Does the Oxfam bookshop know something I don’t?
Read MoreWhat is nonfiction?
Books to be reviewed ,by Terry Freedman
Indexes and tables of contents
in Bookshelf, Reflections
One of the first things I look for when reviewing a non-fiction book is whether or not it contains an index. If it does, the next thing I check is whether the index is actually useful.
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Squared notebook, by Terry Freedman
Writing the Oulipo: A Taster of "constrained writing"
If, like me, you enjoy writing for the sake of it, and maybe even enjoy a secret life as a short story or novel writer, this might interest you.
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The Redbridge branch of the London Cycling Campaign — or some of us anyway. Photo credit: unknown
Cycling to the Platinum Jubilee celebrations
in News & views
Our aim was to cycle into London, specifically Green Park, and watch the fly past. Unfortunately, everyone else in the UK had the same idea…
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Navigating a book
One of the first things I look for when reviewing a non-fiction book is whether or not it contains an index. If it does, the next thing I check is whether the index is actually useful.
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Image by Ronny Overhate from Pixabay
Yeah, I run a business. So what?
I pitched an article to a newspaper that, it turns out, pays less if the article has been written by someone who runs their own business. Why?
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Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
Course: Writing the Oulipo
in Oulipo
A new course for creative writing.
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Fake news by Terry Freedman
Gilray and plum pie
in News & views
My Gilray and plum pie day.
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Shoreditch in black and white, by Terry Freedman
Imposing limits in order to enhance your creativity
The standard advice for writers who are feeling uninspired or blocked is to allow your mind to wander where it will or to just start writing aimlessly to see what happens. Therefore to suggest the opposite approach, that of imposing some constraints on your thinking, seems completely counterintuitive.
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Image by Megan Rexazin from Pixabay
#FlashbackFriday: Book reviews
in Reviews
I think a lot about book reviewing, and am continually experimenting with different forms.
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Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay
A slow motion rejection
in News & views
Just in case I might get too complacent, a malignant Fate decreed that an article I’ve spent hours on has been rejected — by the person who commissioned it.
Read MoreClassification of my articles: an asyndetic list
in Oulipo
What can we learn from an apparently simple list, apart from the contents of the list?
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Cover of The Author magazine, by Terry Freedman
On this day: Authors ands their rituals
in On this day, Research
What rituals do writers rely on to help them write?
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Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash
Ways into advanced literary study: a review
in Reviews
For some years I’ve been considering studying for an MA in English Literature. Thus when this course came to my attention I was very interested in using it as a way of dipping my toes in the waters of academia once again.
Read MoreBook review: A Head Full of Everything: Inspiration for Teenagers With the World on Their Mind
Being a teenager is not easy.
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Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash
Cancel culture, McCarthy-style
in News & views
These days of “cancelling” people whose views one doesn’t agree with is nothing new. In recent times (the 1950s) this went on at a semi-official level.
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Question mark, by Terry Freedman
My writing warm-up exercise
in News & views
In her book Discoverability, Kristine Kathryn Rusch cites the acronym penned by Scott William Carter: WIBBOW.
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On this day: Saving your work
It’s always good to be reminded of how to avoid losing a load of work.
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Bookcase, by Terry Freedman
Second-hand ebooks? (Updated)
in News & views
I love second-hand bookshops. Whenever I go on holiday, one of the first things I do is go to the nearest Tourism Information outlet and get a list of the local used bookshops.
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Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash
Eclecticism
in News & views
My public writing tends to be mostly about education technology, and the craft of nonfiction writing. My interests are more varied than that brief description would suggest, but to avoid muddying the waters I either attempt to skew an article so that it fits into one of those categories, or not publish it at all. But that has now changed….
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