@pedant– of course, and I didn’t mean to come across as a snowflake :). One thing I like to do (well, one thing I do, at least) when editing is take the piece of writing and remove around one third of the words. I might put some back in later, but I find it does focus the writing (I do incline, by nature, to witter.)

(btw sorry about the f…[Read more]

<span style=”color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;”>@JannetteB- yes, of course it was- I think I was thinking of ‘Fathers and son’s’ and transposed it. Yes, it started very strongly. I love the idea of a romance that takes place within a discussion of the effects of the industrial revolution and the changes it bought- both positive and n…[Read more]

@missy– also re Pratchett- the ‘young adult’ books really aren’t very different from the ‘adult’ ones. In fact, they deal with some quite messy, indeed, adult, themes. If anything, I’d say they’re young adult in that the main protagonist is, in fact, a young adult, as did ‘Equal Rites’, and much along that vain.

@Jimthefish– Franzen is one of my favourite modern authors. I see what you mean about writers who are not afraid to be writers- one thing that always sends me reeling from writers groups is this tendency towards a common type of prose-everything has to be completely simple, you can’t leave the reader in any kind of uncertainty for a second,…[Read more]

@JanetteB, @purofilion– well this is why articles like the one mentioned are so absurd- however little I care for Dickens (I’m more of a Trollope woman (though that doesn’t sound right…) he treats his saints with cynicism and his sinners with compassion.) But it’s clearly a matter of different, not superior taste and how anyone can confuse the…[Read more]

@purofilion– thank you!

@purofilion, @ichabod: I actually went to Public (brit) school, fees were about £12,000 a year by the time I left. In some aspects the school in If… had something in common- we had some very good, motivated, interesting and interesting teachers, but the day to day life in the school was a nightmare- it was a boarding sc…[Read more]

@ania– oh I know, I get a tingle whenever I log on here and see the countdown! Nice to see another Dickens sceptic. I suppose the rambling does come down to taste- Anthony Trollop, who didn’t bother at all with the forth wall is a very chatty narrative-voice-as-character and I find him pretty perfect. What Dickens has to say just doesn’t int…[Read more]

@Mudlark– quite.

I had gathered from the comments underneath that not all his tastes were as acceptably highbrow as the ones he mentioned in the article. It would be interesting to see him explain the difference between Who fans and Pratchett fans re: genre trash, but the man obviously has a lot of reading to catch up on even in the lit…[Read more]

@Ichabod @arbutus re Jones- I actually saw a petition to demand an apology from him for that article which is a really disturbing idea and probably the highest accolade a troll can achieve. I also hated the way so many responses to his ridiculous article referred to Mansfield Park as shit/chicklit of its time.

It also made me think a little. Of…[Read more]

@purofilion– yes that was me, managed to scrape a distinction despite moving house (in a very basic, no budget fashion) during the course. Thank you!

@Whisht– fantastic. And of course, I don’t mind the weirdness at all.

speaking of weirdness- and drinking songs. When I eventually heard the ‘proper’ version of this song I had to say, not a patch on this version.

@Bluesqueakpip– thank you for clarifying that. I feel a little reassured. I actually turned down extra time on the exam because I felt being allowed to use my laptop was enough adjustment- it’s nice to feel it’s earned. It’s great knowing someone who’s done all this as well. (On which subject, I have the level three creative writing starting in…[Read more]

@Whisht: you make some good points.

usually, I drink larger in summer to cool me down. I drink red wine in summer to warm me up. Spring and atumn I put on a jumper and do both.

and the only tea I drink is Long Island.

thats not actually true but now I’ve said it, I really want a Long Island ice tea…

@blenkinsopthebrave– hic! 🙂

Everybody, I come to you with a dilemma.

Just discovered I got a distinction on an OU module, albeit because they substituted and rounded up my continuous assignment, and despite only scoring 84% on the exam (not the first time they’ve done something like that, I assume its because I have a learning disability and I’m not sure how I feel about…[Read more]

@purofilion– thank you! yes, moving, plus OU module, plus living ten minutes from a beach plus ‘I know, lets get people in to sort the kitchen in the last few weeks before your exam’ (! thanks, dear)  hasn’t left much time. Got four months till next module, don’t know what I’m going to do with it…

@Bluesqueakpip: I think it made a nice bold s…[Read more]

@thesilencehasfallen, @purofilion I do think the age of the doctor works nicely with the new cycle of regenerations, and also fits something he said once about when he was young he appeared as grumpy older men, like you do when you’re young… though that was mostly comic and flippant I think, and also not entirely true unless Susan was a lot…[Read more]

@PhaseShift– yes, I saw that a while ago on lovefilm, we put it on mostly on account of Nick Frost.

There was a disturbing/interesting moment involving Moses, I think, and his bedroom that was actually quite understated. We watched it in a scraping the bottom of the barrel of the available film collection kind of mood, but it was actually quite good.