Oxford Connections
We were watching Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice last night. She is an incredibly great singer in so many genres. The number of connections she has with other great artists is phenomenal, and suddenly I was connected back to my very first day in Oxford. My...
Words
As an author, words are the tools of my trade. Like most retired people I know, I exercise my brain each morning with a few puzzles. I start with Quad Word, then move on to Wordle, followed by Sudoku. For anyone not familiar with Wordle it involves trying to guess a...
Accuracy in Historical Fiction
The article that caught my attention in this month’s Red Herrings, the bulletin of the Crime Writers’ Association, is by Bryan J Mason. He was on a historical fiction panel at CrimeFest this year and was asked about the level of accuracy needed to depict the past. He...
Tutankhamun and Legacy
Claire has just been watching Coco again. The story revolves around the belief that you don’t finally die until the last person alive forgets you. We visited the Tutankhamun exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in London in 2020. I think it was there that I read that the...
Royal Golf
I have written about golf before. I have played golf, occasionally winning a prize here and there, since I was about five years old. I gave it up soon after leaving university, and took the game up again when I retired. Many golf clubs have royal in their name: Royal...
Screen Writing
The Open University advanced creative writing course aims to develop the student’s dramatic technique, individual style, and voice. It explores dramatic writing: writing for the stage, screen, and radio, and how the techniques employed can enhance our writing. My big...
Preparations for Dartmouth Book Festival
I’m looking forward to the Dartmouth Book Festival in September, and making preparations for it. Browser Books have invited me to be on the historical fiction panel at the Flavel. I was asked to come up with a name for my talk. I came up with “Falling into Historical...
D-Day +1
I have posted before about my father’s service in WWII. Yesterday was, of course, D-Day, perhaps the most critical day of the war. My father had fought in North Africa and Italy before landing at Arromanches on D-Day +1. Dad’s battle honours include the Normandy...
C.J. Sansom
I always open the envelope with great excitement when I know that the latest edition of Red Herrings (the CWA newsletter) drops though the letterbox. Excitement turned to sadness when the cover revealed that the great C.J. Sansom had died. He was my model author. He...
Oxford Connections
We were watching Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice last night. She is an incredibly great singer in so many genres. The number of connections she has with other great artists is phenomenal, and suddenly I was connected back to my very first day in Oxford. My...
Words
As an author, words are the tools of my trade. Like most retired people I know, I exercise my brain each morning with a few puzzles. I start with Quad Word, then move on to Wordle, followed by Sudoku. For anyone not familiar with Wordle it involves trying to guess a...
Accuracy in Historical Fiction
The article that caught my attention in this month’s Red Herrings, the bulletin of the Crime Writers’ Association, is by Bryan J Mason. He was on a historical fiction panel at CrimeFest this year and was asked about the level of accuracy needed to depict the past. He...
Tutankhamun and Legacy
Claire has just been watching Coco again. The story revolves around the belief that you don’t finally die until the last person alive forgets you. We visited the Tutankhamun exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in London in 2020. I think it was there that I read that the...
Royal Golf
I have written about golf before. I have played golf, occasionally winning a prize here and there, since I was about five years old. I gave it up soon after leaving university, and took the game up again when I retired. Many golf clubs have royal in their name: Royal...
Screen Writing
The Open University advanced creative writing course aims to develop the student’s dramatic technique, individual style, and voice. It explores dramatic writing: writing for the stage, screen, and radio, and how the techniques employed can enhance our writing. My big...
Preparations for Dartmouth Book Festival
I’m looking forward to the Dartmouth Book Festival in September, and making preparations for it. Browser Books have invited me to be on the historical fiction panel at the Flavel. I was asked to come up with a name for my talk. I came up with “Falling into Historical...
D-Day +1
I have posted before about my father’s service in WWII. Yesterday was, of course, D-Day, perhaps the most critical day of the war. My father had fought in North Africa and Italy before landing at Arromanches on D-Day +1. Dad’s battle honours include the Normandy...
C.J. Sansom
I always open the envelope with great excitement when I know that the latest edition of Red Herrings (the CWA newsletter) drops though the letterbox. Excitement turned to sadness when the cover revealed that the great C.J. Sansom had died. He was my model author. He...