“I went out to the kitchen to make coffee – yards of coffee. Rich, strong, bitter,…
Victoria Blake
6 DEGREES OF SEPARATION
Six degrees of separation is an idea of Kate’s at Books are my Favourite and Best, where…
FILM REVIEW: REBECCA
So, what to say about the new film of Rebecca directed by Ben Wheatley now available…
SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION
Six degrees of separation is an idea of Kate’s at Books are my Favourite and Best,…
STEINBECK’S WET AND MANGY MONGREL
I wrote a while ago about Steinbeck’s pencil obsession as described in his Journal of a…
OUR MOON
I don’t often write poetry but if I’m ever going to September seems to be the…
DU MAURIER’S REBECCA
So have you heard? Netflix are doing a new version of Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier.…
HISTORICAL SLANG #4
To speak like a … In a … To speak like a mouse in a cheese:…
HISTORICAL SLANG#3
Before lock down I did a few blogs on historical slang, so here we go again.…
HISTORICAL SLANG: BADGER-LEGGED
BADGER-LEGGED: To have one leg shorter than the other. Colloquial from about 1700. Coming from the…
BOOK REVIEW: The Story of #LittleWomen by @AnneBoydRioux
This is a fantastic book. Perfect to read if you’ve been to see the recent film…
SO YOU’RE EDITING aka TAMING THE TIGER.
I’m going to concentrate on self-criticism because in my experience the most tricky part of editing…
So now you’ve got a first draft …
A very common piece of advice for writers is to put their first draft in a…
PAST PRIME MINISTERS
I’ve been thinking about Prime Ministers recently and thought you might have been too. So here’s…
The Question Every Writer Hates…
There comes a point in every published writer’s life when they receive a questionnaire from their…
BACK FROM THE DEAD & PRIDE MONTH
The reading and judging for the Historical Writers’ Association Gold Crown for Fiction 2019 is pretty…
READING, MOTHS AND WISTERIA …
I am currently judging a book prize that unsurprisingly involves reading a great many books. In…
CLEAR THE LOBBY!
Have you been watching? Have you given up hope? Are you marching on Saturday? Do you…
THE TRUTH CAFE, BITUMEN MODIFIER AND SNOW…
Every morning on the way to work I pass a cafe which is called Truth. Each…
KOALAS, ANARCHISTS AND DISRAELI…
Another day in the bookshop. Well, the Elvis books haven’t gone anywhere. I’m in the back…
JANUARY BLUES IN THE BOOKSHOP
On the way to work I’m greeted by a flattened wreath and bundles of Christmas trees…
NEW YEAR IN THE BOOKSHOP
On the top of the bus on the way to work scanning the world going by…
HAPPY CHRISTMAS!
Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas. Thank you so much to all those who…
CHRISTMAS TALES OF THE BOOK TRADE
Christmas is coming. Have you noticed? So, in the shop along with the books we have…
REVIEW: EXPOSURE by OLIVIA SUDJIC
I was going to begin this post with the line: Emerson seems to have finally deserted…