When is a book not a book? Tom Uglow spoke at Port Eliot about the ways in which ebooks and the digital experience could be more interactive than a mere saddle-stitched paperback could ever dream of. Being by nature a bit of a Luddite, I’d yet to fully embrace the virtual book, but I could …
Month: July 2011
Port Eliot 4 – Enough Already!
Okay, just this one and then I’ll shut up about it. As you’ll have gathered, we enjoyed Port Eliot a great deal – all the photos are Anne’s, by the way. There’s such a range of authors and performers that there’ll always be something to inspire, entertain or crush you (because the person speaking is …
Port Eliot 3 – Observations
Notes jotted down from Port Eliot: 1. The literary scene is an exclusive club made up of people who went to Oxford or Cambridge and / or who have an MA in Creative Writing. There are other clubs, however. 2. It’s de rigeur to have at least one friend named Harriet, Chloe, Marcel, Rudyard or …
Port Eliot 2 – Caravan Envy
I imagine that staying in a Gypsy bow-top caravan is a lot like having a novel published. Not only is it a satisfying experience, but it also provokes a wide range of responses from other people (especially when it’s raining). These include: – People pointing and staring. – Some cutting to the chase and asking …
Port Eliot 1 – Now that’s what I call recycling
First it was a bag to carry shopping on to the site. Then it was a ground sheet to watch the open air screening of North by Northwest. Then it was a breadboard. Then it was a rain hat because someone (that would be me) forgot to bring a cagoule and it peed down for …
Work Backwards
One of the things that always fascinates me about writers is the search for a formula. It’s a quicksand trap that’s easily to slip into, especially when you hear of other writers you know who are doing rather well. In the blink of a green eye, you can lose yourself in the delusion that one …
The joke’s on me
When I was a kid, one of the highlights of the run-up to Christmas was the epic Woolworths’ advert on TV. It was always longer than any other ad and starred proper celebrities like The Two Ronnies.None of which has any relevance to this post, but I thought I’d mention it. What I do want …
Co-Dependence weekend
When you think about it, people care more for mythology than they do for truth. Over the years I’ve met people of all persuasions (forgive the irony) who refused to shift their position in the fact of new evidence. Whether it’s Churchill’s proposal for a United States of Europe or whatever really happened on that …