After reviewing ecobuild in issue 17 - and noting a lot of school groups in attendance, as well as several stands with confusing technical detail - this month I decided to look at whether building physics and performance would be a useful addition to the school curriculum.
Read MoreInsulate Magazine, Issue 17
Also in issue 17, I take a look at the language of insulation, and ask whether the traditional model of manufacturers delivering CPD presentations really works. These topics never go out of fashion, and are ones I'd particularly like to encourage feedback on, from all readers.
Read MoreInsulate Magazine, Issue 16
Readers of the magazine will likely be familiar with conventional uses of insulation in construction, so this month I drew on experience of questions about more unusual applications for thermal insulation products. I also look at the new external wall insulation (EWI) system from Mauer UK, which uses offsite manufacturing techniques to make EWI installation a year-round possibility.
Read MoreInsulate Magazine, Issue 15
This month's edition includes another two features penned by my fair hand. The first looks at whether the trends in diesel car sales can teach us anything about stimulating demand for better quality housing. The second asks whether offsite construction methods are finally ready to become mainstream - and if they are, can they deliver that better quality?
Read MoreSold Out! (the author, that is...)
You don't have to pretend. You can admit that you're taking down the system from within, using the establishment to propagate your anti-establishment argument!
Read MoreThe Critique in All of Us
You see, I never stopped to think who might be interested in my writing. Being a man in his late-twenties, I assumed a similar demographic would be most likely. I never wrote with a target audience in mind, though; only a faceless crowd sitting before their computers, stumbling across my online ramblings. Thanks to the course, suddenly I was confronted by something more tangible: a group of real people!
Read MoreGot Everything Covered
It's a significant milestone in the life of the book: with the interior editing and formatting also completed, it brings the ebook and print versions a big step closer to reality.
Read MoreTime Waits for No Writer
Summer can’t ever have lasted long enough for our hunter-gatherer ancestors - though I’m sure early humans were grateful not to have to alter their sun dials twice a year - but I wonder if their perception of time was similar to ours.
Love Me, Love My Book (part two)
Happily, the submission to Publisher 4 appeared to have better prospects. They still hadn’t read any of the actual book, but they were interested enough by the description to send their submission guidelines – a series of seven questions, the answers to which would make up a detailed proposal. A really detailed proposal.
Love Me, Love My Book (part one)
While there can be a case for speculation and earnest hope – in life generally, but in publishing specifically – sometimes the best use of your time is to take five minutes to rant about the fact that unknown authors aren’t given a chance, then move on.
Write on Time: a Blog Under Construction
TheWritingMan.com has gone live - which I guess means the blog has too! As befits a man who works in the construction industry, I'm still laying the foundations for what The Writing Mandate will become.