Do you use experiences from your own life and your family and friends in your book?
34 year old assisted euthanasia
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SubscribeWe've teamed up with Canongate and Kobo to offer three lucky gransnetters a Kobo Arc tablet, plus a signed copy of award-winning author Margaret Drabble's latest novel The Pure Gold Baby.
Both personal and political, The Pure Gold Baby is a remarkable portrait of a family, a friendship, and a neighbourhood. A novel of great beauty, wisdom and stealthy power by one of our country's foremost and acclaimed writers, it is published in paperback on 19 June.
The Kobo Arc offers the ultimate reading experience on a cutting-edge 7" HD touchscreen. Kobo's exclusive interface learns what you like, and effortlessly delivers more books, music, movies and web articles that you'll love. With the Kobo Arc, you can also download apps, enjoy 10 hours of battery life on a single charge and keep up with friends and family on Facebook, Twitter and Skype. To find out more about, click here.
How to enter
To get your hands on this incredible prize, simply post your thoughts on e-reading and/or ask Margaret Drabble a question on the thread below. Three winners will be picked at random to win. This competition closes on 20 June.
Free e-books for everyone...
For the duration of this competition, Canongate are also offering several of Margaret Drabble's classic titles - The Millstone, The Peppered Moth, The Radiant Way, A Natural Curiosity and The Gates of Ivory - as free e-books for Gransnet members.
To take advantage of this offer, e-mail [email protected] with the title of your preferred book to receive a free download code. You'll need to register with Kobo and enter your payment details before entering the code (you will have 100% off the purchase so no charge will be made on completion). Code works for all devices, but unfortunately they won't work on Kindles.
Find out more about Margaret Drabble and her books on the Canongate website.
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Do you use experiences from your own life and your family and friends in your book?
When e-books first appeared I hated them. Now I've got used to them but I'll always have my 'real' books as well
I have an e-reader and it's really handy. The only thing that is irritating is that it doesn't recognise new ebooks added to it very easily, it's kind of a hit and miss, which puts me off putting new books on.
i think e reading is great, much better to carry 1 lightweight device around rathere than a bag full of books great for the children too
I'm just getting used to my e reader. I'm only taken it away so far as I have such a backlog of real books to get through at home.
I love my e-reader, it holds it charge for weeks and great long trips. As a writer how do you overcome writers block, or are you free of the affliction
I love e-reading, it's just so effortless to keep a variety of books on such a small device, and both my husband and I can share if we don't want to carry to much about. There are still some books though that I like to buy and have on my shelf.
I do find e books convenient say, for example to take on holiday as they are easy to carry and compact. For me however, they will never replace real books. Real books have a certain feel and smell to them and each book for me has a memory. A favourite book of mine was given to me before my father died and if he had given me an e book instead it would not have been tangible and certainly not evoke the same memories. I hope they don't die out. Thank you for reading my entry, I would really love this prize.
We've closed this thread and picked three winners at random...
<drum roll>
Congrats to GeminiJen, KatyK and GrannyGear who have all won a Kobo Arc tablet, plus a signed copy of Margaret Drabble's latest novel The Pure Gold Baby.
Please check your emails for more info.
We'll be sending off the questions and comments to Margaret Drabble and post the answers shortly!
I am a recent ebook convert and I love it! Cant wait to read this book.
It took me a long time to get used to using an e reader, but now i love it!
I had a ereader brought for me two years ago, and I must say I would not be without it.
That does not mean I do not read paperbacks etc, in fact I have both a book and the ereader on the go at the same time.
But an ereader gives you the freedom of just slipping it into your bag without the bulk.
I have a Kindle and my teenage daughter has a Kobo. I still love books and the feel of a new book in my hands but e-reading gives me a library in my hand, hundreds of books all available at a touch. Free books available are a great way to find new authors and most of my expenditure on ebooks has been on authors I find this way.
I love using an e-reader because you can easily alter the print size
Bit of a techno phobe may need some convincing
You won't care if you don't win a Kobo then, black5. Has everyone else noticed that the competition is now closed, so chances of winning are over?
A physical book for tactile pleasure but an e-reader for someone always travelling.
where do your idead for a book come from?
When I'm on holiday I read constantly and e-reading is fabulous for so many reasons.
Firstly, I no longer have to line the bottom of my suitcase with books and then buy more when I'm away!
Secondly, I can carry hundreds of books on an e-reader so I have something to read, whatever mood I'm in.
My only problem with e-reading is that my original e-reader died a little while ago and I've been reading on my iPad since. Which sounds brilliant but the screen is reflective so not really good for reading in the sunshine!
Where do you get your inspiration from
I realised on holiday how great an e-reader would be when i demolished three books in three days! Carrying many books is not practical!
The thing I prefer about e-books is that you can adjust the font size when reading in a poor light, also great for taking on holiday. However I still love the feel of a real book.
As I don't have an e-reader I've not really done much reading of e-books. I have tried on my laptop, but it's not easy. I must admit that I love books, the actual physical books, but I can see the advantage of e-books for reading (as opposed to reference) books. I'd really love to give one a go! :-)
I haven't had my e-reader long, but have found it handy for trips where taking several books would be heavy - I think I have about 70 downloaded already. I couldn't give up my books though as I like the feel of a book too much, (and have too many unread ones in the house anyway) and my local librarian would disown me if I did
I like the idea of ebooks but as yet I am still using books as I have no way of reading them. Margaret can you give me one piece of advise as to writing a book, i have started writing one but get so far and then give up, please advise. Thanks
I love my e reader I couldn't be without it, I still buy a paperback however to take on holiday to the beach as seem to get sand and sun lotion everywhere and my books get messy so don't want to risk damaging e reader on beach
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