Barbecue
As I write I’m watching the Hairy Bikers Route 66 road trip. There’s a barbecue competition taking place between two teams of firemen. Naturally, as a writer I’m interested in words, so I looked up barbecue. It comes from barbacoa the Arawak for a raised wooden...
Practice Makes Progress
The proverb practice makes perfect has in my mind been superseded by practice makes progress, which the Strictly star dancer Katya Jones uses. It’s just more accurate. However much time I spend at the driving range, my golf is never going to be perfect, but it is...
Words in Conflict
Conflict is central to creative writing, as of course, are words. I can’t remember why I looked the word liege up this morning. I think it was something I heard on the radio. I already knew perfectly well what it meant. It means lord or master, as in my liege. Except...
Historical Fiction
I mentioned in my post Practice Makes Progress that I will be on a panel at the Dartmouth Book Festival. I will be on the historical fiction panel with Tim Pears, an award winning writer, who has had an amazingly diverse career. I’m one chapter into his book The...
Sharing Work
I mentioned in my last post on chess that this month’s talk in my writing circle was on sharing work. It started with a discussion on how nervous we felt about sharing our work. Most of our writers seemed very nervous about sharing work. Their reasons ranged from...
Writing, Dying, and Insults
I came across two lists recently, which caught my attention. The first was a list of insults. Winston Churchill was a master of insults. Apparently George Bernard Shaw wrote to Churchill saying “I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a...
Step by Step
My last post was practice makes progress. Today’s is of a similar nature. Some goals seem unachievable, when viewed from a distance. Writing a book is a daunting task. But if you write five hundred words a day, let’s say four days a week, then in just under a year you...
Chess
When I’m not writing the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures, marketing, or attending to chores, I amuse myself in a number of ways. Golf, sailing, dancing, and walking are my active pursuits. Wordle and Sudoku are ways to limber up the mind, and I’ve also recently been...
Getting Back in the Saddle
The only problem with a long holiday is getting back to work afterwards. After almost a month touring South America my brain is imbued with the Inca empire, the plants and animals of the Amazon Rainforest, the thunder of the Iguazu Falls, and so much more. But what...
Barbecue
As I write I’m watching the Hairy Bikers Route 66 road trip. There’s a barbecue competition taking place between two teams of firemen. Naturally, as a writer I’m interested in words, so I looked up barbecue. It comes from barbacoa the Arawak for a raised wooden...
Practice Makes Progress
The proverb practice makes perfect has in my mind been superseded by practice makes progress, which the Strictly star dancer Katya Jones uses. It’s just more accurate. However much time I spend at the driving range, my golf is never going to be perfect, but it is...
Words in Conflict
Conflict is central to creative writing, as of course, are words. I can’t remember why I looked the word liege up this morning. I think it was something I heard on the radio. I already knew perfectly well what it meant. It means lord or master, as in my liege. Except...
Historical Fiction
I mentioned in my post Practice Makes Progress that I will be on a panel at the Dartmouth Book Festival. I will be on the historical fiction panel with Tim Pears, an award winning writer, who has had an amazingly diverse career. I’m one chapter into his book The...
Sharing Work
I mentioned in my last post on chess that this month’s talk in my writing circle was on sharing work. It started with a discussion on how nervous we felt about sharing our work. Most of our writers seemed very nervous about sharing work. Their reasons ranged from...
Writing, Dying, and Insults
I came across two lists recently, which caught my attention. The first was a list of insults. Winston Churchill was a master of insults. Apparently George Bernard Shaw wrote to Churchill saying “I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a...
Step by Step
My last post was practice makes progress. Today’s is of a similar nature. Some goals seem unachievable, when viewed from a distance. Writing a book is a daunting task. But if you write five hundred words a day, let’s say four days a week, then in just under a year you...
Chess
When I’m not writing the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures, marketing, or attending to chores, I amuse myself in a number of ways. Golf, sailing, dancing, and walking are my active pursuits. Wordle and Sudoku are ways to limber up the mind, and I’ve also recently been...
Getting Back in the Saddle
The only problem with a long holiday is getting back to work afterwards. After almost a month touring South America my brain is imbued with the Inca empire, the plants and animals of the Amazon Rainforest, the thunder of the Iguazu Falls, and so much more. But what...