I regard writing as in some ways like sculpting with clay. In sculpting the starting point is a design and an armature (the framework on which a clay sculpture is moulded), with writing most of us begin with a general idea of the story we want to tell and the arc it will follow even … Continue reading Revision, revision, revision
One Minute Book Review – Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
I have resisted reading this book for a very long time. Workmates have raved about it, swooning over Jamie Fraser, but those who know me best warned me away from it – ‘You won’t like it – too many things for you to criticize’. Although I do have a nose for historical inaccuracy, I don’t … Continue reading One Minute Book Review – Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
In My Garden – The Apricot Tree
The apricot tree is a deciduous fruit bearing tree of the genus Prunus. It is grown in all parts of the world and is thought to have originated in Armenia; however, it may also to have been grown in ancient India. A medium sized multi-branched tree, it has a dense spreading canopy. It grows well … Continue reading In My Garden – The Apricot Tree
My Reading – February 2017
Wild Island by Jennifer Livett The Forgotten Highlander by Alister Urquhart Outlander by Diana Gabaldon Save
One Minute Book Review – The Forgotten Highlander by Alastair Urquhart
This week something slightly longer than a one minute review. The Forgotten Highlander. My Incredible Story of Survival During the War in the Far East is a memoir by Alistair Urquhart (1919-2016). It touches on Urquhart's childhood and post-war life but concentrates on the period in which he was a Prisoner of War of the … Continue reading One Minute Book Review – The Forgotten Highlander by Alastair Urquhart
In My Garden – Crepe Myrtle
The crepe myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) is a hardy multi-stemmed deciduous tree, native to eastern Asia. It is well suited to most parts of Australia as, once established, it is drought tolerant. It can grow up to 8 metres in height, will thrive despite brutal pruning, and provides a distinctive display through most of the year. … Continue reading In My Garden – Crepe Myrtle
One Minute Book Review – Wild Island by Jennifer Livett
Wild Island by Jennifer Livett is set, for the greater part, in Van Diemen’s Land in the 1830s, a time when, although it was primarily penal settlement, some were beginning to envisage a different future for the colony. The story is told through dual narratives, in the third person concentrating on Charles Booth, the Commandant … Continue reading One Minute Book Review – Wild Island by Jennifer Livett
Language in Historical Fiction
I suppose I am getting ahead of myself blogging about the way I write historical fiction when I have nothing published yet, so these are as much the thoughts of a reader as a writer. While the details of place, and manners and customs play a large part in creating the historical world, the style … Continue reading Language in Historical Fiction
One Minute Book Review – 12 Edmondstone Street by David Malouf
12 Edmondstone Street by David Malouf is a memoir/essay which uses his childhood home in Brisbane in the 1930s and 1940s to gently observe the way the beliefs and experiences of a family’s past shape a child's view of and relationship with the world as an adult. Room by room, down to the space beneath … Continue reading One Minute Book Review – 12 Edmondstone Street by David Malouf
One Minute Book Review – The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan
The Spinning Heart is set in a small town in Ireland during the immediate aftermath of the Irish economic recession. The novel comprises twenty-one chapters, each a monologue by a different character, each capable of standing alone. The first chapter centres on Bobby Mahon whose story is revealed in bits and pieces through every other … Continue reading One Minute Book Review – The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan
Catherine Meyrick 