Category Archives: thoughts
A year in books or, What I read in 2020
Overview This year, for the first time, I kept note of the books I read for pleasure or curiosity. As ever, it was mostly fiction. It’s been an odd year and, given external events, I tended towards books I thought … Continue reading
Some thoughts on writing, revisited
I wrote the following about eighteen months ago in reaction to a lot of the advice to writers I’d seen posted here and there about the internet. It started as a rant but I managed to tone it down by the … Continue reading
An end, maybe a beginning?
I’d like to say everything has sorted itself out, writing-wise, since my last post but I can’t, because it hasn’t. I’m in no part closer to finding the spark missing from my manuscript. Something has changed, however, as a result of a couple … Continue reading
Writer, eclipsed.
I started this villanelle ages back – so long back I can’t quite recall when, except that it was the last time there was a partial lunar eclipse visible in this part of the world. That’s pretty clear from the … Continue reading
Songs behind stories
This started out as a blog about folk songs. It’s evolved since then into a more general blog about books and writing, but the songs are still there in the background to my work. The inspiration they provide is nothing … Continue reading
Cats/Poems
I’ve not been able to write much this month. I won’t bore you with explanations; suffice it to say I’m a bit down and at such times things spiral. Anyway, here’s a poem about trying to write poems. Poems and … Continue reading
Book review, and some thoughts on story-telling: Plastic Smile by SL Huang
Cas Russell, antisocial mercenary, has decided to Fight Crime. With capital letters, like in one of her friend’s comic books. After all, she has a real-life superpower: with her instantaneous mathematical ability, she can neuter bombs or out-shoot an army. … Continue reading
Work (forever) in progress
There’s a story I’m trying to write. I’ve been trying for a long time now. Well, I’ve got the story – more or less – and all the characters. I know who they are and what they do. I know where … Continue reading
On prologues
People differ on the subject of prologues. Some consider them unnecessary and advise leaving them out. Why not start at chapter one, they ask. That’s where the story begins. My answer to that is, although the story (probably) starts at … Continue reading
Some thoughts on writing
Grant yourself unfettered access to the entire English language. Do not fret unduly about using words or parts of speech others have misused or overused or put on a list of ‘things to avoid’. All you need consider is whether you are using … Continue reading
Folksong and Fantasy 