It's Been a Long Time…

If you’re going to blog, you’re supposed to do so briefly and regularly, but over the last few weeks I haven’t – not even the smallest post.  Am I about to give up?  Is this blog about to drift into oblivion?  No, Dear Reader, no.  Also, shouldn’t writers write every day?  Yes, Dear Reader, yes.  And read every day, keep abreast of markets, research backgrounds for all stories, raise their profile by taking part in social networking,  eat their five-a-day fruit and veg, do thirty minutes strenuous exercise three times a week, and somehow fit in eight hours of sleep a night.  Right!

And some of us have to work as well.  That’s my problem. There’s part-time work, full-time work and then there’s teaching, which is not so much full-time as full-on.  I teach.   When I do get some time to write, I’m exhausted, can’t think straight, struggling to find interesting words and ideas. Have I said this before?  You bet.

So, it’s ten thirty and I’m competing with the weather forecast on telly, so I’m thinking of signing off now.  That’s another thing:  thou shalt not use thy computer late at night, blue light from the screen which affects chemicals in thy brain etc etc.

Hang on, hang on.  When are you going to give us your review of ‘While No One Was Watching’ by Debz Hobbs-Wyatt, seeing as you’re now saying in your sidebar that you’re now reading something else?  Indeed.  ‘While No One Was Watching’  (based around Kennedy’s assassination in 1963) was one of the best-written novels I’ve read for a long time.  I enjoyed it.  Of course I did.  But it was also the best possible lesson for all would-be writers of historical fiction: how to write descriptions; how to describe characters through observing their actions in great detail; how to use two points of view effectively; how to get into characters; how to use a well-worn angle (clapped-out journalist struggling to retain interest in journalism and job) and make it different; how to use historical material in context of the storyline.   The review proper isn’t here because I intend to sub it to one of the literary magazines that takes reviews.  If it gets placed, I’ll add a link to the published review on this blog.  Yep.  You bet I will!

Suppose I’d better write it first, though.  It’s now eleven o’clock, so it really is good night.  You don’t really want a picture, do you?  Oh, all right then, I’ll find one of JFK.   He was quite a looker in his day, you know.  Marilyn certainly thought so.

(image from en.wikipedia.org)