%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
 A continuing series of extracts from my commonplace book "Ke ne dune, ke ne tine, ne prent ke desire." "He who has and does not give will not receive." - Inscribed above the (now demolished) Painted Chamber in the old medieval Palace of Westminster. *** I've been doing some more bits of research into the trial of Charles I - the evidence of the witnesses was taken in the Painted Chamber rather than the larger Westminster Hall in front of the public. It's a bit difficult to find out what the Painted Chamber looked like in 1649 when the only two descriptions we have of it are from 1250ish and 1799. I guess that's where writerly imagination comes in... |
I was getting frustrated trying to slot in some description to a chapter today so started looking up some reference imagery - and as part of my research found out that Townsville (Queensland, Australia) is named after a man called Mr Towns, not just because no-one could think of anything else to call this particular town...  I've visited there, too, and didn't know or had forgotten this particular piece of etymological delight! |
| A continuing series of extracts from my commonplace book "Folk magic is all about replicating the experience with things that look similar - maybe you could try oscillating an olive?" *** From the work groupchat. IDK how we even got onto the subject... |
| A continuing series of extracts from my commonplace book "… There is one special piece of magic that trumps all that [other writing advice] and we're going to tell you right now: Sit your arse on a chair and put words on a page." *** From the irreverent but excellent newsletter I subscribe to from the UK-based "Writers' HQ." |
| A continuing series of extracts from my commonplace book This particular blunder is known as "deus ex machina", which is French for "Are you fucking kidding me?" *** Someone on here recommended How Not to Write A Novel, by Howard Mittelmark and Sandra Newman. If this quote tickles you, then I would highly recommend the book!! |
| I stopped reading a book recently; it was very early on when I ran into this sentence: She had not to be recidivist to her own inclination. ... And I had no idea what it meant, so I didn't get past that point! |
| Seriously, that kind of pretentious writing is annoying. I probably wouldn't finish that book either. |
| It's a shame, because it was on a topic I'm really interested in (the history of Zimbabwe), and there aren't that many books on it. So I just flipped to the Bibliography section and wrote down a bunch of further reading in the hope it would be better! |
Damn, had a busy weekend and I didn't have time to do my weekly timeslot for reviewing here - and I found I really missed it!  |
Fridays are my days off novel editing and a chance to flick through my other WIPs, do a bit of light revision, or perhaps even find something that sparks off something new! Anyway, the result today is this very short comedic piece -
Reviews welcome, if you're in that sort of mood. |
| A continuing series of extracts from my commonplace book *** Onslaught Camel Blenheim Tartan Wolf Thunderbolt Blackcat Doom Cobra *** Can anyone guess which category of things I saw quite unexpectedly at lunchtime the other day? |
| Damn, I lost all my streaks after a few busy IRL days (going into the office, and also dealing with the toilet seat breaking *rofl* I'm going into London today, though, and time on trains has given me time to catch up, and I even wrote a bit of flash fiction on my first train inspired by a picture I snapped last week, which turned out unexpectedly maudlin... I did enjoy not knowing where that piece was going to go, though! |
| A continuing series of extracts from my commonplace book "My job is to write a book increasingly less badly over time." - Mohsin Hamid *** I relate to this one, hard! |
| A continuing series of extracts from my commonplace book Fell into a nice mini rabbit hole this morning - I wanted a synonym for ad-hoc (because it's dreadfully formal and old-fashioned in my opinion, although in quite regular use at my place of work which shows you how old-fashioned it is...) and although I didn't use it, jury-rigged also came up as another term in the same area - so I read a bit about how that is a naval term for fixing up boats with only the materials you have on board. The "similar terms" section was also interesting and led me to find out that bodging is a) British slang - friends from other countries, have you heard of it???? and b) Originally from woodturning, when "chair-bodgering" was to use green unseasoned wood to make chair legs and similar. Oh, and the similar German term is apparently Trick 17 which sounds really cool to me but I don't quite understand how it's used or where it comes from! |
| A continuing series of extracts from my commonplace book "To write good description, therefore, you have to love the world, to gaze at it as at a lover's face, forgetful of yourself immersed." - Adam Foulds, after T.S. Eliot's "Four Quartets" *** I'm gradually reading through a Guardian "masterclass" on writing a novel which I printed out years ago - there are a lot of good nuggets in there! |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
!
Also... "Kill Bridge" isn't great optics
"The Dutch word "kill" means "creek," "channel," or "stream". It's a term used to describe bodies of water, particularly in areas influenced by Dutch settlement in North America, like the Hudson and Delaware Valleys. You'll find it in place names such as Schuylkill, Catskill, and Fishkill."
Though, I do agree, going over a bridge where Arthur might kill me is a bit daunting!