Writing From The Mind of Ben Cohen, and other stuff
Welcome to The Nowhere Pub. This is my new “home” – to be used for writing projects and also just generally anything else I’ve got going on.
Who Am I?
I’m Benjamin (“Ben”) Cohen and, for the best and most extensive answer to that question, you’re better off looking at my About Me. For the most current aspect, though, I’m an aspiring author, with a few (unpublished) short stories, a self-published book (for my family and descendants), and, currently, a novel-in-progress. [Yes, I’m well, aware of the tropes and jokes about how every “aspiring author” has an unfinished novel they’re working diligently on. In my case, it happens to be the truth (for real).
The site is named after a series of short stories I was working on based around a central location called The Nowhere Pub. Those stories were collectively known as “Tales From the Pub“.
I’ve also got my short stories – those which were just random stories based on whatever whim my muse decided to give me – collected together so you can give them a gander.
For all of the writing I’ve done, I MUST give a shout-out to the amazing product Scrivener, from Literature and Latte. This is (in my opinion) hands-down, the absolutely best tool a writer could possibly have. I’m currently on v3.2.3 and have been using it since version 2.something. If you have any thoughts of doing any sort of serious writing, I can’t recommend it enough.
[No, I get absolutely nothing from them. I’m just an incredibly happy customer.]
Oh, and lest you wonder at the way that “everything” appeared here on July 17, 2022 – I relocated from a privately-hosted WP site to here. That one had the novel, but nothing else. I realized it was time, perhaps, to try and establish a “presence” and, thus, The Nowhere Pub (website) was born – to showcase not just the novel, but also everything else – as well as giving me a significantly-less-generic email address.
I’m still in the process of “moving in”, so bear with me, and please expect everything to look a bit shabby until I’ve managed to figure all of this out, OK? It’s new for me. 🙂
What Am I Doing Now? [Updated semi-regularly]
As noted above, I’m working on my first novel. I’ve completed a rough draft of it and am doing my own re-read / clean-up to turn it into something I would consider a decent “First Draft”. As part of this process, chapters are coming and going here to allow me for easy communication with my assistant. (More details are available here.)
When the manuscript is complete and publication-worthy, a few things will be happening in a flurry of activity:
- Finish tearing down any pre-print chapters (for review) which have been posted here
- Find and commission someone to create cover art
- Purchase an ISBN and book bar-code (to allow for sales)
- Arrange for self-publication.
I don’t expect to try and find an agent and go through an official publisher, so that means self-publication. I’ve done this before for the “family” book (well, not the ISBN since that wasn’t for sale), so I sort of know the steps to go through, but doing all of it for a book-to-be-sold will have some new obstacles, I’m sure.
I’m looking forward to the task, and hope that you (welcomed visitor) will consider purchasing a copy when it becomes available.
