Category Archives: Reading & Writing

Bruges, Bitchin’ and Bladder (Gall)

Posted on August 8, 2009 | 2 Comments

Stuff has been happening, as is the way of things.

Firstly, I went to Bruges for a long weekend and it was restful and full of food. Photos will flood Flickr as soon as I get around to extracting them from the camera. Lots of cobbles and faux-artistically angled shots of buildings, of course. That, however, lead to my next piece of news which is the beginning of a travel column on BitchBuzz. The working title is Bitchin’ Travel – it might or might not stay that way. I’m starting with Bruges but planning to cover Rome and Athens next, then possibly Barcelona. After that, wherever I think of next that I have anything to say about. Although I’m starting the column, I’m hoping to get talented readers and other members of the widely-travelled BitchBuzz team in on it; obviously between us we have a lot more scope for covering good destinations than one of us alone. Being a transatlantic team doesn’t hurt either.

Links to the column will appear here when it’s up; I’m just tidying up my first post now. I’m trying to catch up on my general writing commitments and widen the net a bit, which is why I’ve also signed myself up as one of a pool of potential reviewers for The F Word, which is pretty exciting too. BitchBuzz, incidentally, has just seen its first anniversary go by. I’m very pleased for the founding editor, Cate Sevilla; her hard work knows no bounds when it comes to her baby and it’s really paid off.

Which leads me to my final bit of news. Which actually has nothing to do with the other two, but which I feel like writing about. I am likely to need my gallbladder removed. I’m seeing a specialist on Monday; the gallstones were actually discovered accidentally while I was being diagnosed with Epstein-Barr (call it glandular fever, or mono, if you prefer) but since then there have been symptoms, etc. Anyway, the point is there are great balls of bile and cholesterol blocking up my gallbladder, and the big medical guns need to decide whether to hack out the little bagful or not. Frankly, I’m all for it – don’t need it, don’t want the symptoms to degenerate into a full-scale attack (which they’re pretty likely to). We shall see.

And that’s pretty much it. But feel free to fill me in on what you’ve been up to.

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Shiny Media is dead! Long live Shiny Media’s writers…

Posted on July 23, 2009 | 2 Comments

This is one of those rare occasions where I feel I need a disclaimer for a post. And here it is:

Between March 2007 and March 2008 I worked for Shiny Media, briefly as a freelancer and then as the full-time deputy editor of major title Shiny Shiny. At no time did I have any financial or editorial disputes with the company, and I left to challenge myself in a more marketing-orientated role specifically in the charity sector, not because of any problems at Shiny.

I’m not going to link to articles about Shiny’s demise. I understand that there are people who are upset and unpaid – I suspect the folks in charge do not blame them for their anger. But I’m not linking because I left over a year ago and their disputes are none of my business.

The only reason I’m writing about Shiny at all, in fact, is because I’m hoping that if people are looking for dirt they will instead find talent. These are some of the fine people I had the privilege to work with who are talented, hard working and lovely individuals. They would be an asset to any editorial team. So if you’ve come here looking for Shiny mud, try taking away some treasure instead.

Abi Silvester

Abi is, I must admit, a friend of mine from further back than Shiny (although I didn’t know she worked there until after I was offered the job and she didn’t know it was being offered to me – t’Internet’s a small world, folks). She has excellent experience as both an online and print journalist, having worked for alternative fashion publications and turning her hand to her passions at Shiny by writing about green issues on Hippyshopper and all things hand-made on CraftyCrafty. She also contributed to wedding blog Bridalwave - always one of Shiny’s top five sites in stats - ultimately taking the role of editor for the last 8 months, as well as working on a number of fashion sites. Visit her site above or follow her on Twitter.

Isabelle O’Caroll

Fashion queen Iso was a busy bee, editing men’s fashion site Brandish, contributing to and then becoming deputy editor of major Shiny title Catwalk Queen and regularly modelling the looks for the latter! Brilliant at tongue-in-cheek humour and extra helpful if you want to translate anything into French, she was always a pleasure to work with. Click the link above to follow her on Twitter.

Dan Sung

Dan started as an editorial assistant on Tech Digest just as I left, and quickly became editor upon the departure of Kat Hannaford to T3. I kept reading Tech Digest mainly because of his writing, which is highly engaging and amusing. He’s a gift to any blog about tech or football. Check out his Linked In profile by clicking the link above.

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Review: Harry Potter and the Mild Disappointment

Posted on July 16, 2009 | 2 Comments

Last night’s visit to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince at an IMAX on the other side of London just to see it on opening night with 3D scenes has to tell you how much I generally enjoy both the films and the books. But I like to think I’m a fair fan; I understand the difficulties in transferring a massively complex plot into a concise film that isn’t a turgid bum-number. Unfortunately, this is the second time I feel David Yates has slightly missed the mark.

With Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, I blamed the lack of Steve Kloves. And indeed H-BP sees far better dialogue and far more natural interaction between the teenage characters. Harry under the influence of luck potion Felix Felicis is a joy to behold – finally a real teenager, full of mouthy chutzpah. But now I can’t help feeling part of the problem lies with Yates; although he consistently turns out stunning visuals and encourages improving performances from his key cast, he’s also got a little carried away with the editing.

There’s certainly fat to trim from the books, and some of the changes were judicious. The first ten minutes – the 3D scenes, if you’re watching that version – are exciting and visually breathtaking. They quickly set the tone of urgency but also raise the CGI bar, which means a variety of totally unnecessary devised set pieces – a random race through the long grass against Fenrir Greyback among them - have to be shoehorned in to maintain the pace.

Let’s look at the positives. The flashy good looks I’ve already mentioned, but there are other gems here. Emma Watson has finally invested real character and humour into Hermione. Sadly, Harry is still on the bland side, except when acting up under the influence (see above); Rupert Grint, however, blithely holds his own as the most vibrant of the three, bringing warmth to Ron’s innately cartoonish personality. A star is surely born in Jessie Cave who delivers a fabulously insane comic turn as Lavender Brown.

Indeed, thanks in large part to Cave’s psychotic gurning, the much-mooted romantic comedy elements do live up to expectations. Hormones are running high, and there are a few opportunities to puncture the relentless gloom with genuine laughs.

Tom Felton and the ever-brilliant Alan Rickman are also allowed room to breathe in this installment, and it’s a pleasant change from just watching them alternately sneer and loom. Felton in particular takes every opportunity to give Draco Malfoy a proper, three-dimensional outing at long last. The whole vanishing cabinet episode is nicely summarised to take out a lot of waffle from the book, which lets us get straight to the heart of the increasingly desperate boy that much quicker. In addition, Helena Bonham Carter’s increasingly deranged Bellatrix Lestrange is a joy to watch, cavorting evilly like one of the demonic creatures in that animated 80s take on The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

Yet somehow, something is lacking throughout. The series can now be deemed completely incomprehensible to anyone who hasn’t read the books, which rather knocks the wind out of the sails for many viewers. In the book, I shivered with horror when spotting Marvolo’s ring on Tom’s finger in Slughorn’s memory; in the film this key moment is completely missed thanks to half-baked and incomplete exposition. My husband, who has never read any of the books, has happily watched the films so far but was quite at a loss to explain much of what went on in this one. Since a large chunk of key plot development is removed, there’s a thumping great gap in Harry’s knowledge at the end of the film; I’m curious how they’re going to fill that hole without a couple of clunky shovels.

Finally there’s the matter of Dumbledore. I have never been thrilled with the casting of Michael Gambon, who interprets Dumbledore with far more aggression and far less humour than the late Richard Harris did. Dumbledore’s fits of sudden steeliness and temper are startling on paper because they emerge from behind an apparently seamless veneer of twinkly good nature.  Gambon’s leaden-toned, grumpy wizard (who quizzes Harry on his love life – most unlike Rowling’s Dumbledore) is hard to like and only grudgingly respected. My husband described the performance as ‘soporific’, and I can’t really disagree with him, although there is a brief moment towards the end where, weakened by a murky potion, Rowling’s Dumbledore and Gambon’s suddenly seem to become one.

As a film for the fans, H-BP only partly succeeds in recreating some of the creepy tone of the original book. As a film for those who have not read the books, it gets mired in the plot labyrinth and often comes unstuck. Yes, it’s a beautifully crafted piece with some really excellent performances, but in the end cannot really be more than a three-star effort.

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Always on my mind… stuff I might blog about

Posted on June 15, 2009 | 3 Comments

Well, not always*, but these are some of the things that have been on my mind this week and which might well get blogged about soon.

1. Children and Blogging

As in, why do people feel the need to align themselves into mommy or child-free camps. Why is there such a dividing line? Why does it matter?

2. Feline Asthma

One of my cats has it. Inexplicably (it isn’t my fault) I feel guilty.

3. Baking

I’m thinking cookies at the moment, and thus stole / borrowed a star-shaped cookie cutter from my mother. In fairness she’s had it two years and never used it. My sister makes very nice gingerbread, so I figure I should opt for a different flavour to widen the family skillset. On the other hand, I’m still thinking about artful cupcake icing so it might not be cookies at all.

4. Disneyland Paris

Having been back to the absolute pinnacle of the Disney experience, I’m now craving more Mouse. Perhaps a trip to Paris would assuage it? Husband thinks otherwise, and on previous visits it really hasn’t felt the same.

5. The Monster Book

Sickness threw me off balance, but I want Ashley to read it and give me some feedback. I know the tone has changed and need to keep writing before I’m tempted to wade in and start re-writing. Must. Get. Motivation.

*Also, isn’t that song horrible? Maybe I treated you appallingly but, it’s okay, I was thinking of you the whole time. Yeesh.

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Posted in Cats, Disney, Food Therapy, Reading & Writing

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Urban Writers Retreat: Totally worth it!

Posted on May 25, 2009 | 7 Comments

Remember the Monster book? No? Well, I was writing a book. About Monster-y things, and sometimes I got distracted and sometimes I squeezed a few hundred words out and was happy with that. Near ecstatic in fact. My record until now has stretched to a few completed short stories, some half-written ideas for stories, a children’s book that I never really tried very hard to get published… nothing longer than 6,000-7,000 words and nothing that really lent itself to being drafted properly and edited, etc.

Until now.

I came across the Urban Writers Retreat on Twitter. Charlie, the woman who created the retreat days, rather improbably yet delightfully works in a chocolate factory and makes super cakes. This just adds to the general excellence. ‘Retreat’ is an accurate term, but it’s not quite what you might infer. It’s non-residential and just one day, a chance to retreat from distraction, family and friends, phones and the Internet and just write. And I loved it

At £35, it’s an absolute bargain. The cost covers the rental of the space. Sunday’s location was The Make Lounge in Islington, a lovely, light, fresh venue with several different small, comfortable rooms. There’re also tea, coffee, biscuits and homemade cakes provided, as well as books and writing exercises on hand if blockage strikes and a wealth of power sockets for those using laptops (on the day I went everyone except Charlie who, Neil Gaiman-like, writes longhand, bless her patience).

The general rules are basically quiet and respect for the fellow writers. I chose a downstairs room because there was no chance of being distracted by people walking past, and because one of the upper rooms had music quietly playing – inspirational for some, another distraction for me. Four of us quietly shared a large pine table, in the centre of which were two big jugs of water and some glasses. The session kicked off at 10:30 after quick intros and broke at 1pm for an hour’s lunch. The group reconvened at 2pm until 6pm, although I left at 5 when my brain finally shut down for the day, wanting to end on a high note.

And what a wonderful high note.

Without the possible distractions of my husband, the cats, the ever-present Internet and my own inability to focus on anything outside work, I suddenly found myself actually capable of writing. Consistently and imaginatively. I dare say that some of it will be jettisoned in the editing stage but I now actually have a hope in Hell of reaching the editing stage; a major win in my opinion. Five and a half hours of writing generated almost 11,000 word. ELEVEN THOUSAND! My project now runs to over 16,000 after stalling just before the Disney trip and being destined to rot, like my other good ideas, through fear of failure spurring lack of motivation.

I hope I’ll be able to continue that progress at home. I suspect that left to my own devices I’ll go back to my old ways, but now I know that the Urban Writers Retreat is there and I can use it on any Sunday it’s running to get myself back on track. I feel accomplished, properly writerly and excited about how this project might turn out. Urban Writers achieves precisely what it intends to, offering a comfortable, quiet place to write, endless tea and the spoken and unspoken support of others in the same boat. Although it’s not necessarily a place to meet friends as people tend to go randomly rather than regularly, it’s still a friendly environment where there is the blessed relief of knowing others who love writing just as much and are serious about it to the same extent can still get distracted just the same.

I had no interest in the beautiful day outdoors, much though I appreciated finally having the possibility of fun in the sun. It was the most relaxing day of writing I’ve ever had, and it finally underscored that I can do it. I know not every day will be like this. Some parts will be sticky, and there will be blocks. Editing will still be a tough slog. There will be much rewriting to do. But at last I have something worth rewriting, and I’m grateful to Charlie’s bright idea for giving me the chance to get my writing back on track.

Writing is the only thing I love more than baking (and as much as kittens. And my husband). And now I feel I have it back.

Now… how do I write a sigh of relief?

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Hill & Knowlton Social Media Event

Posted on May 14, 2009 | 2 Comments

Last night, Hill & Knowlton gathered together third sector web professionals for a social media forum to which we were very kindly invited. You can find a few tweets about the event hashtagged #hksocial. We were added to the mix via Candace Kuss, who as well as being a huge dog fan who has raised guide dog pups used to be at Ogilvy, who still work with Dogs Trust. She liked our Twitter feed and followed our social engagement with interest, so invited us to give a case study.

It worked remarkably well alongside Canadian H&K VP of social media David Jones, who gave a wide-reaching presentation on the basics of social media and engagement from a Canadian government perspective. This set the groundwork beautifully for me to babble on about what we were actually doing with the different tools. I will remind him to send me an analysis presentation from War Child Canada he mentioned, which promises to be very interesting. My focus now is on finding the right social metric; we know we’re succeeding because dogs are being rehomed and people are talking about us. Numbers are nice, but they’re not particularly helpful here. We just need to find a way to present that to people who don’t quite understand it, but want to.

As with most of my presentations, I make a few sketchy notes and then ad-lib to keep it fresh. After all, I do this stuff every day; if I can’t talk about it with passion off the cuff then I’m in the wrong job. As always there were things I wish I’d said (or said differently), but I hope I got the main ideas across and gave someone some information they can take back and use as a way of spurring internal buy-in: “Yes, I know the Internet is scary to you, but Dogs Trust did it…”.

That’s why we talk at these things; we know we have it relatively easy with a forward-thinking and positive marketing team and we want to help break down hurdles and silos in other charities because apart from anything else that’s where we too get inspiration and ideas! The more social media stuff that’s going on, the more we can all advance together.

I had to run directly afterwards as I wanted to drop in on Silicon Stilettos, a great women in tech networking event run by Zuzanna from Huddle. I’m glad I did, too. Not only did I manage to get the cutest nose-licks from Jamie Klingler’s Cavalier King Charles, McNulty, I met the fab Anna from CompletelyNovel, with whom I definitely want more to do.

No time to blog more now, but I did want to note my thoughts and thank Hill and Knowlton for the invitation.

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End of holiday post: Recovering at home

Posted on May 3, 2009 | Leave a comment
The Happiest Place I Know

The Happiest Place I Know

Well, it was a pretty spectacular holiday – actually, belated honeymoon. Everything was in our favour: good weather, fun times, well-organised and, best of all, good health all round. We went for a morning swim (I miss that already!), ate loads, walked loads, soaked up the sun and were entertained almost to the point of feeling guilty. I was left with a slight feeling of dread, even; after all that goodness surely something must go wrong?! But even the flights were good. And I’m planning a fear of flying course in the summer to stop me having any more travel-related meltdowns. I don’t want it holding me back. Plans are afoot to book our next trip once the coffers have been replenished. This time to Toronto. I’ve never been to Canada – any recommendations / tips?

My favourite moments are many, so I won’t list them all. But anyone who sets foot within 100 miles of Epcot should get over there are ride Soarin’ (one of the few we rode twice, so brilliant is its gentle, awe-inspiring hang gliding simulation). As mid-price restaurants go, Redrock Canyon Grill is lovely and does the best steak and mashed potato on International Drive by miles. Tarpon Springs is apparently a great place to walk your dog. But if you want to know more about my travels, just check out my Flickr feed, where I shall eventually put the photos.

I really want to talk books. I read three and a half while travelling: Anthony Flew’s There Is a God, a fascinating and highly intelligently written discourse on how the famous atheist found faith; Mark Gatiss’s second Lucifer Box novel, The Devil in Amber (slightly disappointing compared to the first as Box has become a little tiresome, but still amusing enough) and Augusten Burrough’s A Wolf at the Table were the completed ones. The last was relentlessly depressing. I had wondered how Burroughs could make an entire career – spanning some six or seven books – out of a dysfunctional childhood, but I had reckoned without the truly terrifying entity his sociopathic father turned out to be. Read this only if you have a good grip on your emotions; it is highly distressing and uncomfortable, not to mention frightening. There’s even guinea pig death. You were warned.

I’m still picking through Gregory Maguire’s Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, which is far better than its title. His spare, evocative writing, which I loved so much in Wicked, is put to excellent use once more in a plotline slightly reminiscent of Girl With a Peal Earring (though it might have been published before – I forget). It was totally worth loading up my Sony Reader, even with all the irksome issues I had with Waterstones before we left.

Tomorrow, we begin repainting the living room. I’ve been gently immersing myself back in social media – I relinquished all but my crutch, Twitter, while I was away, mainly to see if I even COULD – and I’ve missed my old friend. Tuesday will herald business as usual: baking, blogging, and dreaming of the next time I’ll have the time and cash to visit WDW.

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Twitter and weekend baking experiments. Oh, and book clubs.

Posted on March 30, 2009 | 2 Comments
Richmond Park Deer

Richmond Park Deer

I know - just the kind of header that tells you that this post has no single specific purpose but might cover a lot of disparate topics. I haven’t even included the deer.

Maybe I should divide this up so you can just cast an eye over the stuff you’re interested in.

Twitter

I wrote quite an impassioned defence of the new-found popularity of Twitter. Far from killing it, I think it might just be what makes it better than other social networks now.

Weekend Baking Experiments

No photos here, frankly because they weren’t the most attractive looking results. And we’ve eated (sic) it. Ashley request oatmeal raisin cookies so I made an oatmeal raisin cake instead and that suited him fine. The random Internet recipe did not – I discovered halfway through folding in the flour – have any temperature, cooking times or tin recommendations. So I put it in a round silicone mould and baked it at 200 degrees, checking every 15 minutes. It took about 45, but eventually burnt a little on top while remaining a little squidgy at the bottom. I suspect, therefore, it’s best off as a tray bake. I must remember to bring back a 13 x 9 x 2 tin from Florida; American recipes so often fit this shape and it’s not that common here for some reason. Anyway, it tasted good. A little like what my cousin calls Dead Man’s Pudding, though I don’t see that as a bad thing.

I decided quite late on Sunday that making soft baked pretzels from scratch for the first time ever would be clever. Despite some sticking-to-the-baking-parchment issues, they tasted great, especially coated in salt (the poppy seed ones were a little bland). Had one for breakfast, and they held up well overnight.

Book Club

The first rule of book club is not making a reference to Fight Club. Oh, darn it.

Anyway, I’ve been invited to join a writers club on Facebook that I hope will make me actually do some more work on the Grown Up Monster Book. Largely it’s making me jealous of everyone else’s great ideas and hard work, but already I feel like I owe the fellow members my hard work which is what these groups are all about, right? Shared guilt is the way to go.

Deer

There were lots. In Richmond Park. So I crept closer and closer to try and get a decent photo with a DSLR lacking a proper telephoto lens, and this fellow obligingly let me snap quite a good shot. I have to sort out the rest of them and get them on Flickr. Then you’ll see them appear down the right, hopefully.

So, how have you all been?

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Four websites in one month…

Posted on March 18, 2009 | Leave a comment

..lying in the depths of my imagination.

There’s an awful lot going on just around the corner. Some of it is public knowledge; we’ve been awaiting a new website from Reading Room for a while now, and it looks like that is mere weeks away, post proper usability testing.Then there’s the website I was talking about recreating the other day, which needs finishing touches, one more to rebuild and another to build – at least the creative’s in the bag on that one.

I find this all quite exciting. I admit I never used to be this ambitious and focussed, but then I hadn’t yet found The Job. You know, the thing you finally realise you could do for a good long time, and be passionate about. I always thought that would be writing, but I didn’t necessarily expect it to be online writing. This job fills me with confidence because I know there’s a large part of it I can already do, and that I have a genuine interest in learning what I don’t know. And interest is surely half the battle when it comes to learning? Things come easily to people who are enthusiastic, or at least working hard does. This job makes me want to work as hard as I possibly can because it’s interesting and often fun.

I also find it a bit scary and nerve-wracking. I mean, after all, there’s a lot to do, and J and I both have long holidays planned in the next month because when we booked them none of this was specifically on the cards. I can’t help feeling the tension is part of what makes it interesting, though; I suspect we do better work when we’re slightly under pressure because it forces a special sharpness of the mind. It’s impossible to get distracted when there simply isn’t the time.

Speaking of distractions – positive ones – I’m reading a garbled mixture of Howard Jacobson’s The Making of Henry, Frank Skinner’s autobiography, rubbish free daily papers and a peppering of technology blogs, pet columns and, of course, Disney stuff. Jacobson is almost cruelly observant – it’s unsettling. I warm to his character only to realise I’m empathising with an object of ridicule; affectionate ridicule but ridicule nonetheless. I suspect that’s Jacobson’s point – that we’re all faintly ludicrous. Alarming, but undoubtedly true. Frank Skinner is honest to the point of discomfort, but I am fascinated by his discourses on Catholicism, and some of the stories are laugh-out-loud funny (funnier than any of his acts, in fact!). The rest you can read for yourselves.

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Creative fits and starts

Posted on March 6, 2009 | Leave a comment

As is often the way, the project you’re initially more excited about stalls under the pressure of your expectation (and the person you’re working with not having time to work on it with you), and the project you barely talk about for fear of Writer’s Block sneaking up and battering you with a large stick quietly gets underway.

The Collaboration has not halted, it’s merely ticking along far more slowly than at first expected. Ashley has the harder job, from my perspective; getting the words right is a slog but one I feel sure of achieving, but the vision is something else altogether. Of course from his point of view my work is equally unfathomably hard. So we wait on each other for inspiration to strike and the next burst of development to take place. I suspect it might require me cracking the whip (at myself, apart from anything) to get it back on course.

The Grown Up Monster Book, on the other hand, having been left to ferment, is coming up bubbling. Two evenings on the trot of just getting things out on paper have been as productive as any I could have hoped for. Not least in the revelation of a new character who walked her way onto the page I would swear without the slightest prompting on my part. She owns the book right now – let’s see where we go together.

Hopefully the long hike we’ve got planned for this weekend will give everything a chance to churn up (I find that as I walk I clear my head and sort of narrate descriptions to myself mentally. It’s a very good writing-without-the-writing practice for me). Also the extra stone I’m carrying might even start to shift.

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