Category Archives: Ideas

The muse at work

Would YOU miss me?

by

8

From DeviantArt. For if one link in nature's chain might be lost, another might be lost, until the whole of things will vanish by piecemeal.

From DeviantArt. For if one link in nature’s chain might be lost, another might be lost, until the whole of things will vanish by piecemeal.

Or rather would you miss my weekly blog posts? I was trying to think of something worthwhile to blog about, but kept rejecting the crass ideas.

Who wants to read about “A World without Shakespeare”?

Why pose the question “What sort of heroine rules your mind?” in any genre?

What is the point of musing about “Autumn Fruitfulness” if it’s not the “Colours of Fall”?

My inspirational “The Difference between Critique and Beta Readers” will be next Wednesday’s IWSG monthly post.

So I reached the conclusion that I wouldn’t write anything, and then see whether anyone noticed. Shtako! I’ve written something after all.

But what next?

What lines set you alight?

by

6

9996c46546dec743eecfe74826204c67

I was going to blog about ‘A world without William Shakespeare’ but the prospect was too horrendous – even if Christopher Marlowe hadn’t been killed so young.

Did that line grab you, or turn you livid with anger?

How important to you is the first line of a book? I admit there have been some great ones. My favourites, and I read these decades ago, are:

There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it. — C. S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952)

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. – George Orwell, 1984 (1949)

08f210dd80b26ffe6cd2c55507b2636a

But such lists are open to debate, and trying to pick favorites can be a challenge.

Getting that opening right, finding the right words, choosing the moment to start that is the question. Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer – that’s wrong, although as writers we can suffer.

At the moment, my mind is on openings, partly as I have taken on some beta reading, but also as I am struggling with my own opening line:

“Their eyes stared at Twyla without emotion and followed every move that she made up or down the stairs.”

The real question is – what makes you read on? The opening line or paragraph? The cover and blurb? Reviews?

I can remember days past when I went into a bricks & mortar bookshop and flicked through real books. Aah that smell. I started with the cover and blurb, then sampled the opening, and even flicked further on. Harder of course with e-books, but sampling is an option so I read as far as I can. To me a novel is more than a memorable first line.

Do we stop at “Who’s there?” or tarry longer with the Groundlings?

So what hooks you? What is your favourite opening? Can you envisage no Shakespeare?

Midnight Hamlet at The Globe by TheFella on Flickr

Midnight Hamlet at The Globe by TheFella on Flickr

The Candle

by

13

There was a single twinkling candle on my chocolate fudge sundae. One candle for another year older, if not a year healthier. Friday August 7th 2015 was a turning point – well it felt that way for my stomach.

It churned and squirmed along with my head as we drove through the lush green Welsh scenery, across the mountains between Harlech and Bodnant. I hadn’t felt so car sick since I was a child – not physically sick, just feeling rotten. Is this because I’m into my second childhood?

But the journey was worthwhile as the food was delicious at the Bodnant Welsh Food Centre, which is “set in the heart of the Conwy Valley and surrounded by the stunning scenery of Snowdonia”. Best part was browsing their farm shop, and being tempted to buy some tasty treats from chili chocolate to locally sourced beef sausages. What happened to the vegetarian? Disgraceful – or not?

I did get to glimpse odd bits of the scenery on the way home. I needed to, as the fictional setting for “Fates Maelstrom” is in this locality, about 10 miles south-west of Bodnant and on the edge of Snowdonia. Through the mists of car sickness, I caught sight of some crags like the one above Crag-o-Niwl, my fictional Welsh village.

There's a crag in there somewhere! Craig Bwlch y Moch poking up out of a dense forest of rampant vegetation above Tremadog. Photo: Al Leary

There’s a crag in there somewhere! Craig Bwlch y Moch poking up out of a dense forest of rampant vegetation above Tremadog. Photo: Al Leary ~ http://www.groundupclimbing.com/newsitem.asp?nsid=185

So overall it was a good birthday, despite the childhood throwback, and a day that I won’t forget.

What next then? Well other than a birthday in Idaho on August 7th 2016. That depends on the emigration process to the USA, which entails many hurdles.

That candle also threw a light on one aspect of my writing future: where this Blog goes from here.

At the moment, I manage to blog once a month, in the IWSG monthly post on the first Wednesday. However, I feel that the posts should be more regular, for instance once a week – possibly on Monday or Tuesday.

If I go to that new schedule, then I need a new theme, as my intermittent ramblings don’t come up to scratch or muster.

There are three possibilities:

white-dragon-medium

  • Inspiring writers – a weekly blog about authors that have inspired me with their writing. The post would include my favourite books by those writers. I envisage choosing a crime/mystery writer one week, such as Dick Francis or Linwood Barclay. Then a SF/Fantasy writer the next. Like Charles de Lint or Roger Zelazny. I could intersperse these posts with interviews with published writers that I am online friends with. This is the simplest option, and more akin to the A to Z Challenge, but much more laid back.
  • Boise Skyline

    Boise Skyline ~ Copyright: http://www.visitidaho.org/photos/

    Moving to the USA – a weekly blog about the process that my wife and I are going through in trying to get to Idaho, USA. It could address the hurdles as well as the breakthroughs, and the prospects that await us. This would be more of a diary with a few suggestion for others undertaking the same expedition. I’m not sure that this would work as a weekly post, but with so many hurdles it could.

  • fd6a0b9306bea4eb33c76f2f4578481b (1)Living with Multiple Sclerosis – a weekly blog that is a chance for me to explain the condition, vent about the MonSter, and perhaps help others. Much more seat-of-the-pants than the other two, and also the disability gives me good days and bad days. Of course, I can’t help mentioning the MonSter in other posts, especially the American ones. Of course, my health is a key reason behind the move.

Of course, I could intersperse these and do one per week, choosing whatever I was inspired to write. Call it Pick-n-Mix.

328a26c2f1cca551c77117d6ce3bd911

So what would you like to see me Blog about? Inspiring Writers, Moving to the USA, Living with Multiple Sclerosis, or ‘Pick-n-Mix’?

What Title change? Which Book theme?

by

15

InsecureWritersSupportGroup2

Today is the first Wednesday of June and that means this is my monthly Insecure Writers Support Group post. One problem though – I can’t remember what I was going to write about.

A few days ago, I had a brainwave so I scribbled down ‘Title change’ and ‘Book theme’ in the notebook that I use for blog post ideas.  If I don’t create a mnemonic then I use a phrase to trigger my memory, but it seems that doesn’t always work.

MORAL: Make proper notes, not cryptic scribbles.

Notebooks make more sense than scraps of paper, and I have ten notebooks on the go. (But I promise not to list them all, just say that they’re not just for writing or musings.)

Normally, I have a notebook per project – although when I was a journalist, everything went into the same spiral back reporter’s pad, until I had to start a new one.

My current project, “Storms Compass” began as a notebook for the “Gossamer Flames” collection of short stories. But now, as I edit it, it has spread into its own notebook.

My “Snowdon Shadows” series has a notebook each for the first two books – “Fates Maelstrom” and “Seeking A Knife”. NOTE: The protagonist, Welsh detective Sparkle Lodge, uses mnemonics to solve her cases, but cleverer ones than mine. Plus she has a better memory for her cryptic clues.

Some projects end up with innumerable notebooks, like my debut novel “Spiral of Hooves”, mainly because it took over thirteen years to write.

Image courtesy of samuiblue at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of samuiblue at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

But I will make odd notes on scraps of paper. Some are transferred, others are short-lived, and some are lost.

Just remember to ensure that all notes make sense, because there comes a day when the brain freezes, or in my case short-circuits.

So what did I mean by ‘Title change’ and ‘Book theme’? Best answer gets a blog spot 😉

***

Purpose of the IWSG day: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post our thoughts on our own blog. Talk about our doubts and the fears we have conquered. Discuss our struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with our fellow writers – aiming for a dozen new people each time

Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!

Our Twitter hashtag is #IWSG

The awesome co-hosts for the June 3 posting of the IWSG are M. Pax, Tracy Jo,Patricia Lynne, Rachna Chhabria, Feather Stone, and Randi Lee!

U is for United States Navy

by

3

U

The United States Navy saw substantial action in the War of 1812, where it was victorious in eleven single-ship duels with the Royal Navy. The navy drove all significant British forces off Lake Erie and Lake Champlain and prevented them from becoming British controlled zones of conflict. The result was a major defeat for the British invasion of New York State, and the defeat of the military threat from the Indian allies of the British. Despite this, the U.S. Navy was unable to prevent the British from blockading American ports and landing troops on American soil.

Various U.S. Navy vessels played notable roles in the War, but this focuses on three of them:

USS Constellation by John W. Schmidt

USS Constellation by John W. Schmidt

USS Constellation was a 38-gun frigate, one of the “Six Original Frigates” authorized for construction by the Naval Act of 1794. She was distinguished as the first U.S. Navy vessel to put to sea and the first U.S. Navy vessel to engage and defeat an enemy vessel. Constructed in 1797, she was decommissioned in 1853. On June 22, 1813, her crew played a crucial role in the Battle of Craney Island. The American victory at Craney Island saved Norfolk and Portsmouth from being captured and pillaged by the enemy.

BOSTON (July 4, 2014) USS Constitution fires a 17-gun salute near U.S. Coast Guard Base Boston during the ship's Independence Day underway demonstration in Boston Harbor. Constitution got underway with more than 300 guests to celebrate America's independence. (U.S. Navy photo by Seaman Matthew R. Fairchild/Released) 

BOSTON (July 4, 2014) USS Constitution fires a 17-gun salute near U.S. Coast Guard Base Boston during the ship’s Independence Day underway demonstration in Boston Harbor. Constitution got underway with more than 300 guests to celebrate America’s independence. (U.S. Navy photo by Seaman Matthew R. Fairchild/Released)

USS Constitution is a wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate, named by President George Washington after the Constitution of the United States of America. The boat is the world’s oldest commissioned naval vessel afloat.[Note 1] Launched in 1797, Constitution , like USS Constellation, was one of the “Six Original Frigates”. Joshua Humphreys designed the frigates to be the young Navy’s capital ships, and so Constitution and her sisters were larger and more heavily armed and built than standard frigates of the period. Constitution is most famous for her actions during the War of 1812, when she captured numerous merchant ships and defeated five British warships: HMS Guerriere, Java, Pictou, Cyane, and Levant. The battle with Guerriere earned her the nickname of “Old Ironsides” and public adoration that has repeatedly saved her from scrapping.

USS Essex capturing Alert. 13 August 1812 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

USS Essex capturing Alert. 13 August 1812 – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 

The first USS Essex participated in the Quasi-War with France, the First Barbary War, and in the War of 1812. When war was declared, the 32 gun frigate, commanded by Captain David Porter, made a successful cruise to the southward. By September, when she returned to New York, Essex had taken ten prizes, including the sloop HMS Alert. The youngest member of the Essex crew was 10-year-old midshipman David Glasgow Farragut, who would become the first admiral of the US Navy.

Essex sailed into South Atlantic waters and along the coast of Brazil until January 1813, decimating the British whaling fleet in the Pacific, and capturing thirteen British whalers. In January 1814, Essex sailed into neutral waters at Valparaíso, Chile, only to be trapped there by the British frigate, HMS Phoebe, and the sloop-of-war HMS Cherub. On 28 March 1814, in the Battle of Valparaiso, Essex, armed almost entirely with powerful, but short range carronades, resisted the superior British fighting power and longer gun range for over 2 hours. Eventually, the hopeless situation forced Porter to surrender.  The captured frigate then served as HMS Essex until sold at public auction on 6 June 1837.

Patrick O’Brian adapted the story of Essex‍ ’​s attack on British whalers for his novel The Far Side of the World.

Further Information: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Navy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Constellation_(1797)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Constitution

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Essex_(1799)

http://www.army.mil/article/98107

PREVIOUS A TO Z POSTS

Details on my 2015 A to Z theme and a linked list of posts can be found on my A to Z Challenge page, which also has a linked list of my 2014 posts.

A2Z-BADGE-000 [2015] - Life is Good

The brainchild of Arlee Bird, at Tossing it Out, the A to Z Challenge is posting every day in April except Sundays (we get those off for good behaviour.) And since there are 26 days, that matches the 26 letters of the alphabet. On April 1, we blog about something that begins with the letter “A.” April 2 is “B,” April 3 is “C,” and so on. Please visit other challenge writers.

My theme is ‘The War of 1812’, a military conflict, lasting for two-and-a-half years, fought by the United States of America against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, its North American colonies, and its American Indian allies. The Memoirs of a British naval officer from the war is central to my novel “Seeking A Knife” – part of the Snowdon Shadows series.

Further reading on The War of 1812:

http://www.eighteentwelve.ca/?q=eng

http://www.history.com/topics/war-of-1812

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/the-war-of-1812-stupid-but-important/article547554/

http://www.shmoop.com/war-1812/

http://www.pbs.org/wned/war-of-1812/essays/

The Very Inspiring Blogger Award

by

12

very-inspiring-blogger-award1

I’m beginning to catch up after a hectic month attempting to address all the comments on “Storms Compass” that I got back from my brave beta readers. I tried to address all the points, even if some didn’t feel right – until I gave them proper consideration and explored them fully. Today I passed this first Book in the Gossamer Flames saga to my editor friend Sue Barnard.

Now it’s time to address the nomination that I received a few weeks ago for Very Inspiring Blogger Award, from talented Italian friend, Sarah Zama.

Sarah is a wonderful jeweller and a budding writer so I recommend visiting her blog, The Old Shelter, which has a fascinating collection of articles, stories and links. I liked her jewellery so much that I bought a steampunk pendant for my wife.

Steampunk Heart from JazzFeathers

Steampunk Heart from JazzFeathers

Anyway, on to today’s task. In order to accept the award, I have to do a few things:

Display the award on your blog.

Link back to the person who nominated you.

State 7 things about yourself.

Nominate 15 bloggers, link to them, and notify them about their nominations.

7 Things about me

Having been interviewed a few times, these are the more obscure facts.

1. Although I sound English, was born in England and most of the time went to school in England, I am actually a quarter Chilean. My mother was born in Chile to a Chilean mother and an English father. Although my grandmother lived near us and spoke Spanish with my mother, I didn’t learn the language from them. But I had an ear for it, so with the right encouragement I learnt enough to survive.

2. The only time that I didn’t go to school in England, was when I was in Canada. For two years I did my GCSE A levels at Bransons, a school in the Laurentians, north of Montreal. Think I spent as much time skiing as I did studying. Suspect that my French – learnt at school in England – didn’t improve as Quebecois felt like a different language; in fact it evolved from Breton French.  I also spent a further year living in Toronto, the city that I vowed never to visit. Never make rash statements. I was intending to train as a journalist, but the Canadian system didn’t recognise my A levels. So I spent a year doing a General Studies course that was a step back in some respects. But it turned me green and into a vegetarian.

3. While in Canada, I went on a white-water expedition. The Beaver River trip took a few weeks and entailed the first navigation of this river from The Yukon to British Columbia – by white skins. Don’t ask how many times I tipped the rubber raft over.

4. I may live in Wales now, with a view of the mountains and the sea, but I have no Welsh blood – just second cousins that grew up here. I can claim a touch of Celtic blood though, as some of my ancestors were from Scotland, and proudly wore the Grant tartan. But I speak more words of Welsh than Gaelic.

ScreenShot00051

5. [Thanks to Sara for this one] “I was a Tolkien fan way before the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy came out.”

In fact, “Lord of the Rings” is the book that influenced me most as a writer, and I re-read it when I can. It has always headed my list of favourite books and has always inspired me whether I need to escape into another world or in my writing. Is that the same thing? And I have been able to see my vision of Middle Earth on screen plus been there in a gaming world. I also have the hardback set that I read in my late teens back in the late 1970’s. Strange fact is that it was not the first Tolkien piece of writing that I devoured – that was his lecture paper “”Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics”, followed by “Tree and Leaf”, which contains the essay ‘On Fairy Stories’, which Sara Zama says, “any writer should read…Tolkien says it takes a lot more than dragons and magic to make a fantasy story. Magic has to be part of that world, it has to be woven in its very fabric to the point you can’t imagine that world without that kind of magic. And that world with that magic has to have the intimate consistency of reality.”

6. I hate roller-coasters to the point that I once bit my ex-wife on the shoulder because I was terrified on some runaway train at Disneyland. No that wasn’t why she left me for a better man. I also tried to throw myself out of a rickety big wheel that had nothing holding us in – except a useless bar. Is there a murder mystery there? Funfair Fiasco?

7. I worked for a few years in the TV/film industry, losing a lot of money trying to make a movie in Malta. During that time, I worked with a few amazing people ranging from Doctor Who actors like Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker, to musicians like Keith Emerson (Emerson, Lake & Palmer) and my best friend Steve Hackett (Genesis).

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

And now comes the hardest part, choosing the fifteen blogs to nominate. Apologies if you have been nominated, don’t accept nominations, got missed out, or even wonder if I actually know anybody.

http://ailsaabraham.com/

http://nancyjardine.blogspot.co.uk/

https://ashleighgalvin.wordpress.com/home/

http://www.ericstaggs.com/

http://broad-thoughts-from-a-home.blogspot.co.uk/

https://vanessacouchmanwriter.wordpress.com/

http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.co.uk/

http://mark-patton.blogspot.co.uk/

http://ginamc.blogspot.co.uk/

http://wendyswritingnow.blogspot.co.uk/

http://theequestrianvagabond.blogspot.co.uk/

http://jbwye.com/

https://awomanswisdom.wordpress.com/

http://elizabethducie.blogspot.co.uk/

http://lonitownsend.com/

Next port of call/task on the To Do list is a new page on this site, called ‘Snowdon Shadows’ and those book reviews that have never got written. Oh and there’s A to Z, IWSG, and so much more.