I’m really struggling with this one – no, not day 2 of NaNoWriMo, for I had that in the bag before the third coffee this morning – but the problem of how to get off the grid. Rather than cutting…
DelNovember 2, 2016
Fab evening at the Horse Hospital. Organized by Travis Elborough, starring Geoff Nicholson and friends. As I embark on the great novelling escapade, I thought I would pick the brains of the novelists around the table for useful tips on…
DelOctober 20, 2016
Enough messing around with stationery, playlists and excuses ... it’s time to get serious about this if I’m going to start and finish a novel in thirty days. Tonight I’ll mainly be character building. Despite the picture, this will not…
DelOctober 12, 2016
Books I have begged, borrowed, stolen, bought, been given, enjoyed, reviewed, lust after ... I’m slightly obsessed with books. For practical purposes, I prefer to read novels on Kindle, but for everything else, you can’t beat a proper book with…
DelOctober 1, 2016
As the Greek tragedy continues, I'm so confused that I don't know whether today's events could constitute a peripeteia or not. It does all feel a bit like Groundhog Day ... Day #174 of the second 365 project, where the…
DelJune 23, 2015
I managed to find some bagpipes for today's word ("musette": 'Any of various kinds of small bagpipes; esp. a bellows-blown bagpipe of exquisite design, popular at the French court in the 17th and early 18th centuries. Now hist., OED)’, but…
DelJanuary 2, 2015
The denizens of Chelsea were far too busy today to be moping around in a "lovelorn" ('Unhappy as a result of unrequited love or the loss of a lover; pining from love', OED) state. And I was far too busy…
DelDecember 9, 2014
"Nonplussed" meaning 'Brought to a nonplus or standstill; at a nonplus; perplexed, confounded'(OED), was something of an understatement in describing my reaction to this notice. I'm not sure which was more perplexing - the spelling mistake or the value of…
DelDecember 8, 2014
The fridge is looking a bit bare, so I suppose figuratively, it could be considered to be "gracile", meaning: 'Slender, thin, lean. Also fig.’, (OED). And if you want a gracile figure, then a diet of beer is not the…
DelDecember 5, 2014
Not quite a witch, which is what is really required for an "Old Higue" ('In legends and popular stories: a witch, said to shed her skin at night and fly (sometimes in the form of a ball of fire) in…
DelOctober 31, 2014
The day was certainly "mooth": 'Of the weather: warm, sultry, close. Of a person: exhausted by heat' (OED). But that didn't stop us snapping Dagenham for Bleeding London. As there are more nail-bars than pubs in the area, we found…
DelSeptember 3, 2014
"Alterity" means 'The fact or state of being other or different; diversity, difference, otherness; an instance of this', (OED). I could write a treatise on the subject of how recognising otherness reinforces a concept that scholars try to overcome by…
DelAugust 17, 2014
A bit of head-scratching with today's word "saeter" ('In Scandinavia: a mountain pasture where cattle remain during the summer months', OED), but a lucky find saved the day. A bit of contemporary minimalism added to deflect any accusations of plagiarism!…
DelAugust 2, 2014
The word of the day is pillory ('A device for punishment, usually consisting of a wooden framework mounted on a post, with holes or rings for trapping the head and hands, in which an offender was confined so as to…
DelFebruary 28, 2014
As soon as I saw today's word, I knew it was going to be a tough one to bag. With very little photo time and no chance of going anywhere that involved either heavy-lifting or leaping, I was struggling to…
DelFebruary 10, 2014
As I feared, it looks as though it's going to be two weeks of Olympic speak. Thankfully, today's word, which is acclivity, meaning 'An upward slope (of a hill, etc.); an ascending slope' (OED) can be used figuratively. As MisterMac…
DelFebruary 9, 2014
Ordinarily, at this time of year, Neusiedlersee might be iced over and a puckster ('An ice hockey player', OED) or two might be spotted on the lake. But early spring-weather meant blue skies, sunshine and a champagne picnic by the…
DelFebruary 8, 2014