Stuart Aken

That's great, Sandra. I think your own blog do...

2012-05-31T10:55:17.095+01:00

That's great, Sandra. I think your own blog does a good job in encouraging children in all sorts of ways. As for the award, whilst it's nice to have such things, it also seems to be just a bit like pyramid selling. I can't think, off the top of my head, of 15 other blogs I follow regularly enough to identify as suitable and any other criteria would render the award meaningless, I think. But many thanks for the thought.

Love your blog and I’m passing my Versatile Blogge...

2012-05-30T21:00:57.594+01:00

Love your blog and I’m passing my Versatile Blogger Award on to you. You can find more details on my website at kidscandoit.com/blog/
Congratulations and don’t forget to pass the award on to 15 more versatile bloggers!

Me, too, Jack. I tend to go for the book first and...

2012-05-17T20:19:12.461+01:00

Me, too, Jack. I tend to go for the book first and augment with the internet where necessary, unless I don't have a book on the topic, of course.

Over the years, my library of books I use for rese...

2012-05-17T20:05:12.784+01:00

Over the years, my library of books I use for research has increased ten fold Stuart. Today with the internet seemingly dominating,I tend to use it as an adjunct to my physical library. :)

Agreed. I'm not endorsing this, merely passing...

2012-05-15T20:28:37.880+01:00

Agreed. I'm not endorsing this, merely passing it on after a friend recommendation. I would always check into anyone offering services as a matter of course and hope everyone else is as careful. If you are aware of any reason this particular post might lead others astray, please let me know.

Always be sure to check credentials before you sen...

2012-05-15T15:51:17.015+01:00

Always be sure to check credentials before you send people money for services.

Thanks, Jack.

2012-05-13T09:17:33.633+01:00

Thanks, Jack.

Amen to that Stuart. :)

2012-05-10T13:39:47.385+01:00

Amen to that Stuart. :)

Thanks, Jamara, enjoy your time in Whitby, a splen...

2012-05-06T23:24:57.823+01:00

Thanks, Jamara, enjoy your time in Whitby, a splendid old town, and good luck with your writing.

Wow you have been busy. Happy Birthday for Wednesd...

2012-05-06T22:23:37.235+01:00

Wow you have been busy. Happy Birthday for Wednesday. I did plant a few veggies in my garden but the slugs enjoyed them.

Good luck with your writing and photography projects

Thanks, Steven. I can only agree with your comment...

2012-04-28T19:30:21.816+01:00

Thanks, Steven. I can only agree with your comment, especially regarding the Bard.

Good post. I admire-- Joyce Carol Oates and Step...

2012-04-28T17:38:41.398+01:00

Good post. I admire--

Joyce Carol Oates and Stephen King for their amazing productivity. Their gardens are so vast that you'll get a few weeds, but their stuff holds up surprisingly well over time.

William Golding, John Cheever, and God knows who else for their perseverance through clinical depression and the abuses that often go with them. (Golding documents his own in Darkness Visible.)

Anne Lamott and a few other female writers for their humor. Writing funny stuff is hard, even if you're normally very funny. Females have a monopoly on funny writing; unsure why that is.

Shakespeare for his manipulation of language, for his creativity, and for his ability to hold up a mirror to his own society, and to human nature, without ever getting his own reflection caught in the seeing.

Hi Buddyblogger, and thanks for the comment. If yo...

2012-04-23T15:08:45.801+01:00

Hi Buddyblogger, and thanks for the comment. If you're interested in Holmes, you might like to have a look at the website of a friend of mine who writes crime and has written a Sherlock story of her own - http://www.avrilfieldtaylor.co.uk/books.html

Nice review of the book. I need to check this one ...

2012-04-15T23:22:06.961+01:00

Nice review of the book. I need to check this one out.

As an avid Sherlockian, I like reading pastiches and critiques of the canon.

Cheers!

Your comment motivated me to visit your blog, Rosa...

2012-04-12T12:53:54.117+01:00

Your comment motivated me to visit your blog, Rosanne (and I've Tweeted the current post and become a follower of your blog).
It's clear that our personal interests and passions will always direct the themes we choose for our fiction, and I think this is a good thing.
Let's just hope that I can allow the theme to control the moral and ethical direction without letting it overcome the storyteller in the actual work.
Thanks for this, Rosanne.

Jack, you're far too perceptive! It'll ob...

2012-04-12T12:50:17.938+01:00

Jack, you're far too perceptive!
It'll obviously take time, and effort, for me to remove the evangelical element form my fiction and I'm currently engaged in Julia's Cameron's course, via her book, The Artist's Way, in an effort to get at the roots of my creativity. It's a 12 week course and I'm only on week 4, but already I notice signs of change in myself and my approach to writing.
Soon, hopefully, my inner storyteller will run wild and astound me before it entertains my readers.
Thanks for this, Jack.

There is nothing whatsoever wrong with delivering ...

2012-04-12T11:49:46.722+01:00

There is nothing whatsoever wrong with delivering a sermon, for this latest post of yours surely is one Stuart. Until you can divorce your mind from your sense of right and wrong in the world, and let the inner storyteller lose, I fear you will continue to do battle. :)

I like confessions like this because they make me ...

2012-04-12T11:10:02.352+01:00

I like confessions like this because they make me examine my writerly motives. I wrote two blogs this week, and one is similar to this one of yours in theme - I am fascinated by some aspects of the human condition, and do attempt to feature them in my fiction.

For Camera Obscura, I took the minefield of fatherhood. For According to Luke, I took belief and its effect on the life and mind of a man. My next novel, as it materializes, is examining fidelity and all it implies (hmmm not ALL, perhaps, but you get the drift!).

So yeah - I belong to your club too, Stuart. And commenting on blogs DOES remove the need to lecture in one's fiction... very neat, that.

Lancashire, Shirley, that place just over the bord...

2012-03-29T16:47:37.490+01:00

Lancashire, Shirley, that place just over the border, where, as it happens, my daughter is at university. Another county with some great features.

Ah, Paula, the Lakes; beautiful but a tendency to ...

2012-03-29T16:46:36.655+01:00

Ah, Paula, the Lakes; beautiful but a tendency to be wet! Still, I spent my honeymoon there, so they have a special place in my heart.

I love the Dales, too, and the sink holes are grea...

2012-03-29T12:57:36.347+01:00

I love the Dales, too, and the sink holes are great places for hiding dead bodies.

I also love my east Lancashire home which is why I've set my last 10 novels in the Pennines.

I love the Dales, but love the lake District even ...

2012-03-29T11:10:58.458+01:00

I love the Dales, but love the lake District even more, which is why I've set 3 of my novels (so far!) in that beautiful corner of England.

But which of my many personalities should I use, T...

2012-03-17T19:11:50.309Z

But which of my many personalities should I use, Terry? I mean, I might get into a fight with myself and do myself an injury.

Stuart, you'll know there's a problem if y...

2012-03-17T19:07:18.272Z

Stuart, you'll know there's a problem if you start pirating your own works ;)

It's quite astounding the lengths to which the...

2012-03-17T17:24:51.498Z

It's quite astounding the lengths to which the pirates will go to deny the reality of what they do, Terry and Anon. They're in constant denial of the truth about their activity and seem to want to justify it entirely on the grounds that because it can be done, it should be done. Talk about being morally bankrupt, eh?
As for the 'pirate' I spoke to; just my alter ego presented as one character to present the argument. Theo is another side of me. Do you think I might be suffering from multi-personality syndrome? Still, as an author, I feel I should try to get right inside my characters!