Being
Andrew Chapman, based in Oxford, UK, is a professional writer, editor and designer, and a publishing and internet consultant.
Doing
- I've been a freelance writer for many years, currently writing mainly for Your Family Tree and Surefish.co.uk
- I'm the English copy editor for international arts/science publication PARS, and have edited many other titles about everything from property to medicine
- I'm the editor/co-author of Actors' Handbook 2007-8 (Casting Call Pro)
- Previous authorship includes The A-Z of Genealogy Websites and 101 Family History Tips (both Future Publishing, 2006) and The Monster Guide to Jobhunting (Pearson Education, 2001), and I made sizeable contributions to Human: the Definitive Guide to Our Species (Dorling Kindersley, 2004)
- I'm also a book and magazine designer, particularly for Homebuyer and Hawker Publications - for the latter I also act as a consultant
- Under the Thoughtplay label, I'm the co-creator of Who Should You Vote For? (900,000+ visits during the 2005 UK general election) and What Should I Read Next? (3,000,000 visits and counting)
- I'm a founder director of Oxford's new fringe arts festival, Oxfringe, and co-owner of the small press reverb
- I'm also the co-creator of Qurl (better than Tinyurl!) and Blind Atlas
- and I'm the creator of genealogy site Geneally and The Blogalyser
Updating
- 220408:My new series has started at Surefish: a A Dictionary of Dissent (introduced here). Plus new pub quiz puzzle.
- 110208:Read my report on helping websites to go viral, based on a talk given at Oxford Geek Night
- 220108:Whoshouldyouvotefor.com is back for the US primaries and presidential election!
- 210907:Redesigned and tidied up this site, as well as adding a new Dr Who reference list
- 270707:Here's the BBC's extract of my Self/Potter parody.
- 260707:For no good reason, here's how I imagine Will Self would write a Harry Potter story
- 200607:Article about the climate change movement is up here; and June crossword here.
- 060607:Created bloggers' quiz/test/meme site Wotayu.com this week: 30000 users in first 48 hours!
- 100507:Forgot to mention the April crossword (lipogrammatic) has been up for a while - May coming shortly.
- 130407:A PDF describing a walking route following the River Glyme in Oxfordshire, with photographs, is here.
Knowing
Creating
- My latest monthly cryptic crossword is available here (archive coming soon)
- Try out my blog writing analyser, The Blogalyser, or the LiveJournal personality test
- Read my A-Z of Saints series of articles
- The history of Omai connects Samuel Johnson, the Earl of Sandwich, Sir Joshua Reynolds and the murder of Martha Ray
- Here's the UK Starbucks Comfortable Living Index
- And the Doctor Who reference list, with links to DVDs and CDs available
- If you're interested in London's lost rivers, here are two walking guides to tracing the routes of the Falcon Brook and the River Effra
- Here are PDFs of Oxford Orbital (255K), a cycle route round the city's satellite villages (and pubs), and a walk along the river Glyme (290K) from Chipping Norton to Woodstock
- Read a summary of George Monbiot's proposals for tackling climate change
- Here's a foolish piece of fiction - A Jester's Tale - and an account of an imaginary city, Polopolis
- There's also an incomplete blog archive from March 2004 to March 2006
Connecting
- My del.icio.us links
- Programming experts I can recommend are 3aims and Blue Compass; plus Amadeus Stevenson, whose elegant PHP to-do script I commissioned; and here's a good little News System
- I love megalithic Britain and contribute sporadically to The Modern Antiquarian - also recommended is The Megalithic Portal; for later Britain, look for Common Ground