It's sunny in Melbourne. There is barely a cloud to cross this blue sky. It is chilly though, and the over-night dew lingers across shadowed surfaces. All too soon the sun will hide, and the long evening will bring on the damp air. It is the shortest day of the year and more usually it … Continue reading Solstice
Notes on Writing Related Stuff
Speak words and learn
I delivered a short story writing workshop to a high school class. I'm still riding on a crest of elation over its success. Given the opportunity, it's something I could get used to. In an unrelated incident, I was telling someone I had written stories that were published. This person's enthusiastic response reminded me being … Continue reading Speak words and learn
Questions and anti-notes on writing
I was reading how two pages of Anne Frank's personal diary that she covered over will be published (and eventually translated). Let's say I am unsurprised that most of the news articles have highlighted how these pages feature a 'dirty joke.' While publishers, writers, and academics debate the line between historical importance and respecting writer … Continue reading Questions and anti-notes on writing
Under a spell
There is a final sentence in one of Tim Winton's short stories in his intertwined anthology The Turning that winded me with its beauty, poise and connectedness to what had gone before. I can't remember the story exactly, it was one of those grim seaside slices of life he is an expert at crafting, but … Continue reading Under a spell
unManley Hopkins
Gerard Manley Hopkins was an innovative and scholarly poet, if mostly unpublished in his lifetime. His unquiet poems, with their vivid descriptions in sprung rhythm still resonate with me. As an individual, he was a depressive, diminutive and devout man, out of sync with his world. Thus, he remains somehow familiar, and supremely current, except … Continue reading unManley Hopkins
Writers: born this way?
A FB writing group I'm in posed a question about whether writers are born or made. It garnered many, many enthusiastic responses. Most members asserted writers are born, or are somehow a combination of both born and made. You may not be surprised to find I have a problem with this. Otherwise I wouldn't be … Continue reading Writers: born this way?
Not imagining war
I am a new student of German Longsword. It's been mentioned before in dispatches, but it's a bit like boxing, or dancing. Cuts and parries (movements) are in response to those of your sparring partner and vice versa. Thus, sometimes sword fighting is a waltz, other times it is jazz ballet. But since English is … Continue reading Not imagining war
Mystery is the reason for the season
I'm a big admirer of scientific discoveries. I collect data and evidence because they are reassuring and often useful in life and stories. Right now, the Geminid shower is taking place, but I can't see anything. It doesn't matter. Anyway, my stance on science doesn't mean I discard experiences and phenomena that can't be dissected, … Continue reading Mystery is the reason for the season
Doctor Who: Use Your Words
'ere be spoilers, me hearties, k? In a Doctor Who story featuring two big reveals, the one regarding the vault was interesting, given the stuff about measurements of fatality, with an apt call back to River Song, but that was the curtain raiser. No, it was the other piece of news that kept me engaged … Continue reading Doctor Who: Use Your Words
Doctor Who: Raising Stakes
Ok, this is a two-fer-one deal this week. Two reviews for one episode. It's happened before and it may happen again. Here we go. Remember when Psychic Bec™ described the 2017 season's arc in terms of how each episode would edge closer to the main point of the series and how, in another post (if you've … Continue reading Doctor Who: Raising Stakes
