In an earlier post, Fictional words with real-world swagger, I talked about how we can apply made-up worlds to our everyday lives and achieve real-world outcomes. Today, I want to give a shout out to the sentences that take your breath away; not in a oh-my-god-that’s-horrendous type of way, but in the I-have-to-go-back-and-read-that-again type of…
Tag: writing
Embracing the bad
Kyle A. Massa’s recent post on his most embarrassing writing fails is a cracking read. But it’s not the writing fails that makes it so good; it’s Kyle’s retelling of events and his ability to look past the cringe of reading back through old writing to find the lessons therein. Those lessons being, if I…
A 28-day month has its advantages
Back at the dawn of the new year, I wrote a post explaining why this blog and why now. TL;DR The blog is my driver for writing more often and getting past the fear that strikes when I think about sharing my writing with, well, anyone! Since that post I’ve managed to post just twice….
Language and power: Margaret Atwood’s ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’
Today I’m going back to my academic roots to take a look at the use of language in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. I got on a bit of a roll so it is a long one. Sorry! ‘But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.’ George Orwell, 1946 Language is loaded with…
Grey Box remnant
Like the Girl in the cafe, this piece riffs on the work of another. This time, my inspiration is from David Foster Wallace and the opening sequence of his unfinished novel The Pale King. His poetic first sentence is something else. Past the suburban chaos and false borders of ill-claimed land and past the bleak…
This is why I’m here …
For those that have followed my blog since its inception (quick pause here while I yell a big thank you into the bloggerverse), you’ll know that my posts tend to be a bit all over the place. In fairness, I do give a heads up on this in my ‘About’ page, so I don’t feel…
See you on the other side
I came into December thinking that I might just be able to keep up my blogging schedule if I was really, really disciplined. What’s become apparent is that I’m really, really not. Not at this time of the year, anyway. So I’ve decided to wave the white flag, take a little time off, and get…
Today I celebrate my tiredness
Today I woke up tired. It’s the end of the week, I didn’t get a great sleep last night. I have hay fever, client deadlines, parents to worry about. And this covid thing still won’t go away. Enough. It isn’t often that I wake up tired, which is great, but sadly it means that I…
Girl in the cafe
It’s easy to get into a bit of funk with your writing practice but it’s not always easy to find your way out again. One of the things I’ve learned to do when creativity goes missing is to pull out some writing from someone I admire and to try and imitate their work. I find…
Richard
This flash fiction came out of a writing exercise where one of the key characters had to be unable to speak. I’ve left it in its raw form – I’m trying to be brave about sharing first drafts! Richard heard the click-clack of Dr Johnson coming up the corridor. He buoyed at the thought of…
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