Who would have thought that an article inspired by the description “long ass” would go viral? Certainly not me. I hope you enjoy reading the article and, especially, the discussion in the comments section. You’ll get a good laugh if nothing else!
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I thought I would test ChatGPT’s mettle in a rather self-interested way. I write a lot of book reviews — a lot. I have three books I need to review for an education magazine by 21st January, plus two books I need to review for other websites soonish, and I have to write a review of an exhibition for a different education magazine by next week <gulp>.
Therefore I have two (competing) concerns.
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Not many writers can make a living solely from their writing. (Figures released this month in the UK put the figure at only 19%.) Therefore, think creatively of other ways to make money.
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Christmas greetings from Freedman Towers.
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I’m not known for writing poetry, much less in the style of the 16th century. But I’ve had a go, and I like to think that my poetry is a bit better than my art.
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As you may know, I’ve been exchanging letters online with Rebecca Holden. We agree that we’d write three letters each. We’ve enjoyed the experiment so much that we’ve decided to continue with it after the Christmas break.
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Here in England it’s cold, though not quite as cold as it has been, and walking and cycling are treacherous.
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I’ve written a piece called My Life in Cafés. I wanted it to be bittersweet, a mixture of pathos and humour.
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It is easy to believe that ‘fake news’ is a modern phenomenon, brought about by social media and promulgated by politicians. Yet as the British Library’s event, ‘Breaking the News’ exhibition demonstrates, fake news – or that unforgettable phrase ‘alternative facts’ – have been features of news reporting for at least 500 years.
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You might wonder why I’ve included a review of it at all on this website, given that the target readership of the website is writers, and people thinking about writing.
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I was commissioned by Teach Secondary magazine to review this book. I’ve included here both the review I submitted, and the lightly edited version published in the magazine.
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A couple of days ago I attended the launch of a new report into writers’ earnings in the UK. The quick summary is…
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Have you read any works written in the form of letters? Or have you written anything like that yourself? I've been interested in that genre for a long time, so I was delighted when, a few weeks ago, a course came up at the City Lit institute looking at epistolary fiction.
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Berkman has written an interesting and very academic examination of the links between maths and literature.
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The news a few months ago that Annie Ernaux was going to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature prompted me to think that a round-up of reviews of books by non-English authors, or set in foreign countries, would make quite an interesting article. Some of these have been reviewed here before, but I thought you might enjoy having them all in one place according to a theme. Enjoy!
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Specific books, and general categories. Some of these books have been reviewed here before, but I thought it might be useful for people to have all of them in one place.
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If blogging was a person I can imagine it saying, like James Cagney, "I ain't dead yet!"
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Why shouldn’t nonfiction writing be as well-crafted, interesting, even exciting as fiction?
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I write about literature, life in general, odd things that have happened, the odd bit of fiction, experimental writing.
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The life of a freelance writer is one of unreliable remuneration, shifting loyalties and sudden endings, as this book makes abundantly clear.
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