12 Friday Aug 2022
Posted in Scribbling, Things
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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
28 Thursday Jul 2022
Posted in Scribbling, Things
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
21 Thursday Jul 2022
Posted 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
14 Thursday Jul 2022
Posted in Scribbling
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
07 Thursday Jul 2022
Posted in History, Scribbling, Stories
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
30 Thursday Jun 2022
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
23 Thursday Jun 2022
Posted in Scribbling
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The world being what it is, I’ve found in a drawer 26 tiny paper disks – well, 27 if you count the debatable one… Less than an inch wide, not all of them perfect circles, each bearing a tiny – and often rather cryptic – note in orange or blue ink. Continue reading
17 Friday Jun 2022
Ah, but I do love the Soane Museum!
They are doing works in Sir John’s drawing office, and they find a hollow space at the base of a column, containing three small objects that, judging by their combination, and the way they are arranged, look like a time capsule… Continue reading
09 Thursday Jun 2022
Posted in Books, History, Lostintranslation
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Adelbert von Chamisso, German language, Karl Stählin, research, Sir Francis Walsingham, studying languages
Do you speak German, o Readers?
Now, Italian is my native language – and I find it beautiful. Also, as you can probably guess, I love English very much. I also like French and Spanish.
German… not so much. Continue reading
02 Thursday Jun 2022
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Last Sunday we had the second – and last – performance of the school play for the Third – and last – Course. It went really well, and I’m truly happy and proud of ‘my’ pupils and the work we’ve done together. The’re a fine group. I’ll miss them.
That said, of the whole hectic, glittering week, there is one moment that I want to remember, the sort of thing that, when it happens, makes you stop and think that “Oh, how book-like!” Continue reading
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