Authors Electric

It’s always fascinating perusing other people’s bookshelves and there is none better than a bookshelf in a holiday cottage – well I say cottage, this holiday let is actually a barn conversation complete with mezzanine reading nook! The reading matter is various, 1970s blockbusters by Jilly Cooper and Jeffrey Archer, more up to date novels by Victoria Hislop and Jacqueline Wilson. Books on British butterflies and birds. A book about the medicinal properties of honey and one about wind, thankfully not the flatulence variety, but a children’s book with picture of wind making mummy’s washing blow on the line - maybe daddy uses the tumble dryer! There is a book called No Dogs on the Bed – a cartoon book for adults and dog owners – a subtle reference to the rules on the property perhaps. The History of Stilton Cheese is wedged between a book discussing the divisions of Brexit and a book about female spirituality written by a man!!!! What can be deduced by such an eclectic collection? A...

I’ve finally made the jump from what was formally Twitter to Threads. I do feel it is putting all my eggs in one big Meta basket, but I quite like the way it cross posts between platforms. We could debate the merits or downsides of social media all day, but as writers it is one of the best ways to build and connect with potential readers, which in turn hopefully leads to some sales, maybe reviews and thereby more sales… this writing lark is such a merry-go-round, when does anyone find time to write? I’ll address that one next month. I have tried to fill my threads timeline with mostly writers and creatives, I’m not following so many pollical accounts. All is calm and soothing – ish. You get the odd thread of how do you pronounce a certain word and how it freaks Americans out the way we say some things in the UK. I confess I tumble down a few of those rabbit holes, but somehow, they go in small circles. I get that sense of déjà vu and remind myself this is immaterial in the grand scheme...