That Strained Silence at the End of Songs...

     That strained silence at the end of songs is the perfect place to write; listening intently to hear something that was but is no longer, gone but can be again, is ideal, for me, I think.







Book Quote Friday: One Day in the Life

     Using a day to represent a lifetime; a lifetime to represent an era; a man to represent a people; a place to a represent a country. Everything in Alexandr Solzhenitsyn's 'One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich' uses a part to represent a whole: it is synecdoche made Nobel Prize winner made compellingly readable book about the real experience of far too many Russians under Stalin in the first half of the twentieth century. 







The Truth About Creativity

     I saw this, I laughed, and then I felt so much better.
 

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Click [via] link to see it large.







Why Do People Go To Literary Festivals, Exactly?

     With Hay Festival and Charleston Festival both happening in the UK this week and my Twitter timeline being flooded with mentions, photos and quotes from both, it started me thinking, why do people go to literary festivals? At a music festival, you go to hear the music played live, at a food festival you go to eat; but a literary festival? It's not like you go to hear the books read aloud. So why do people go, exactly?







The Book Club Book Club Book Club Club

    Sorry, I just thought that sounded nice. I guess it's been a long day. At least it's kinda meta. Anyway, book clubs. Yes. I am now running one in the cafe where I am a decidedly average waitress and wondered if I could ask you, the delightful blog-reading public, for some advice. 







Book Quote Friday: Disguising the Big Stuff behind Vampires and Wolves

     I know, the last thing the world needs is another book blogger talking about vampires and werewolves. I’ll say it here: this is not a post about Twilight or any other YA adult vampire series. Nope, what I’m about to talk about here is the sexy older sister of those series, who’s had a couple of bad marriages, owns a gun maybe and has more than a few [emotional] scars. She is also hilarious and terrifying and has some big things to say about some big ol’ things. Yep, you guessed it: I’m talking about Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse series.

 







TheNextBigAuthor.com

     Just out of interest, is anyone else doing this?

     For those who've not seen it, thenextbigauthor.com is home to a competition in which you upload the first 5,000-7,000 words of your novel at Arts Council-funded youwriteon.com between the 17th and 31st May 2011 and entrants rate each other's pieces throughout June. The top 5 rated pieces will then get a professional critique from Random House, Bloomsbury, Orion, Little Brown or Hodder & Stoughton, which I'm sure you'll agree would be worth having.
 
     I will be nervously uploading my 7,000 words tomorrow when the competition opens and will jubilantly respond to reviews with a review myself (although you need to have entered to view/review/participate), so hope to see some of you there. Any of you. Anyone? Anyone? Ferris? Anyone?