A Royal Wedding Tribute

My friend's Mum provided all this
beautiful china... I didn't make all this :)

    So, the royal wedding day is upon us. I am beyond excited as I love a good wedding and there's going to be some awesome tea party action in my neighbours front room as we all swoon over the pomp and circumstance and Kate's sure-to-be-beautiful dress. Rare is the occasion when I find myself in a tea dress and hat in my local Co-op at 9am on a bank holiday, desperately clutching whipping cream and lemon barley squash, as I was this morning :) It's a lovely occasion I think; poo poo to the nay-sayers who need to lighten up a bit and have a bit of cake.







Is this Machine Lying to Me?

     At the beginning of last month I read a very entertaining post by Helen Caldwell on her blog 'My Writing Life' about a piece of online software called 'I Write Like...' which tells you, based on a passage or two, which famous writer your work most resembles.

     She got Agatha Christie for prose, Chuck Palahniuk for blog posts and H.P. Lovecraft for interviews. I just did it too and got the following results:
 








Book Quote Friday: Searching for the Apolitical

     Whilst involved in the conversation about whether writing needs to be political to matter on this blog a few weeks ago, I tried to think of a novel that, rather than engaging with the politics of its era or setting, shunned any discussion of them, and was all the the richer for it. So often the personal struggles of characters are wider political commentary, and on occasion, if they is no political feeling in a novel, it can be unclear whether they were shunning involvement in it or whether there was just nothing going on at the time.

     A thought then came to me, a whisper of a memory of a review, which turned out to be this:







100 Things...

There is nothing for me to add to this. Just read it:

100 Things About a Novel by Koreanish.

It's perfect and ethereal and lovely. And true. 





Literature in Art, Part One: Yohji Yamamoto at the V&A

     Last week I went to one of my favorite places on earth - the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the V&A for short - to see the retrospective exhibition of Yohji Yamamoto’s work that has been on show there since March. It was, as expected, beautiful and interesting, and put me much in mind of several writers, nuggets of literary history and distinctive literary styles, as things are apt to do.*







You Never Know Who You Might Inspire

     As a blogger slash writer, I have days of triumph and days of malaise. Days when it’s wonderful and interactive and thrilling and days when I’m just sending messages into space. I know I’m not alone in this. Such is the blogger’s curse. 







Book Quote Friday: Cracking the (Da Vinci) Code

     Pacing. Tension. Nerves. Dear God, man! Competitive blockbuster writing. A nail-biting chase to the end.

     Its route? Short sentences. Rhetorical questions. Sexual tension. What can it all mean?  Random italics. Interior monologue. Questions? So many questions? Dynamic verbs. Crossing of boundaries. Direct speech. There’s surely been a mistake!

     ‘Langdon opened his mouth to explain the bizarre error, but Sophie flashed him a silencing glance that lasted only an instant. Her green eyes sent a crystal-clear message.

      Don’t ask questions. Just do it.

     Bewildered, Langdon punched in the extension on the slip of paper: 454.

     Sophie’s outgoing message immediately cut off, and Langdon heard an electronic voice announce in French: ‘You have one new message.’ Apparently, 454 was Sophie’s remote access code for picking up her messages while away from home.

     I’m picking up this woman’s messages? 

     Langdon could hear the tape rewinding now. Finally, it stopped, and the machine began to play. Again, the voice on the line was Sophie’s.

     ‘Mr Langdon’, the message began in a fearful whisper. ‘Do not react to this message. Just listen calmly. You are in danger right now. Follow my directions very closely.’

     Suspension. Exclamation.  Superannuation. Only you can help us now! Laughing all the way to the bank.