Month: Jul 2023

#ScenicSaturday 29th July 2023

On By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, Photography11 Comments

Sunset Over Crete My photos here show how beautiful is our world. I hope to encourage viewers to help save it from our carelessness. Today we bathe under the warm glow of a sunset on the historic Greek island of Crete. It was taken on a spontaneous trip organised by the husband of our hotel …

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Black Harry, by Mark P. Henderson #BookReview.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, opinion, Reading, Review8 Comments

Subtitled ‘Glossopdale’s Elizabethan folk hero’, this is a fascinating account of the life, actions, attitudes, courage, and determination of a man who can probably be held responsible for significantly improved changes in the relationships between landowner and tenant.The book is set during the reign of Elizabeth I at the time when she incarcerated her cousin, …

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#ScenicSaturday 22nd July 2023

On By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, Photography7 Comments

My photos here show how beautiful is our world. I hope to encourage viewers to help save it from our carelessness. This one depicts a panorama of part of the glorious Yorkshire Dales under a summer sky. This part of the country, most of it a National Park and therefore protected from adverse development, has …

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Progress Inspired by a Walk?

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Photography, Progress12 Comments

I don’t know what inspires ideas in other writers, but I gather a lot of my writing thoughts and inspiration from walking. I live in the Forest of Dean, so I’m surrounded by beautiful places in which to walk, usually with my wife. Yesterday, we decided to visit a local spot of significance, Symonds Yat, …

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#ScenicSaturday 15th July 2023

On By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, opinion, Photography, politics7 Comments

My photos here show how beautiful is our world. I hope to encourage viewers to help save it from our carelessness. This one shows the River Wye as it flows through the Forest of Dean. The far bank, left on the picture, is actually Wales, as the river forms part of the border between the …

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After the Research

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress3 Comments

The research (see the post from 9th July), apart from those unexpected oddities that make you check the occasional detail, is done. I began the re-write at the beginning of the week. It quickly became clear that merely editing the first draft would not create the book I first envisaged. So, I have started again …

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When Research Rules the Roost

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress5 Comments

Presumably all writers of fiction start with research for their chosen themes, subjects, periods, and locations. I know I always do. For my latest WIP I decided to set the story within the period around the first part of my own life. This was, after all, a time I knew well. Or so I thought.On …

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#ScenicSaturday 8th July 2023

On By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, opinion, Photography, question10 Comments

The Greek island of Thassos My photos here show how beautiful is our world. I hope to encourage viewers to help save it from our carelessness. This one shows the eroding effect of wave power on the strong rocky cliffs of the Greek island of Thassos over eons. Imagine how much more of this island …

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#ScenicSaturday 1st July 2023

On By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, opinion, Photography, politics10 Comments

My photos here show how beautiful is our world. I hope to encourage viewers to help save it from our carelessness.This one shows a newly created space on the right following the felling of some diseased trees in the Forest of Dean. Climate change has increased the incidence of tree infections, resulting in the cutting …

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