January 2005

Not wanting to let the grass grow under my feet, I have put down roots into Chapter Four, Midnight Research, and written down through into page two already, notching up a reasonable 410 words. I feel pleased by this, especially…

So, even though chapther three only took me 50 days to write the 17,000 plus words, 10 months passed between first and last words. So the question that comes to my mind is how long will it take me to…

[drinking | apricot palinka] Ben turns the head of his flashlight, flicking the beam and off in a crude kind of morse code. Along the lane, Hannah and Alice are doing the similar. The headlights on the road above have…

Blue Tattoo Once upon a lifetime The spirits of the dark Came to kill the beauty Of our world Every soul was spell bound And prisoned into ice Just shining through Sad as a blue tattoo Tears have turned to…

Another 501 words further on, and I am precariously close to the halfway point. Chapter three has now overtaken, by a small margin, chapter two in length, and writing these words makes me feel as cold and as wet as…

No matter how well, the writing has been going the rest of the week, I never seem to be able produce words on a Friday. I wonder why that is?

I admire those who travel light; Just how do they manage it. Also, how come they always seem to have more clothes to wear than me but have lighter bags? whose homes are shrines to minimalist good taste. But I…

I had an interesting letter waiting for me when I got home today, from Fish Publishing regarding my entry of the first 5,000 words of their Unpublished Novel award. It’s obviously a courtesy idea to try and sell their critique…

I must proceed fast What time I will reach my bed tonight It all depends depends At what time, I- I reach journey’s end.

Yes, it’s Tuesday, dear friends. Which means your favourite writer has been swimming, and has come back faintly smelling of chlorine still, and full story plotting. I now know the twists and turns that will lead you (my reader) to…

I see that the Sparrow’s Nest Theatre has now been demolished… 🙁 …so no triumphal homecoming concert The Darkness there then. Interestingly, The Lowestoft Players used to rehearse (they probably still do) in a little yellow corrugated iron hut just…

I’m digitising more records, this time my Sky – if anyone knows of an official website for this seemingly defunct group let me know. I have a feeling that Sky Cadmium was one of the last records that I bought…

The Golden Circle and Drawing on Tables in 101 Reykjavik Day 15. 20 August 2002 Tuesday. Awaking from a warm, good night’s sleep we breakfast in the hut, pack our bags once more and head off on the road once…

Yesterday was good and different and good (did I say good already?). I got up early (okay, not so good) for a Saturday, and headed off down to some Prep School near Abingdon, where the band was holding a Playing…

Tonight, I passed the 50,000 mile mark of my novel. That’s 180 pages of pure shepline imaginationTM. Well, better stop yakking … I’ve got myself another 50,000 words to write… (see you on the other side *grins*)

Shorts and suntan lotion, and hot pools at midnight Day 13. 18 August 2002 Sunday. Our last working day. I wake after having a bitterly cold night, not helped by the fact that the zip on the sleeping bag broke…

I’ve discovered that I never finished publishing the the tales of my adventures in the Jökulsárgljufur National Park [Iceland 2002]. So I’m going to start a short mini-series, serialising the last three chapters of the adventure (including northern lights, frontier…

( The Land of the Midnight Sun ) The End of a Saga Day 10. 24 June 2004 Thursday. The journey home. I have slept very well, and indeed are rudely awoken from my sleep by my alarm clock. I…