A Wishlist for the Disappointment of Christmas

Ah, now that Christmas is but crumbs and recycled paper, we stare at what counts as presents and ponder – did it really have to be this way? It occurred to me that I probably don't voice my opinions on gifts that much, but Christmas is difficult to manoeuvre. People disrupt my brain! After all, if …

Winter Reading (Again)

I'm hoping, or at least trying, to read a bit more over my winter break. I guess I'm averaging a chapter a day, but with the amount of different books I want to read... And since I clearly don't talk about reading enough on this blog, I'm gonna look at that. So, what am I …

How Not to Write a Second Draft (by someone who’s just finished one)

So, today I finished the second draft of the Steampunk novel I wrote last July, Horology, and, boy, was it a roller-coaster month of reading through and tweaking. I already knew I was aiming to add 7-thousand words, which was surprisingly easy, judging by the numbers of additions I made. However, my story is far …

Reasons to Love Winter

Another list post, yay. *random cheering from nowhere* I actually had this idea for a post about a week before Nevillegirl did her own version of it, but I never got around to writing it. So...I was here first. Totally. Fluffy jumpers. I used to hate wearing fluffy jumpers, but now I find them a …

10 Bookish Confessions

We all have facts about books we don’t like to admit to ourselves. Here are a selection of mine. 😉 1. I judge books by their covers. Don’t we all! The best covers, to me, are those that take directly from the prose with a scene. Some are more subtle – I read a reveal …

7 Quick Takes Friday about completing exams, dancing swing, and the exciting Pentecost

Join me and other Catholic bloggers at Conversion Diary for the 7 Quick Takes Friday weekly segment. ~1~ My academic exams are officially over today for the year! My last was yesterday morning, Developmental Psychology, which…could have gone a whole lot better, if I’m being honest. The essay question(s) were bafflingly broad, and I was …

Dealing With a Music-less Novel

As the rain pours down in a typical English spring day outside, I’m listening to Mozart’s 27th violin sonata (in G major) and thinking. “Does this reflect any scene from WTCB?” There’s no reason why it should, but I have been trialling certain songs to see which would make any kind of ‘soundtrack’, theme songs …

Creating a Detective

Linking to last week's post on the same theme of mystery writing and crime fiction, Comparing Detectives and Clothing Them, I've been thinking about Agnetha's style, but also about the attributes both linking and beyond her clothing. What makes a detective a detective? How do readers instinctively know that this character is the clever/witty/ingenious/solving one? Of course, the words in …