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Portraying the emotion of smugness
Emotions can’t be told. They have to be shown #FeelLines runs every Thursday on Twitter. The weekly theme is based on an emotion. The aim is to show a line where a character in your writing expresses this emotion. Expressing smugness The definition of smugness is an excessive pride in oneself or one’s achievements. How would a smug person feel? Puffed-up like a bird An adrenaline rush (warm/increased heart beat) Confidence in themselves Superior to others Following from this, what body language do you except to see of someone who is feeling pretty smug? A cocked head Chest puffed out Jutting chin Dominating behaviour Smirking Moving/acting in a way to…
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The Oath of Dag Seerson – Short Story
Dag sat in a feasting hall, but by the sight and sound of those around him, it would be easy to believe the great space had been cleared for the aftermath of battle to tend to the wounded. Faces stared back with patched eyes or sunken pits where the orb had been plucked out long ago. Flat, broken noses. Cauliflower ears. Scars warped the skin. Hands missing digits. Arms missing hands. Bodies missing limbs. Those who had a body still intact sat bowed, frail and weak, like Dag’s own. He’d never recovered from the breathing sickness which had struck home nearly seven years ago. Now he could only sip the…
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Cappuccino coffee cake recipe – a caffeinated cake to fuel writers everywhere
Do a search online for “cappuccino coffee cake recipe” and you might end up on a food blog. Here you’re forced to scroll through paragraph upon paragraph of how life has recently been treating this blogger (peppered with teaser photos of said cake from every conceivable angle possible) before you finally get to the damn recipe. This irritates me. Caffeine, the fuel for writers everywhere! So, without further ramblings, here is the recipe for my cappuccino coffee cake. The magic of this cake is the filling, which gives the cake a creamy lightness, and you’re not immediately gagging for a cuppa because your teeth are aching from the sugar quantity.…
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The Weaver – Short Story
‘The Weaver is blind tonight,’ my father said. My father rarely told stories. But there is another reason why this telling has been burned and committed to my memory. He looked old that night. Almost as ancient and weathered as my grandfather, his father, who lie in the bed he hovered over. The profile of their faces mirrored the other, as would mine. At ten, I too bore my father’s features but my mother’s dark hair and grey eyes also marked me as hers. Father’s large hand rested on the grey, sweat-stained brow of my grandfather. He slept in a feverish stupor, muttering in a language I couldn’t comprehend. Did a…
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#FeelLines hashtag writing game on Twitter
Emotions can’t be told. They have to be shown I’m starting a new writing hashtag game on Twitter called #FeelLines, which will run every Thursday. This one is going to be a little different to the others. Each week, there will be a theme based on an emotion. The aim is to express the emotion in the line rather than use the word itself. The first game is Thursday 11th January and the theme is eagerness. Expressing emotion We all have our own individual habits and tics. These aren’t limited to the physical signs but also include internal sensations and the mental response. The…
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Happy New Year 2018
Starting with a bang? The New Year may start with a bang for many party goers. I don’t feel resolutions should fall on just this day, but everyday. We should always strive to improve. The past shaped who we are now, the moment is the catalyst for the future we desire. For me, the New Year slipped past, quietly, unnoticed. I prefer the rhythmic cycle of the seasons and the moon rather than dates and numbers. The moon this month was a super moon, the Wolf Moon, or the moon after Yule. At the end of January, we’re in for the treat of a Blue Moon, but it will be…
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CampNaNo, keeping motivated and a writing anniversary
I promised a happier blog than the last. It’s a little late, but my laptop has been in for repair but it’s all working again (fingers crossed). On the 1st July 2016, I decided I was a writer. I got the notion in my head I would write a full blown novel from start to finish. With that iron grip determination, I wrote double what I set out to do for July Camp NaNoWriMo. A year later, and two very (un)lucky friends have read it and I’m enjoying the rewrites and dabbling into part two of the trilogy I’ve planned.
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and Goodbye to Shimi, the Dalmatian
I hoped to have blogged about something else. Two weeks after my cat died, my Dalmatian has too. I’d never had a dog before. Cats had always been a constant while growing up. There’d be the odd rabbit, fish and hamster too. Even stick insects. But never a dog. Then, twelve years ago on Boxing Day, we brought one home. It was a female Dalmatian puppy. We’d already been over twice to see the litter. On the second visit, she lolloped to greet us, and that sealed it for us. Her nickname then had been Three Spot, due to the distinct three spots which were beginning to develop on her…
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Farewell to the grumpy cat who made me merry
Beware of Terry Pratchett quotes in the text ahead. My cat died last night and I need to blog about the little fella.
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Assassin’s Fate Review and meeting Robin Hobb
As my tagline is ‘Read, Write, Bake.’ I spent last weekend partaking in the former. Saturday 6th May I visited Waterstones bookshop in Plymouth and finally had the chance to meet Robin Hobb at her book signing. The following Sunday and Monday I read it. It’s taken me till now to come to terms with the perfect ending to a wonderful series and review Assassin’s Fate.
