Tag: Books

That Moment of Epiphany.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Review9 Comments

Yesterday, I spent around 40 minutes talking to a stranger online. It changed my attitude. It changed my life. I had what Gabriela Blandy calls ‘an Extraordinary Conversation’ with her, online. Gabriela is a writer’s coach, among many other things. The experience was good right from the start. This is a woman who understands how …

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Finding the #Write #Words? No. 33: The Oxford Manual of Style

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Grammar, Reading, Review, Word Choice

Continuing the description of books on words and language listed in the introductory post, which you’ll find here. Book 33: The Oxford Manual of Style Paperback, 1033 pages. Published in 2002 by Oxford University Press, this is the edition I own. I bought it as part of a bundle offered by a book club, so …

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Finding the #Write #Words? No. 32: The Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors

On By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Grammar, Reading, Review, Word Choice

Continuing the description of books on words and language listed in the introductory post, which you’ll find here. Book 32: The Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors Hardback, 448 pages. Published in 1981 by Oxford University Press. There was a revision in 2000, producing a second edition, with 416 pages. A used copy of that …

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Finding the #Write #Words? No. 31: The Little Red Writing Book

On By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Grammar, Literature, Reading, Review, Word Choice

Continuing the description of books on words and language listed in the introductory post, which you’ll find here. Book 31: The Little Red Writing Book Paperback, 160 pages. Published in 2007 by Writer’s Digest Books. This is the edition I own and I can’t recall what I paid for it. You can buy it new …

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Love Your Fear, by Joel Schueler: #BookReview.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, ME/CFS, Reading, Review

I came across Joel Schueler via a post on LinkedIn. From that, I went to look at his work on Amazon and discovered ‘Love Your Fear’. As usual, I used their useful ‘Look Inside’ feature to gain an insight into the style and content. I suffered ME/CFS for ten years and, although now rid of …

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Finding the #Write #Words? No. 30: The Last Word

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Grammar, Reading, Review, Word Choice

Continuing the description of books on words and language listed in the introductory post, which you’ll find here. Book 30: The Last Word. Hardback, 312 pages. Published in 2009 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. This is the edition I own and I can’t recall what I paid for it, because it was one of a bundle …

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Finding the #Write #Words? Post 29: The Grouchy Grammarian

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Grammar, Reading, Review, Word Choice2 Comments

Continuing the description of books on words and language listed in the introductory post, which you’ll find here. Book 29: The Grouchy Grammarian Paperback, 186 pages. Published in 2003 by BCA. This is the edition I own and appears to be the current one. You can buy it new in paperback for £9.95, Used from …

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Want to Support Our Great NHS Workers?

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, charity, Creative Writer, Fiction, Fundraising

We’re all (well, most of us, anyway) stuck at home and looking for something to pass the time in a worthwhile manner. My publisher, Fantastic Books Publishing, always gives 10% of profits to charities nominated by the authors. In this rather unusual time, he’s decided to donate funds instead to the NHS Charities Together, an …

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Finding the #Write #Words? No. 28: The Emotion Thesaurus

On By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Grammar, Reading, Review, Word Choice6 Comments

Continuing the description of books on words and language listed in the introductory post, which you’ll find here. Book 28: The Emotion Thesaurus: Paperback, 164 pages. Published in 2012 by the authors, Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi. I think I paid around £8.00 for it at the time of publication. There’s now a second edition, …

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Revenge of the Elders of Zion, by Dan Zofer: #BookReview.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Reading, Review2 Comments

312 pages Dark comedy-thriller. This book is listed as a dark comedy thriller. I agree with the darkness and thriller aspects, but the comedy escaped me. I was, however, engaged by the characters, the romance, and the story, regardless of its plot holes and occasional slips into the ludicrous. Perhaps it was that part that …

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Finding the #Write #Words? No. 27: The Elements of Style

On By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Grammar, Reading, Review, Word Choice2 Comments

Continuing the description of books on words and language listed in the introductory post, which you’ll find here. Book 27: The Elements of Style: Paperback, 105 pages. First published in 1919 by the author, William Strunk Jr and a required text book for the Cornell course entitled ‘English 8’ for which he was the professor. …

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Finding the #Write #Words? No. 26: The Dictionary of Diseased English

On By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Grammar, Reading, Review, Word Choice

Continuing the description of books on words and language listed in the introductory post, which you’ll find here. Book 26: The Dictionary of Diseased English: Paperback, 267 pages. First published in 1977. Published in Papermac 1980 by The Macmillan Press Ltd. I bought it used at £3.30 sometime in the 1980s. A used version is …

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Overstrike, by CM Angus: #BookReview.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Reading, Review2 Comments

373 pages Time Travel/Science Fiction/Alternative History Thoughtful, engaging science fiction with a real handle on a scientific topic is less common than might be expected, bearing in mind the name of the genre. But Overstrike is a great example of how it can be done well. Looking at themes of free will and ethics, and …

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Finding the #Write #Words? No. 25: Shorter Oxford English Dictionary.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Grammar, Reading, Review, Word Choice6 Comments

Continuing the description of books on words and language listed in the introductory post, which you’ll find here. Book 25: Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (2 Volumes): Hardback, 3,743 pages, plus the preface, an eighteen age article ‘A brief history of English’, a twelve page ‘Guide to the use of the dictionary’, two pages of ‘Abbreviations’, …

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Finding the #Write #Words? No. 24: Roget’s Thesaurus.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Grammar, Reading, Review, Word Choice4 Comments

Continuing the description of books on words and language listed in the introductory post, which you’ll find here. Book 24: Roget’s Thesaurus of English words and phrases (the original): Hardback, 1254 pages, including 613 pages of ‘index’. First published in 1852 by Peter Mark Roget. Mine is the 1987 new edition published by The Bath …

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