I know. It has been an age since I actually posted anything. Work gets in the way and the little time that I do manage to scrape together I generally use for writing rather than updating. For what use is updating if I’m not writing anything to update about?
In this instance, however, I thought I’d provide a little insight into how I’ve managed to carve out a regular slot of time in order to at least get some writing done when all hope seems to be lost.
Back in 2016, I fought a running battle on two fronts with life and work being the opposition. Time was the battlefield and it was touch and go as to which would control the field. As I write this, it remains in a state of flux.
Geoffrey Chaucer left his masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, unfinished when he died in 1400, having completed only one-fifth of the projected undertaking. Nevertheless, he left 20-odd tales finished, some of which are somewhat longer than others. What are the ten best Canterbury Tales?
In October, I never got around to releasing the playlist I used whilst writing ‘Cinder’. So, here it is… not exactly seasonal, although, with a glass of mulled wine, a log fire, and a room of candles… it does work.
Actually, the playlist has been public for a couple of months, so maybe you already stumbled upon it. Nah, probably not.
It’s a small playlist. Only 21 tracks. Some of the tracks I also listened to whilst writing ‘A Bump in the Night’. It’s a little ‘darker’ than that playlist, though.
It’s always hard to say which track got more play time. Once again, ‘The Cure’ feature a lot. I’m also rather fond of ‘Cranes’. Alison Shaw’s voice is deliciously haunting. If I could eat it, I probably would. There are one or two tracks that might seem out of place, but they just seemed to appeal at different times during the writing. Memories can be like that. The last track, ‘Mr Self Destruct’ by NIN, was one that I had in mind before I even added it to the playlist.
As always, the videos below were chosen purely for their sound and not for any other reason (or because I couldn’t find another).
So, for those of you tired of listening to carols, have a listen to this selection before retiring for the night… oh, and pleasant dreams!
Three Imaginary Boys – The Cure
New Dawn Fades – Joy Division
How Beautiful You Are – The Cure
Where Fishes Go – Live
Speak No Evil – Cocteau Twins
Cold – The Cure
In The Flat Field – Bauhaus
Hot Ride – The Prodigy (ft. Juliette Lewis)
Golgotha Tenement Blues – Machines of Loving Grace
“Those friends and relatives that have ignored you all year suddenly crawl out of the woodwork and smile their way into your lives. They eat all your food, drink all your wine and eat all the caramels in your box of Quality Street!
“And what do you get in return? A pair of socks, a knitted jumper with mismatching arms or an out-of-date voucher for Marks & Spencer… brilliant.
“All you can do is sit there with a rictus grin plastered across your face as you glance up at the clock and wonder if the local D.I.Y shop is still open and whether they have a special on caskets…
“But this is not a message of gloom and despair… not at all! In fact, this is a message of hope. Embrace the spirit of the season. Get yourself down the pub for a pint or three, indulge yourself with that extra slice of cake and have a knees up with your loved ones.
“Carpe Diem, ladies and gentlemen! After all, you never know when it will be your last… Merry Christmas!”
Mr Snaggle & Mr Snuffle – Arbitrators to The Quick & The Dead (Est. 1275)
Okay, so these are really just some wallpapers that I designed for A Bump in the Night. As always, they are free, so go ahead and download them if you want. They’ll fit most desktop sizes along with iPhones and iPads.
I do have designs for bookmarks, pens, mugs, t-shirts, underwear… but all of these things cost money to produce and since that is in short supply, said designs have decided to sit and have a cuppa for a time; dwelling upon their future plans of world domination…
Anyway, here are the shrou… wallpapers!
A Bump in the Night 1280×1024A Bump in the Night 1280×1024
Those of you that know me or have stumbled across this blog (or some other social media outlet) will know that I like music. A lot.
As with quite a few things, I have varied taste when it comes to music. It’s not always the lyrics that I’m interested in, but the melody. Sometimes, it can even be the memory or emotion that a particular song evokes in me. In these cases, I might not really like the artist at all, but that one song just happened to be playing at a particular point in my life and it got wrapped up inside the memory. The song becomes the trigger or key to unlocking it.
I’m sure this happens to you as well.
For those of you accustomed to these pages, I’ve mentioned some of my musical influences under the page entitled ‘Influences’ (fancy that). That doesn’t mean I listen to all those artists all the time. I often find that, whenever I sit down to start writing a scene or a poem, I just seem to land on the track I want. It’s almost uncanny.
As I continue, I tend to skip tracks unconsciously without interrupting my flow. It’s just the way I work. When I finally pause for a tea-break or whatever I’ll jot down the tracks that stuck with me or any that I just know I need to hear when I’m going to be writing a particular story/scene. Later, I’ll create a playlist for them on my iPod (an old classic click-wheel model) and add to it during the course of writing. To be honest, I prefer vinyl over digital (much how I prefer books to ebooks), but I probably wouldn’t get much writing done if I had to get up and change the record every three or for minutes. I suppose I need to become wealthy enough where I can hire my very own Jeeves… a ‘vinyl-turner’ of sorts… someone to flip the records at a moments notice!
So, since I’ve finished writing A Bump in the Night I’ve decided to reveal the playlist that I listened to whilst writing it. You might not like some of the tracks/artists; you might even wonder how in the hell I can mix them. You might even wonder at my taste in music, but it might also let you catch a glimpse of what was going on inside my head (for those of you that are bored – the YouTube playlist is at the very end of the post). Continue reading “Tunes in the Night – my writing playlist for “A Bump in the Night””→
Short and sweet. I like Pinterest. Having somewhere I can keep track of all the images I stumble across that serve as inspiration is great. In some cases, it’s not so much that a particular image inspires, but rather it realises the thoughts I already had in my head.
So, here is my Pinterest board for my recent novella, A Bump in the Night. A few images that I created and uploaded or those that I pulled from the dark waters of the internet as I trawled its river on Mr Bump’s old skiff.
I dug deep with the knife, tore out their innards, and carved strange symbols upon their skin… I will cook and eat the guts later.
Pumpkins and shadows… my favourite! These pumpkins were given to me by someone from the village (to eat). I didn’t think I’d have time to carve them this year, but I managed it somehow. Fortunately, one of them was quite small.
Today, the villagers have gathered the flowers that they grew during the year to lay them upon the graves of their friends and family. I saw someone stood next to a collection of rocks down in the rambla… there is a simple iron cross set there. One of them fell from their donkey many years back and died in the fall. The flowers will eventually fade… as will all memory of this place.
As the nights are drawing in, how about a ghost story? The Victorians loved a ghost story, and many of the most celebrated writers of Victorian novels had a go at this ghoulish genre, from Elizabeth Gaskell to Charles Dickens to Robert Louis Stevenson. Here are ten of our favourites. If you like the sound of these suggestions, more blood-curdling reading matter can be found in our pick of Edgar Allan Poe’s best stories.
Monster. The word conjures a multitude of horrors. The original latin word, ‘monstrum’, could also refer to portent or warning. Perhaps that is what they are.
We use them to drive home warnings. We have done so throughout history, in song and tale. A classic example would be “Little Red Riding Hood”. We taught our children how to survive in a world where danger lurked under bush and behind tree.
Today we watch films. We are drawn to them. We want to be scared. We want to be warned. Not everything in the dark is dangerous, just as not everything that shines in the light is benevolent. The world of today is grey and populated with monsters. We wear our true skins on the inside in much the same way as the shape-shifters of legend. Continue reading “13 Monsters (a movie list of bits and pieces)”→
Crispian Thurlborn 