I love Substack, but…
Read MoreSubstack blues
in News & views
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Nonfiction notebook: Foreword, Preface or Introduction?
I was faced with a conundrum: should I write a Preface to the 3rd Edition, a Foreword to the 3rd Edition, or just stuff it all into the Introduction and be done with it?
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Photo from Stencil. Licence: CC0
On this day: 7 features of bad writing
7 Features of Bad Writing suggests some common characteristics of poor prose. Any one of these 'sins' would serve as an indicator, especially if they occur more than once or twice.
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Shock, Horror! by Terry Freedman
I still get the same ole feeling: trepidation
I’ve been asked to write a book review by a magazine. Here’s the process I went through.
Read MoreOn this day: Second-hand ebooks?
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.
So, what do I like about them, and what does this have to do with ebooks?
time’s running out! Picture created in ImageFX
Reminder: Just a few hours left to enter a kick-ass competition to win a copy of A Town Without Time by Gay Talese
This collection of work by Gay Talese is utterly brilliant, and contains items that haven’t seen the light of day in a long time.
Read MoreOn this day: The joy of monochrome
Not everything in life is black and white -- but perhaps more of it should be.
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Creative writing class
Creative assessment on a creative writing course
Reading each student’s work each week, at a rate of ten minutes each, took nearly two and a half hours. Thinking of suitable comments, adding them in to the appropriate place in Google Classroom, and updating my spreadsheet markbook took another hour and a half.
Something had to be done.
Read MoreCompetition to win a copy of Gay Talese's A Town Without Time
Last week I announced a competition to win a copy of A Town Without Time, the new collection of work by Gay Talese. Here is the link again, this time with an unrestricted link!
Read More7 useful literary techniques
Here are seven handy techniques with which to enrich your writing. Used sparingly, they can be very effective at bringing a piece to life.
Read MoreThe hardboiled collection: 3 Chandleresque stories in one post!
Three creative writing experiments: stories written in the hardboiled style.Quick look: A Town Without Time PLUS A chance to win this book!
A short review, plus a chance to win a copy of this new book.
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Start the Week #1
in Diary
Here is a mixture of news, articles and links you might like. A word of warning though: one of the pieces below is pure fiction. I will leave you to determine which one.
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Review: The Newsmongers -- two reviews in one!
in Bookshelf, Journalism, Reviews
was intrigued to discover that a popular news magazine of the sixties had been anticipated by Defoe.
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A load of chips — photo by Terry Freedman
A film and a meal
in Memoir
Lois has an arts degree from the University of Oxford, which means that she can tell you everything you need to know about the influence of post-modernism on Latin-American literature in the final quarter of the twentieth century, but she can’t add up.
Read MoreReview: The Shortest History of Music
The Music Programme of Study requires students to have an understanding of the music that they perform and to which they listen, and its history, and an appreciation of different musical styles.
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Review: How to think like a poet (two reviews in one!)
In all, twenty three poets are considered, and they constitute a wide variety: alongside the usual ones like Milton and Chaucer, we find Sappho and Basho. Each chapter is a mixture of biography and quotations.
Read MoreMansplaining Jane Austen
in News & views
I was very pleased to be able to give a load of women the benefit of my wisdom and experience on a Jane Austen course a few months ago.
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Me feeling somewhat exercised
Playing the feminist card and blaming the 'patriarchy'
in News & views
Playing the feminist card strikes me as intellectually lazy.
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Late Lines Event
in Events
The City LIt, where I teach a creative writing course, a course for would-be bloggers and a course on the Oulipo is holding another Late Lines event.
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