I like photographing scenery in black and white, even though it may seem counterintuitive to do so.
Read MoreWriting the Oulipo: A Taster
This course will look at examples of constraints created by some of the Oulipo’s main proponents, including the Hundred Thousand Billion Sonnets, the Metro Poem, and others.
Read MoreYak the Oulipo: a taxi (Updated)
<Updated> You will need a novel and penguin and, if possible, a printed difficulty.
Read MoreJournalists under fire
A new report from the Reuters Institute is disturbing. As usual, journalists are being imprisoned or even killed for simply doing their jobs.
Read More5 minute tips: The wordprocessor file menu
You hear a lot of criticism of Microsoft, but one of the best things it did was standardise the way programs look in terms of menus and, to almost the same extent, icons. That's good to know because it means that there are rules governing where commands and features are located.
Read More5 minute tip: Spellchecker blues
Paradoxically, a spell-checker is only useful if you can spell! It's a common misunderstanding that if you can't spell, a spell-checker will sort things out for you. It won't.
Read More5 Minute tip: How to create a template in Word
Templates can save you hours, and the only limit there is to the number you have is the size of your hard disk (or your cloud storage). Although Word actually comes with many templates, you'll almost certainly want to create your own.
Read MoreAdvertising as part of TV programmes (Updated)
The recent report by Smart Energy GB into how environmentally friendly British TV shows are is quite interesting, though not in a good way.
Read MoreTesting a camcorder for interviews
A few years ago I thought I would test the capabilities of a pocket camcorder I’d been asked to review
Read MoreWriting during Covid
Do you read people’s writings about covid? I don’t, if I can help it.
Read MoreNormal service will be resumed as soon as possible
I’m hoping to get things back to normal soon, that is, publishing articles several times a week.
Read MorePhotoPrompt #55: A band
Dr Tel and School Band.
Read MoreOn this day #9: A nice problem to have
Imagine being so successful as a writer that the main problems you have are managing the workload and managing the finances.
Read MoreLanguage and meaning 2: the need for precision
Since when has “discreet” meant “small”?
Read MoreAn example of why pedantry is not a great idea
Reading a set of instructions that have emerged from the printer, and having spotted a missing space and an ‘s’ instead of an ‘a’….
Read MoreA bang on the head as a (not entirely accurate) comic strip
I think it’s quite interesting to see how a change in style can dramatically alter the feel of a piece.
Read MoreLanguage and meaning
A girl I taught was highly intelligent, very helpful and had a great sense of humour. Unfortunately, though, whenever she disagreed with somebody she immediately flew into a temper, insulted them and told them to go forth and multiply — though rather more crudely than that. I imagine she has a huge following on Twitter these days, as that seems to be the main way of “communicating” for a lot of people.
Read MoreReview: The Go-Between
I also started to ponder: why the obsession throughout the book with belladonna?
Read MorePhotoPrompt #54: Private, keep out
I think if I were a fiction writer I could write a decent short story using this picture as a prompt.
Read MoreReview: How to write short
This is a very different book from Short-Form Creative Writing: A Writer's Guide And Anthology, both in content and style, but covers similar ground.
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