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Author Archives: la Clarina

Dumas on counting words

08 Thursday Sep 2022

Posted by la Clarina in Books, Scribbling

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Alexandre Dumas, deadlines, Le Constitutionnel, The Three Musketeers, wordcount, writing

This one is for T.

I’m always a little amused at being reminded that, in my corner of the world, measuring a written text in words, is still a somewhat alien notion. No, really. I still run into people who go round eyed and ask how on earth are they going to keep count – and are genuinely amazed to discover that any word processor will do it for them… Continue reading →

On Mikhail Gorbachev

01 Thursday Sep 2022

Posted by la Clarina in History

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History, Mikhail Gorbachev, nuclear war

What was your greatest fear as children, o Readers?

Mine, between the ages of six and twelve, was nuclear war. In the early Eighties the eventuality was a heavily discussed subject in the news and everywhere. Besides, a career officer father and a whole family very keen on international politics meant that I heard a lot of mealtime discussion of what the USSR and the States might do to each other over our heads. In addition there was a spate of fiction and nonfiction stories about it – and I had a knack for watching and reading what I should not. Oh, the nightmares I got out of watching The Day After! And I saw those Soviet leaders on the news, so hard-eyed and grim, and they rather looked like people who’d have little qualms in destroying the world… At one point I even wrote a letter** to the then General Secretary of PCUS Andropov,  explaining to him how bad it was, and could he please not bomb us? Yes well – but I must have been eight or nine. Continue reading →

Further in summer than the birds

26 Friday Aug 2022

Posted by la Clarina in Poetry

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Academy of American Poets, August, Emily Dickinson, end of summer, Poem-a-Day, Poetry

So this morning I woke up with the tiniest bit of end-of-summer blues – and I was put in mind of this poem of Emily Dickinson’s.

Because, really, few things are better than poetry for the blues, and one can almost always trust Emily to have written something that will fit the occasion. In truth, what I mostly remembered of this one was “August burning low”, and off I went on a morning quest to unearth it. I can think of worse ways to start the day. Continue reading →

Stamps

18 Thursday Aug 2022

Posted by la Clarina in History, Stories, Things

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Andrew Crumey, Donald Evans, make-believe, Pfitz, postage stamps, Stamp collecting

StampDo you have any particular liking for postage stamps, o Readers? I don’t, I must say.

My father was a stamp collector. When I was very young, he tried to share the hobby with me – and failed. All I remember are endless sessions sitting at a table covered in green felt, being scolded for breathing too hard on the silly little paper squares… Continue reading →

Of human mind and motivation

12 Friday Aug 2022

Posted by la Clarina in Scribbling, Things

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motivation, writing

Such a lofty title, isn’t it? Very, very lofty for a post arguing that the human mind is, in several ways, an easily amused little hamster. Mine is, at least, and I’ll wager that yours is too – in several way – when it comes to motivation. Continue reading →

Then came the plague

28 Thursday Jul 2022

Posted by la Clarina in Scribbling, Things

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Covid-19, deadlines, The Tom Walsingham Mysteries, writing, writing schedule

I’d somehow managed to dodge it for more than two years and a half, but at last the plague caught me – or, in other word, I caught Covid at last. I suppose it was just a matter of time – and that I caught it at the theatre was just as inevitable as it was fitting.

Last Friday, more or less from one moment to the next, I found myself with a very sore throat and a temperature above 39° C. Within hours a rather fierce cough and a cold joined the company – and there I was. Continue reading →

Saving the day

21 Thursday Jul 2022

Posted by la Clarina in Scribbling

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copies, drafts, Microsoft Word, saving files, Scrivener, writing

What is your favourite writing software?

Mine is Scrivener, nowadays. I landed there about a decade ago, when I began to write plays for companies (as opposed to “in the vague hope that someone might one day stage them”), and quickly discovered that I wanted a software that did the right formatting for me. Continue reading →

The Small Writer and the Huge Deadline – an instructional tale

14 Thursday Jul 2022

Posted by la Clarina in Scribbling

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getting unstuck, historical novel, murder mystery, Procrastination, research, writing

Once upon a time, there was a Small Writer with a Huge Deadline.

The Huge Deadline was still rather far away – and that was perhaps the heart of the problem. Had it been looming large, roaring nearer and nearer, the Small Writer would have been writing like mad, and piling up a nice daily wordcount, and biting her nails, and drinking tea by the gallon, and generally doing what she was supposed to do… Continue reading →

Tom Walsingham 3 – Draft 0

07 Thursday Jul 2022

Posted by la Clarina in History, Scribbling, Stories

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drafting, Historical fiction, plotting, research, Tom Walsingham Mysteries

Remember when, back in January, I told you that I was experimenting with the idea of a Draft 0 for A Treasonous Path, and I’d let you know how it worked for me? Well, it would seem it worked well enough, because I’m doing it again. Six months later, and I’m at work on Draft 0 of Tom’s third book – for now TW3. Continue reading →

Robin Blake’s Cragg & Fidelis

30 Thursday Jun 2022

Posted by la Clarina in Books, History, Stories

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Cragg & Fidelis, historical mysteries, Historical Novel Society, Robin Blake

I was going to say that I don’t quite remember when I read my first Cragg and Fidelis mystery… But of course, thanks to the archives of the Historical Novel Society I can tell precisely: it happened when I reviewed the fourth installment, Skin and Bones, back in 2016. Continue reading →

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