Libby

Thanks @RichardB 🙂

I forgot to mention that book 2 of my ‘Fortress of Malta’ series of WW2 novellas was out, but it’s now on 99p promotion on Kindle, so a good time to point it out https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bastion-Fortress-Malta-Book-2-ebook/dp/B07Y5MDLWZ/

Hi @skylark, good to see you’re back.

Just a quick reminder that you have until Friday midnight to get your entries for this month’s competition (around 400 words on the theme of The Future interpreted in any way you wish). I know some of you, like me, are fighting to finish your entries for the Winter Competition but can I tempt those of you who are sitting back and basking in the…[Read more]

@Raine I like that quote (it reminds me of the fake George Orwell one). Whether it helps or not is a different question, but as Joseph Conrad pointed out, ‘action is consolatory’.

@skylark I’ve been following your family’s journey when you’ve posted on Facebook and I can’t begin to express my admiration. The strength conferred by love is…[Read more]

@libby my take on it has always been that the laxative story is apocryphal. I think you’d have to ingest an awful lot of the stuff to have any effect, and the diffusion of the oil in the exhaust would make that difficult. One version I heard was that there were all sorts of things likely to have a laxative effect on pilots of that era – alcohol…[Read more]

It must have been an awful time @skylark. We have been through a similar experience with our youngest grandson and it has changed everything particularly for his mum. But how wonderful that both you and @daedalus found writing helped.

Hi @Libby – I can recommend trying to channel the emotions from current affairs into writing, although I think you have to be in a reasonably strong state to do it. It can be hard to write anything much when life has you beaten down.

Ah, oil in biplanes! I don’t know about linseed oil, but castor oil was a very common lubricant for early…[Read more]

I agree that the political situation over the last few years has been difficult and distracting. I suspect it has affected both my writing and my mental health.

I can name one effect Brexit has had directly on my writing. On the night of the referendum, I had run out of time to finish the William the Conqueror novel I was co-writing with…[Read more]

You have got the premise right @Libby although I don’t think the two soldiers are despatch drivers. To me it just came across as unlikely that only two low ranking soldiers would be sent to cross miles of dangerous territory with no particular plan and little chance of success but maybe it was supposed to show how useless, confused and uncaring…[Read more]

That sounds wonderful Libby. Can you remember what it was called?

The basic premise is that two very young low ranking soldiers get sent off through miles of no mans land to prevent another section (sorry but I can never remember the correct names for sections of the army but it is around 1600 men) falling into a trap by attacking what they think are a few Germans. I struggled to believe that they would only…[Read more]

Hmmm Not sure about 1917. It was certainly visually stunning and showed a lot of the awfulness of life in the trenches but it was curiously unengaging – not sure why – Maybe it was just not my sort of film. Plus I thought the basic premise was unlikely which didn’t help.

I thought that about Little Women too. Yet another remake. But the structure is very clever, dotting between the past and present, and it is full of life and magic. It made me want to go back and reread the books for the millionth time. I’d strongly recommend it but take tissues!

I always worry if the story is strong enough but I don’t know how…[Read more]

I am currently trying to turn a sprawling first draft into something with a bit of shape and trying not to notice all the other things that need doing to it!

We actually had some sun yesterday – I’d forgotten what it looked like – but woke up this morning to wind and rain. It feels like this has been the gloomiest winter for a long time.

I went…[Read more]

Oh heavens it is good to see you 🙂

Hi Skylark. Lovely to see you here. How are writing things with you?

Still here. Still reading. Still writing.