I was going to review the Tolkien biopic I saw the other day. And I will: it was solid story telling, took some minor appropriate liberties with the source material to heighten the drama, yet didn't compromise much. I enjoyed it. Basically, it was another thoughtful narrative mostly around the effects of a difficult childhood … Continue reading Some enchanted telling
Random Short Thoughts
May 2020 and all the months before
I keep having to redraft this first paragraph as what I originally wrote is now years old, and time marches on from the day I visited the place I'm about to describe. This minute and for the ones preceding, it has been a golden afternoon in May. The autumnal sunshine is magicking up the world … Continue reading May 2020 and all the months before
Writing things in motion
This is a quick note to mention writing things are in motion. I have an article for the Submittable blog coming out this week, and a tiny morsel of flash fiction has been accepted for publication in issue 20 of Speculative 66 which is out the week after. These events are very welcome. These are … Continue reading Writing things in motion
Posting poetry
I'm taking part in a month long Post-it Note Poetry exercise (#PINP19) on Instagram over February (organised by @Soullyrical). I'm taking part because too often I'm a bystander. Also, after all this time, I know inspiration works better with restraints, and a bunch of discipline, rather than the panic that infinite space induces. A Post-it … Continue reading Posting poetry
Challenge detected
Ages ago I signed up for a local library writing group run by Sian Prior (author of Shy). Since it was over subscribed I consistently missed each meeting, except the last one, which I did attend. It turns out this writing group delivered nothing I hadn't already heard, however some of the resources and handouts … Continue reading Challenge detected
Spring in my spam
Tis spring in Melbourne. We have hail, flash flooding, humidity, sunshine, cloudy days and much politics. Also, we have spam, lots of spam referencing flowers. It's the season: She cherished the flowers. I love flowers of every kind. The flowers. Sounds creepy with 'the'. But think of this as a season for crafts and markets. … Continue reading Spring in my spam
Something old is renewed
You can never experience your own writing in the same way readers can. Writers know their own story, are often unaware of their usual or unusual foibles, and read what they want imagined, not what they put on the page. So they see the wood for the trees. Unless you write something and completely forget … Continue reading Something old is renewed
Uses of enchantment
I have Bruno Bettelheim's book Uses of Enchantment, somewhere. Yet I'm less interested in Freudian readings of myth and fairy tales than other types of interpretation. But that's not the point of this. I was reading how selling is the art of story telling, (in a Medium piece here) but earlier I'd been looking for a … Continue reading Uses of enchantment
Pedalling underwater
Once again I made my slow path to that vale of tears, much like Dante described the way to Hell. I faced the contents of the spam folder. Forthwith I returned, emerging from my own dark night of the soul to present some of its contents. Tis the era of correct pronouns spammer: she and … Continue reading Pedalling underwater
Holding an idea
I've had difficulty sleeping recently. It's spring messing with my sinuses, as per usual, and my brain thinking about things, also as per usual. Anyway, the week the Australian Prime Minister spoke about "abiding the law" when asked about banning conversion therapy for LGBTIQA+ people, I couldn't sleep at all. During one restless night I … Continue reading Holding an idea
