Film Review: The Dark Knight Rises
For those of you who haven’t been subjected to my tweets and status updates for the past week, you should probably know in advance that The Dark Knight Rises was my most anticipated film of 2012, so much so, that I agreed to let Adam (long-time cinema lover and supporter of Batman) insist that we make the...
Novel Ideas #3 – Write What You Know
“And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise.” ~ Sylvia Plath Granted, this quote comes from Sylvia Plath, who is well known as an autobiographical writer, but I’ve been thinking about how much of myself I put into my writing....
Novel Ideas #2 – The Value of Writing Workshops
If there is one thing I have learned from my time working for Cyprus Well, it is that there are a lot of wannabe writers out there. The quality of these writers varies greatly, but one thing many of them have in common is their desire to attend writing workshops. And there are just so many...
Novel Ideas #1 – To Plot or Not To Plot…
I thought it might be interesting to do a series of blog posts on my experience of beginning to write a novel. Yes, you heard right. Having posted that rather despairing piece recently, questioning whether I could legitimately call myself a writer, I actually managed to sit down at my computer this weekend and write something creative....
LadyFest: An Editor’s Perspective
While I did want to write something about the challenges of being an editor, I also want to take this opportunity to shout about the e-book I have been involved with producing. LadyFest: Winning Stories form the Oxford Gender Equality Festival 2010 is now available for download at the bargainacious price of just £2.99! I can...
Film Review- Prometheus (2012)
Having seen the much anticipated Prometheus yesterday evening, I have heard a mixture of opinions on it, and it seems that (certainly among my friends) opinion is divided. Perhaps I should preface this by saying that the only Alien film I had seen prior to this has been Alien. I loved its claustrophobic setting, grim (yet not overdone)...
Perspective: Am I a Writer?
I was fortunate enough to walk straight from my Masters degree in English Literature and into a job working in the arts. And not merely ‘the arts’ generally, but specifically a literature organisation. This has been a thrilling experience, and the job itself has provided opportunities to learn about fundraising, event management, online features, talent-spotting, budgets,...
Film Review: The Dictator (2012)
The Dictator tells the story of the egotistical dictator of Waadeya, Aladeen (Cohen), who executes everyone who disagrees with him. It is not long before he is called to America to address the UN over concerns about his developing nuclear weapons programme. While there, he is embroiled in a plot to overthrow him, and bring...
Poetry Review- Six Days in Iceland by Alyson Hallett
It is wonderful to discover unique poetry projects that combine a variety of elements. During the course of my Masters research I came across several such books, including Cynthia Hogue’s book of interview poems on Hurricane Katrina When the Water Came, and Claudia Rankine’s Don’t Let Me Be Lonely, both of which combine unusual poetry...
