Safari Friday searching the web for writers and readers — Free photos for Bloggers
PhotoPin is basically a photo search engine for bloggers. It only looks through photographs that are licensed under creative commons on Flickr. What does Creative Commons mean? I was convinced … Continue reading
Real readers don’t buy hardback books
Just read on the BBC’s website that 17,662 hardback copies of The Cuckoo’s Calling sold were sold between 14 and 20 July since JK Rowling was revealed as the author. … Continue reading
Did you know a small bookshop pre-ordered 250 signed copies of The Cuckoo’s Calling before J.K.Rowling was outed?
Goldsboro Books in central London specialises in modern first editions but it hasn’t tried to cash in. Every copy was sold for the jacket price of £16.99 even though the … Continue reading
Writers in films… Blink and you’ll miss Raymond Chandler
Discovered another writer in a film thanks to Anecdotal Evidence a fascinating blog about ‘the intersection of books and life’. Apparently the author of The Big Sleep and Farewell My … Continue reading
A home movie of the great and the good and the averagely brilliant
I’ve just come across a silent amateur movie made in 1926 that has an absolutely mad cast. It was mentioned in an article about writers who appear in films in … Continue reading
A haiku for (nearly) every occasion. Never mind the quality – count the syllables
Originally posted on Michelle Proulx – Author:
I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but haikus are “the shizzle”, as teenage hoodlums like to say. For many years I…
Monday Creative Writing Exercise because it’s a good way to start the week: Synaesthesia
What colour is the letter “A”? What does the number “1” taste of? About 3% of the population have synaesthesia and live in a world of extra sensations. For many … Continue reading
Safari Friday went missing this week
I skipped the usual Safari Friday post this week 1) Because I was teaching five full days in 30+ degree temperatures. (What a week for a creative writing summer school!) … Continue reading
Quotes for writers (and people who like quotes) Narnia author C.S. LEWIS on not giving tuppence about being original
No man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you … Continue reading
Poet in Residence – another job to dream about?
It’s not my intention to turn this blog into a job noticeboard, but I just had to publish details of a writer in residence post that came to my attention, … Continue reading
A chance to write a London murder mystery with leading novelists
I’ve heard of crowd-sourcing in terms of communal fund raising (I contributed recently to the publication of a graphic novel which should be coming out in the autumn) but this … Continue reading
POETRY FOR THE TERRIFIED Monday Creative Writing Exercise because it’s a good way to start the week
Most people ignore most poetry because most poetry ignores most people – Adrian Mitchell Most people either love poetry or are scared by it. I see the same delighted/horrified expressions … Continue reading
Quotes for Writers and people who like quotes Brenda Ueland on what writing feels like
I learned that you should feel when writing, not like Lord Byron on a mountain top, but like a child stringing beads in kindergarten – happy, absorbed and quietly putting … Continue reading
DID YOU KNOW that cliches in other languages sound really original in English?
Some time ago the writer and broadcaster Lijia Zang told me that the laughter lines around the eyes that the English know as crows’ feet have a different name in … Continue reading
BRIDGET WHELAN writer 