Struggle to find the ‘right’ word for your writing? Sometimes, so do I. Maybe, in trying to improve my own work, I can help you. Today’s words: Ardent/Apathetic, Afford an opportunity, Ahem, Adronitis, Author Antonyms: words that express the opposite of other words can be hard to find, because thesauruses usually give no examples. When …
Month: Aug 2018
Lonely Planet, Italy: #BookReview.
Travel/Italy 992 pages Until I’ve been to Italy, I can’t know the true value of this book. However, having read it in preparation, I can comment on what I’ve so far found. I’m off to Italy soon, visiting Rome, Naples and Pompeii, Florence, and Lake Maggiore, which is why I bought the general travel book …
Where Now?
It’s an odd situation for me, though I know many writers visit this apparent desert frequently and often for prolonged periods. But I appear to have hit that dreaded void known as ‘writer’s block’. But is it real? And, if it is, what causes it? I’ve spent the past few weeks catching up on all …
The #Write #Word? Post 33
Struggle to find the ‘right’ word for your writing? So do I, sometimes. Maybe, in trying to improve my own work, I can help you. Today’s words: Zenith, Zestfully, Zap, Zealot Synonyms are alternative words that might say exactly what you’re trying to convey. Zenith: Roget lists the following alternatives as headings: superiority, serial place, …
What Next?
Best laid plans… I woke last Thursday intent on starting a new short story. My usual method is to gather two or three characters, get to know them, select a theme or two, and begin writing, allowing the story to unfold. It’s worked in the past, so, although I haven’t done it for a couple …
The #Write #Word? Post 32
Struggle to find the ‘right’ word for your writing? So do I, sometimes. Maybe, in trying to improve my own work, I can help you. Today’s words: Yawning, Yell loudly, You only live once, Youth Synonyms are alternative words that might say exactly what you’re trying to convey. Yawning: Roget’s lists these sub-headings; deep, opening, sleepy. …
The #Writing’s Done. What Now?
I’ve spent the better part of three years on a project, writing a novel each year, and found the void at the end of that process strangely debilitating. So, what do I do know? Fantastic Books Publishing launched Blood Red Dust, book 1 of the Generation Mars series, on 18th October 2016. War Over Dust, …
My Review Stats, as Provided by BookSirens via Goodreads
I was recently given a chance to have my reviewing activity revealed in charts and diagrams. I thought it would be interesting, for me, and for my readers. Here's the link to the result on BookSirens.
The #Write #Word? Post 31
Struggling to find the ‘right’ word for your writing? You’re not alone. Maybe, in trying to improve my own work, I can help other writers. Today’s words: Xanthippe, Xeric, Xenophobically, Xenophobe. Words beginning with ‘x’ in English are few, and almost all stem from Greek. In fact, in my copy of the Shorter Oxford English …
Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making.
It’s done! It’s out! It’s available to buy (and review)! Right now! Okay, so an overindulgence in apostrophes. I’m excited. Delighted. Eager. The book is no longer a Work In Progress, so this is the last post in this series. There’ll be more on the book, of course: I’d like everyone to read it, after …
What Would a Muslim Say?, by Ahmed Lotfy Rashed: #BookReview.
Religion and Spirituality/Islam 156 pages Subtitled ‘Conversations, Questions, And Answers About Islam’, this slim volume is an introduction to the Muslim’s view of Islam. It’s also an attempt to separate the actions of extremists from the doctrines on which they base those actions. And an effort to educate non-Muslims in the way the religion is …
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Supporting Other Bloggers (Discussion + Advice) #Discussion #Advice #Topic #Commenting #Sharing #SocialMedia #Blogging #Support
via Supporting Other Bloggers (Discussion + Advice) #Discussion #Advice #Topic #Commenting #Sharing #SocialMedia #Blogging #Support
A Fortunate Man, by John Berger, illustrated by Jean Mohr: #BookReview.
Biography/Medical Memoir 177 pages. I came to this extraordinary piece of writing via an unusual route. The village hall hosted a short dramatic presentation by ‘New Perspectives’ introducing the book using visual aids, a soundtrack and the skills of two actors to explain how the book came into being. Although that drama was flawed, it …
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The #Write #Word? Post 30
Struggling to find the ‘right’ word for your writing? You’re not alone. Maybe, in trying to improve my own work, I can help other writers. Today’s words: Waggish/Serious, Wetly, With reference to, Weather the storm, Writer. Antonyms: words that express the opposite of other words can be hard to find, because thesauruses usually give no …
Landscape and Memory, by Simon Schama: #BookReview.
History 672 pages Art historian, philosopher, raconteur, academic, or proselyte? Simon Schama’s great tome carries elements of all these. One reviewer, quoted on the cover, adds ‘self-indulgent and perverse’, and I’ve no argument with those. There are undoubted instances of the self-congratulatory, ‘I know a lot more than you’, and the academic show-off in this …
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Stuart Aken 