Edgy and entertaining insights from the dangerously-talented writers in the Colony…explore at your pleasure
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WTF, Will! parts 1 – 4
We all remember those drawn out days of the first Covid lockdown, right? I don’t know how you coped, but while other people were learning…
Grace Notes, Part 3
Thank you for bearing with me. As a reward, we’re leaving high school. We’ll only revisit it in my dreams from now on. I promise….
Grace Notes, Part 2
I am glad you’re still here. Come, sit down with me. We’re in my English class. Spring 1994 is the pre-Axe-Body Spray era, if you’re…
Grace Notes, Part 1
This is a story of grace, not of sadness. I’m saying that because it won’t feel like that. Not initially. I’m just going to take…
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The Good There’s so much to love about writing – the excitement of that initial spark of an idea; the stimulation of the challenge to…
10. As Time Goes By
I’ve discovered a number of things to do with cloth serviettes which in today’s age we seldom use. Personally, I don’t use them anymore because…
Be True to Yourself
I recently participated in ALLi’s SelfPubCon, which focused on the business side of writing. There were sessions on using social media, monetising YouTube, website design,…
Fright Night
Bert and Harry had met at the ‘Hunter’s Moon’ village pub every Wednesday night at 7 pm for the last 15 years. Both…
“Take what resonates, toss the rest”
Giving Feedback The title of this post is a sentence that’s often used at the end of a fellow writer’s feedback in the Lab, and…
Hurricanity
I have to make a new word. This is not uncommon for me. Legiterally is now, officially, a thing. Coffeed is a passive verb that…
Creativity: A Risky Behaviour
There has long been an association between mental illness and creativity with seemingly endless examples of successful creatives affected by anxiety, depression, bipolar and other…
River Cruise down the Danube in Eastern Europe!
We are back from a river cruise down the Danube from Budapest to Bucharest. Well, what did we see? We were amazed at the people…
9. SEPTEMBER MUSINGS
When, after the August sun, the first rains fall there’s something nostalgically magical that lures you outside or look through a window in silence and be embedded…
My Friend Is An Adventurous Snail
It was an irresistible afternoon, the gorgeously seductive late summer / early-autumn sunlight inviting me to come play in the woods… how could I refuse?…
AI – The ‘loom’ of our time.
I’ve been avoiding the subject of AI for a long time. I’ve tried to ignore it, tried to pretend it won’t be as big a…
In Other Words…
I’m Fine Whenever I meet someone new, I try to learn their language. I don’t mean French or German; I mean things like what they…
The Seven Deadly (Writers’) Sins…
Come over here for a moment, would you? But be careful of the edge of the table, it’s rather sharp. Good. Now you can see…
About it all Again
Thinking back to December 1973… a village called Oberjoch (over the hill) in the Bavarian Alps. Six feet of snow! I was learning…
Shrek – a Masterclass in writing character
I recently had a great movie night with my daughter. We made a fort (three kitchen chairs with a blanket thrown over the top and…
It’s Not the End of the World
Well, it sort of is… I’ve been fascinated by dystopian fiction for many years – any story which explores a dramatic change in the way…
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