Stuart Aken's Blog, page 20
July 21, 2023
Progress Inspired by a Walk?
I don’t know what inspires ideas in other writers, but I gather a lot of my writing thoughts and inspiration from walking. I live in the Forest of Dean, so I’m surrounded by beautiful places in which to walk, usually with my wife. Yesterday, we decided to visit a local spot of significance, Symonds Yat, …
July 15, 2023
#ScenicSaturday 15th July 2023
My photos here show how beautiful is our world. I hope to encourage viewers to help save it from our carelessness. This one shows the River Wye as it flows through the Forest of Dean. The far bank, left on the picture, is actually Wales, as the river forms part of the border between the …
July 14, 2023
After the Research
The research (see the post from 9th July), apart from those unexpected oddities that make you check the occasional detail, is done. I began the re-write at the beginning of the week. It quickly became clear that merely editing the first draft would not create the book I first envisaged. So, I have started again …
July 9, 2023
When Research Rules the Roost
Presumably all writers of fiction start with research for their chosen themes, subjects, periods, and locations. I know I always do. For my latest WIP I decided to set the story within the period around the first part of my own life. This was, after all, a time I knew well. Or so I thought.On …
July 8, 2023
#ScenicSaturday 8th July 2023
My photos here show how beautiful is our world. I hope to encourage viewers to help save it from our carelessness. This one shows the eroding effect of wave power on the strong rocky cliffs of the Greek island of Thassos over eons. Imagine how much more of this island would have been eaten by …
July 1, 2023
#ScenicSaturday 1st July 2023
My photos here show how beautiful is our world. I hope to encourage viewers to help save it from our carelessness.This one shows a newly created space on the right following the felling of some diseased trees in the Forest of Dean. Climate change has increased the incidence of tree infections, resulting in the cutting …
June 27, 2023
the little book of humanist funerals, by Andrew Copson and Alice Roberts #BookReview.
This lovely little book is all about celebrating a life that has passed, celebrating the person rather than burying them under dogma and superstition. For the many people for whom religion has been revealed as illogical and unhelpful, the words of practical advice, care, empathy, and comfort form a wonderful substitute to the usual services …
June 24, 2023
#ScenicSaturday 24th June 2023
My photos here show the often-fragile beauty of our world. My hope is they will encourage viewers to act in ways that will help save it from the destruction we humans constantly cause to nature.This one shows the natural beauty of an ancient tree surrounded by newer relatives in an English forest. Trees provide a …
June 17, 2023
#ScenicSaturday 17th June 2023
My photos here show the often-fragile beauty of our world. My hope is they will encourage viewers to act in ways that will help save it from the destruction we humans constantly cause to nature.This one is of a calm sea under a rising moon shortly after sunset on the south coast of England. I …
June 14, 2023
After the Barricades, by Jessica Stilling: #BookReview.
468 pagesHistorical Literary Fiction The world, it seems, changes little in spite of protests about injustice and inequality. This novel, set essentially in the Paris student riots (I prefer rebellion, protests, political activism) of 1968, relates the times as seen through the eyes of some students and an artist who understands and befriends the workers. …
Continue reading After the Barricades, by Jessica Stilling: #BookReview.
