Trans-Europe Express: A Break in Bruges

My wife and I recently took a short break in Bruges. (It’s in Belgium.) A wedding anniversary treat. We travelled on the Eurostar from St Pancras to Brussels. This was partly because Mrs S is a nervous flyer, and partly for reasons of cost. We both had reservations about the subaquatic rail tunnel, but the … Continue reading Trans-Europe Express: A Break in Bruges

Mart’s Radio Highlight of (last) Week: Home Front, September 15th 1917 – Ivy Layton

If you’re not a regular listener to Home Front this may not mean a lot to you, but the burgeoning romance between Ivy Layton and disfigured soldier Dennis Monk has been bubbling for a while. Wonderful writing and acting, and the delicate pacing of this story, made the final lines of this episode a real … Continue reading Mart’s Radio Highlight of (last) Week: Home Front, September 15th 1917 – Ivy Layton

Mart’s Radio Highlight of the Week: Moving to the Red Planet

Although this programme was originally broadcast on 7 March 2017, I only got around to listening to it this week, so… In Moving to the Red Planet, Claudia Hammond discusses the psychological challenges facing human travellers to Earth’s nearest neighbour, such as isolation, lack of privacy, and clashes among crew members. While the physical challenges … Continue reading Mart’s Radio Highlight of the Week: Moving to the Red Planet

Mart’s Radio Highlight of the Week: Dr John Cooper Clarke

Brilliant punk poet Dr John Cooper Clarke is interviewed and drawn by Martin Rowson on Radio 4’s Life Drawing. Dr JCC: a unique combination of insight, entertainment and art. What lasts longer than a pop song? You’ll forget about any book. You’ll have to read a book again. But a song. A popular song. That’s there … Continue reading Mart’s Radio Highlight of the Week: Dr John Cooper Clarke

Scrivener tip: Lickety-Split

To quickly split the screen without leaving the keyboard simply hit: SHIFT+CMD+” This makes it particularly easy to compare two Binder documents, or refer to one pane – say something you have in your Research folder – while writing in another. When working with text documents the zoom can be set independently in each. For … Continue reading Scrivener tip: Lickety-Split

Scissors & Glue – top tips for writers

Over the years I’ve been given some great advice on writing by people I’ve met, and I thought I’d share a few examples in case they might help you along the way too. 1: Easing off received from David Garnett, writer and editor I met Dave at the first SF convention I attended in 1997. … Continue reading Scissors & Glue – top tips for writers

Scrivener tip – an alternative to Compose mode

Scrivener has the excellent Compose mode, which I use a lot. The thing is, though, I tend to flit between documents in the Binder quite a lot too – comparing, cutting and pasting, that sort of thing. This means I’m frequently switching in and out of Compose. But I’ve found a handy alternative. To get … Continue reading Scrivener tip – an alternative to Compose mode