April post

Welcome to my Blog:

A GOOD READ: For those of you who enjoy a well written and fast moving thriller, allow me to recommend A Time to Die by Wilbur Smith. I was “introduced” to this author some years back and, from memory, the first book of his that I read was The River God, quickly followed by The Seventh Scroll.  At present, I am working my way through this novel, which has my full attention. Brilliantly written, the book tells the story of two people who find themselves caught between warring parties in the heart of Africa, whilst on a safari.

TRUE BLUE: Congratulations to the BBC for still televising the annual Oxford and who find themselves Cambridge Boat Race, one of our great sporting traditions. Returning to the literary front, True Blue is the title of a great book by Dan Topolski, the legendary Oxford coach, and covers the story of the 1987 Boat Race which Cambridge were expected to dominate, and lost! A great book about the intrigue, manoeuvring and personality clashes behind the scenes of that memorable race. The book was also made into a wonderful and absorbing film.

SHORT STORIES: Writing these for competitions can be fun, as most are limited to a word count which ensures that every word must be maximised. When compiling a short story there can be no room for “padding,” and it’s essential to ensure that each story is based upon a plot, with an underlying theme. For example, if the chosen theme for a story is to be revenge, then the plot must unfold in a way that suitably embraces the concept. Also, with short story writing, mapping out the ending can be demanding since it ideally needs to have a “twist in the tale” that keeps readers guessing, right up until the end.

MAKING A MILLION: What teacher didn’t tell you. If someone gave you a pound today, two pounds the next day, four pounds the day after and eight pound the next day – how many times would they need to repeat the process (doubling up the amount every time) to give you a million pounds? Would you believe it is just 21 times? So, in commercial terms, if a company produces a product that showed a profit of £1 profit per sale, and just one shop sold it, and doubled their sales daily, for 21 days – they have made a million. But then imagine the result if several hundred shops were doing that?

MOBILE SIGNAL STRENGTH. Last year, while in Croatia, I was in a small boat, travelling up river through a narrow, mountain lined, gorge. In amazement, I watched as our boatman chatted away on his mobile phone, whilst navigating this narrow and uninhabited ravine. Out of curiosity I checked my own mobile, staggered to see that it showed maximum signal strength – something I’ve never seen before. Some days, just three miles outside of the major city where I live, I consider myself lucky if the smallest of the bars is showing up. Just a miles further away, there’s a well populated village where there’s no signal worth mentioning.