by David West | Feb 18, 2024 | News
On the 18th of February 1884 Russian police seized all copies of Leo Tolstoy’s book, What I Believe In. Tolstoy was born to an aristocratic family. In 1844 he began studying law and oriental languages at Kazan University, where his teachers described him as unable and...
by David West | Feb 16, 2024 | News
On the 16th February 1861 the president-elect, Abraham Lincoln, stopped his train in Westfield to thank an 11 year-old girl, Grace Bedell. Grace had written to Lincoln encouraging him to grow a beard in order to improve his appearance and win the election. Lincoln had...
by David West | Feb 14, 2024 | News
On Saint Valentine’s Day our minds turn to thoughts of love, but why? When I went to the On This Day webpage, I was expecting to find the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre. I’d already asked ChatGBT to paint a picture of it for me. I don’t recognize Al Capone in there,...
by David West | Feb 10, 2024 | News
On this day in 1874 Oxford University won the FA Cup, beating the Royal Engineers 2-0. I’m not a football fan. In the last match that I watched George Best and Bobby Charlton were playing. It was against Chelsea for whom Peter Bonetti (the Cat) was in goal. My father...
by David West | Feb 8, 2024 | News
Editing is a vitally important part of writing. They say that great books aren’t written, they are re-written. But of course you have to have something to edit, and that is why the creation of the first draft is called “getting your shit down”. I’m having some...
by David West | Feb 6, 2024 | News
Today I’ve been working on outlining the remaining chapters of The Favourite Murder, the fifth book of the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures. I’ve already posted about research, collating my research in a spreadsheet, and working towards an ending. What I mean by...
