Creative Content Guy
I’ll be appearing at Birmingham Literature Festival on October 6th, talking about literary entrepreneurship. The panel, called Making Writing Work, will be chaired by Malachi MacIntosh, and also feature Nick Makoha and Crystal Mahey-Morgan. We are in the midst of a literary revolution. Gone are the days when writers followed just one career path, as now we welcome … Continue reading Sightings
It’s easy to get your writing out of Scrivener into another editor for the final polish using the Compile function. In my case, I always compile to Microsoft Word. Something I’ve wrestled with for a while, however, is getting the headers and footers in Word just how I want them. Fortunately, as with most things … Continue reading Setting Headers and Footers at Compile Stage in Scrivener
I’ve been to some great gigs in my time. Here are five of my favourites, in no particular order. Suede, Wolverhampton Civic Hall, 1 November 1994 I was into Suede from the first moment I heard their music, and really loved the angst in the guitar sound. This was one of the first gigs at … Continue reading My standout gigs
I’ve put together the examples below to help clarify some points of punctuation that are often confusing. At the foot of the post there’s a link to download this as a PDF. I’d also recommend reading The Elements of Style, by Strunk and White. Punctuation Basics! COMMAS Commas are widely misunderstood, and generally underused in … Continue reading Punctuation Basics!
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
I’ve just finished re-reading Random Acts of Senseless Violence by Jack Womack. Set in New York at an unspecified date, Random Acts… is the story of 12-year old Lola Hart’s experiences as her family’s situation takes a downturn, against a backdrop of political and economic turmoil. We see Lola’s development through entries in her diary, … Continue reading Random Acts of Senseless Violence by Jack Womack
I’ve noticed the signs of middle-age creeping in for a while: sometimes I make a little noise when I get up; sometimes I might hobble for a few steps; I might even tut at loud music. Me! Can you imagine? And don’t ask me to sit cross-legged. All of these things are fine and natural, … Continue reading Flamboyant Gestures – signs of middle-age
The baffling resurrection of a golden hare When I was a kid I was given a book called Masquerade by Kit Williams. The book represented a puzzle, the solving of which would lead the reader to the location of a bejewelled golden hare. Something like that anyway. I never had much chance of finding the hare, but … Continue reading Masquerade
Martin Sketchley 