Today’s #PictureOfTheDay and #writingprompt: 04/Sept/21

On 04/09/202101/09/2021 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Photography3 Comments

These pictures are here to entertainment, bring joy, and, if you wish, inspire you to create something with words or images. Whether that is a poem, story, play, novel, memory, essay, painting, drawing, sculpture, or another photograph is entirely up to you. But don’t feel obliged: you can simply enjoy the pictures. I’ve deliberately left …

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Today’s #PictureOfTheDay and #writingprompt: 03/Sept/21

On 03/09/202101/09/2021 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Photography2 Comments

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Today’s #PictureOfTheDay and #writingprompt: 02/Sept/21

On 02/09/202101/09/2021 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, Photography12 Comments

These pictures are here for your entertainment, joy, and, if you wish, inspiration to create something with words or images. Whether that results in a poem, story, play, novel, memory, essay, painting, drawing, sculpture, or another photograph is entirely up to you. But don’t feel obliged: you can simply enjoy the pictures. I’ve deliberately left …

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Today’s #PictureOfTheDay and #writingprompt: 01/Sept/21

On 01/09/202130/08/2021 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Photography12 Comments

These images are here for your entertainment, joy, and, if you wish, inspiration to create something with words or images. Whether that results in a poem, story, play, novel, memory, essay, painting, drawing, sculpture, or another photograph is entirely up to you. But don’t feel obliged: you can simply enjoy the pictures. I’ve deliberately left …

Continue reading Today’s #PictureOfTheDay and #writingprompt: 01/Sept/21

Heaven’s Mirror, by Graham Hancock & Santha Faiia: #BookReview.

On 31/08/2021 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, opinion, Reading, Review4 Comments

332 Pages Nonfiction Hardback Subtitled ‘Quest for the Lost Civilisation’, this book led to a major TV series on the UK’s Channel 4 network. Published in 1998, some of the content may now be a little out of date, as archaeological work is constantly updating information based on finds. The book is an attempt to …

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The Time has Come!

On 14/08/2021 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress, Reading, Romance10 Comments

I wrote it last year. Started the long, and somewhat convoluted, process of editing, both as self-editor initially and then with my publisher’s editors, early this year. We now have a launch date for my latest novel. So, I suppose I’d better let you all know what it’s called, especially now this information was released …

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Dealing with Difficult Themes in #Fiction

On 31/07/202131/07/2021 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress6 Comments

Word cloud Via Wordart In writing science fiction, two areas of uncertainty arise before the start. Assuming it’s not Space Opera, the first barrier is the large number of readers who believe all sci-fi involves space wars, forgetting that at least two of the most brilliant works of literature were also science fiction: Aldous Huxley’s …

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Time and the Conways, by J.B. Priestley: #BookReview.

On 23/07/2021 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Literature, Reading, Review2 Comments

Stage Play script. This exploration of family unity, loyalty and dishonesty is structured through three acts to use time as a clever ingredient of viewing, and attempting to predict, the future. It depicts a typical upper middle-class family of the era, showing the inherent snobbery, their patchy understanding of the world they occupy, and how …

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Translation: Illuminating Cultural Difference.

On 20/07/2021 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Grammar, Progress, Romance8 Comments

Just short of a month ago, I wrote a post about Helen, a Chinese woman, translating some of my stories into her language. My hope was that would place my work before a wider readership. But there has been an unexpected and positive additional outcome.I’m no linguist. But I’ve travelled, both within the land of …

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The Nature of Photographs, by Stephen Shore: #BookReview.

On 18/07/2021 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, opinion, Photography, Reading, Review4 Comments

136 pagesPhotography Criticism & Essays This is a primer intended for students studying photography at university, but it has something useful to say to anyone interested in what photography truly is and how it can affect our view of the world. It sports numerous photographs to illustrate the textual points made, and explains how photography, …

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The Playboy of the Western World, by J. M. Synge: #BookReview.

On 17/07/2021 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Literature, opinion, Poetry, Reading, Review5 Comments

First published in 1907, the text of the stage play I read is introduced by a preface from the author. Here, he talks about the language he has used, how and where he encountered it, and why he has employed such colloquial idioms in the work. I can best serve the author’s intent by quoting …

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A Perfect Planet, by Huw Cordey: #BookReview.

On 14/07/2021 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Nature, Photography, question, Reading, Review2 Comments

324 pagesPhysical Geography/Oceanography This book, a physical reminder of the excellent BBC TV series of the same name, was written by the Series Producer. Subtitled ‘Our One in a Billion World Revealed’, it is an account of the journeys made by the team of camera operators, production staff and other essential crew during the making …

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Wild Horses on the Salt, by Anne Montgomery: #BookReview.

On 06/07/2021 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Reading, Review6 Comments

345 pagesWomen’s Action & Adventure/Romance/Contemporary Fiction Having enjoyed Anne Montgomery’s ‘A Light in the Desert’, I thought I’d give this new novel a try. I’ve never been to the USA, and frequently find novels set there both self-congratulatory and full of references that are meaningless to me as a UK reader. But the previous novel …

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The Joy of Serendipitous Distribution.

On 28/06/2021 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress, Reading, Word Choice5 Comments

Some years ago, I encountered a young Chinese woman, Helen, online. I can’t now remember how it came about, but it was probably a result of my series of ‘Right Word’ posts on the blog. Anyway, Helen asked if I could help with her English, as she wanted to learn the language to a better …

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Pride of Place: a #Poem

On 26/06/2021 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, opinion, Poetry, question6 Comments

Pride of Place I wonder why it may bethe casean accident of birthshould create such loyaltyto a place you had no say in choosing. You were at your birthof course.But did you choose your parents?Did you select the place, the mannerof your entrance to the world? It is possible you are loyalonlyout of love for …

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