1_500Back when I was working on this blog, before launch, I spent some time thinking about the name.
The rule of thumb is, give your blog a name that’s original, on-topic and impossible to misspell.
It took me some time but finally I hit on a concept (the caravanserai, the place where travellers meet, rest and trade stories) and a suitably original name.
Yes, there’s a hotel out there with the same name.
And a minimal spelling difference would have taken you to a supplier of belly dance costumes and accessories.
But let’s just say that Karavansara is a good name.
Solid.
Easy to remember.
Or so I thought. Continue reading →


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In praise of Scrivener (in the face of catastrophe)

And so my much vexed, five years old PC finally kicked the bucked and went dead on me.
Utterly completely dead.
Dead dead dead.

Sinking-ship-via-Shutterstock

Which is bad – considering I have a lot of things going right now, and all the work in progress is currently buried in my dead hard disk.
It’s still there, mind you, safe and warm.
Only, I need a new PC to get to it.

But not everything’s lost. Continue reading →


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Writing to the sound of the coffee-grinder

Coffee grinder Alexanderwerk Type 4155

My CPU fan is busted for good – and as a consequence my PC makes a noise like a coffee grinder.
The emergency replacement two weeks back was just a way to buy time.
While I wait for the delivery boy to deliver the new fan, I’m struggling through the final chapters of my second novel – thank goodness for Portable Apps.

And in the meantime, while I also keep the GreyWorld Project going, I’m also planning future activities.

There’s a new Aculeo & Amunet story in the works – and once again I’d love to place it in a magazine instead of self-publishing it. Continue reading →


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A fistful of Boomstick Awards

boomstick2015-SmallThe Karavansara blog has been awarded the coveted Boomstick Award 2015 – it’s the second year we catch the boomstick, and I must thank my friend Fabrizio Borgio for pinning the medal, so to speak, on my blog’s chest.

One of the privileges of being awarded the Boomstick Award is the option of awarding seven other blogs.

The rules in brief…

1 . the awards are 7, not one more, not one less.

2 . those that do not get a Boomstick do not deserve any explanation or justification

3 . prized must be motivated, if briefly

4 . the rules cannot be changed[^1]

Who deserves a Boomstick?
Bloggers that do their blogging with style, class, of course.
So here’s some people that, in my opinion, deserve a Boomstick… Continue reading →