Top Place Names in Cornwall
We probably all have our favourite Cornish place names, but I think the number one place name, is one we can all agree on. Before we get to that one though let’s have a look at some of the other peculiar place names in Cornwall. Let’s start with Pennycomequick. As bizarre as this name is […]
Lost Lands – warnings from the past.
There is something very exciting about lost lands and histories. As a maritime nation, we have an uneasy relationship with the sea. It has protected us from invaders (sometimes), it has enabled us to travel and explore the world, it provided food and industry as well as pleasure and inspiration. It has also, from time […]
The History of China Clay in Cornwall
In the late seventeenth century, traders from the far east began to bring home beautiful cups and plates made out of exquisite porcelain. To a continent that was used to pottery and stone wear, these pieces were treasures to be desired. The items were as thin and light as bones, they rang when you struck […]
The Ordnance Survey is quite simply the best!
I read a post earlier today that made me laugh and brought back happy memories. This cyclist was talking about his tour around Crete and the maps that he had used. Wow. Maps, useful looking ones at that. When I was 18, I went on holiday to Crete with my sister and a friend. It […]
The Tale of Bolster the Giant or What Happens when you Annoy a Saint
There is something about the landscape of St Agnes that invites larger than life tales. Here, a most unpleasant giant mistreats his wife and moons after a local saint. Boy did he pick the wrong woman to mess with. — Once upon a time, many years ago in the lands to the far west, where […]
There’s nothing new under the sun but it still smarts
As many of you probably know, I am an independent author. That means I commission my own proofreaders, (not for the blog)(1) typesetters, editors and cover designers. I publish under my own small imprint called Mudlark’s Press. It’s hard work but I enjoy it and so far the rewards have been worthwhile, not just in […]
The Little White Hare of Lanherne
While researching the Vale of Lanherne I came across this lovely old folk tale. I have reproduced it in full courtesy of the magnificent Project Gutenberg. Unlike most tales about White Hares this is not one of betrayal and revenge. The beauty of Lanherne obviously had a beneficial influence, or the nearby convent of nuns! […]
Blackberries and Cornwall
I have a theory and it’s this. Blackberries grow best on tin. Now my proof for this is sketchy and my explanation is even poorer but bear with me. I walk a lot, all over the place, and the best blackberries each year are in the Polgooth area. They are great big, fat, sweet berries. […]
Frustrations of building a new walk
For a while now I’ve been convinced that there must be a decent walk that links Roche Rock, St Dennis Church and Castel-an-Dinas. It would be a big walk, around 10 miles I think, so it’s one to build up in stages. Of course all three sites can be linked by roads but where is […]
2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 Same story, different date.
Today’s headlines sounded rather jolly, the ebook is declining, the print book is rising, ra ra ra. Here’s the BBC story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39718016 “Last year, one of the most eye-catching figures from our statistics was that physical book sales were increasing while digital book sales dropped,” said chief executive Stephen Lotinga. And here it is again […]
With Pola Negri, trying to track down The Woman He Scorned, in Mevagissey
When you write a history you need to make sure you are not simply repeating facts without establishing the truth of them. This involves lots of enjoyable detective work hunting down primary sources. One established “fact” was that Pola Negri, a very famous, silent film star, had featured in a film called The Woman He […]
How to take care of dogs in hot weather
In this current heat wave, it’s easy for life to become really difficult for our best friends. A few years ago we had our first experience of a dog experiencing heat stroke. Agatha is a ninety mile an hour sort of dog. She’s a five year old English Springer Spaniel and she has no off […]
Butterflies, flutter by.
What a great year it’s proving for the butterflies. When I saw this cover I couldn’t resist, isn’t it gorgeous? While I was out walking the other day I had the rare opportunities to stalk butterflies so I’ll share my pic below, I might even try to identify them. Though I’m not very hot on […]
New Cover Design and Series Re-Launch
Now that we are onto the third book in the series I felt it was time to stand back and have a look at the collection. Book One, Walks in Mevagissey Area was the first and something of a prototype and as such, it’s fabulous but also can be improved upon. For books 2 & […]
Slightly over-excited
This was me yesterday on Facebook: I WAS AMAZING!!!! No really, A-MAZ-ING. God I’m stoked, that was so much fun. My audience were the best people ever, they laughed at my rubbish jokes, they were engaged, they asked smart questions, they were friendly and supportive and they brought their A game. That was one hell […]
Getting your book onto the shelves of a bookshop
(I’ve borrowed this blog from my Hurley Books page as I’m talking about this at the Penzance Lit Fest) I speak as a bookshop owner. Someone who loves books. Most of us that run bookshops do, so please bear in mind that if you want us to stock your book we theoretically, will lend a […]
Me at the Penzance Literary Festival
Well, they do say that a blog title should say it like it is. I have been invited to talk at this year’s Penzance Literary Festival. I am very excited about it and also terrified. I’m going to be talking about how to publish your own work and the steps to take to try and […]
Multi-tasking doesn’t work
Egads! What a fool am I? The past few weeks have been a nightmare because in a moment of deranged lunacy I thought I would be efficient and multitask the release of my next two books. I’d be like an awesome conveyor belt of ruthless perfection. The two would come out one straight after the other […]
What’s in a name?
When I decided to start getting serious about writing I realised that I would need a website and an e-mail address. I don’t like self-publicity, it seems so needy and particularly unBritish but for heaven’s sake, I have decided to go down the self-publishing route, a little bit of self-flag waving is going to have […]
Who put that river there!
Well, I’m a bit embarrassed, fancy not spotting a stream in a place you’ve lived in for nearly twenty years. Not having a car for a while has meant that I’ve had to walk everywhere and I’ve been discovering loads, it’s like being a kid again. Today I discovered a stream. In the middle of part of the […]
The Spoken Word
Over the Christmas period, I decided to experiment with an audiobook. Being my own publisher means that I get to play with format and presentation and I have really enjoyed it. After the physical book came the e-book, with all the new challenges that that threw up. And now I figured I’d have a look […]
When the rivers run red
There are many many famous river confluences around the world with their dramatic clash of colours and I am pleased to add a little Cornish stream to the likes of the Nile, Mosel, Rhine, Colorado and Yangtze. Ladies and gentleman I give you the Gwydyn Rudh River, look at me, making up river names AND […]
Walking Ethy Woods
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”1″ gal_title=”Ethy”] Well it was a wet and muddy walk but I’m beginning to think all my walks are wet and muddy, plus I forgot my inhaler, so wheezy to boot. Anyway we parked up in Lerryn, a lovely village with a great community spirit and prepared to cross on the stepping stones but the […]
Punctuation
Here’s a thing. I am not good at punctuation, never was, never have been. Doubt I ever will be. I remember after my first month of English A level, the new teacher took me to one side, and asked what my problem with apostrophes was. I didn’t have a problem. How could I have a problem if […]
Does this sound like hell?
This was a short piece of creative writing I had to do. The brief was to place your character in a heaven or hell scenario. Enjoy. Sheila sat at her table, the nylon upholstery of her chair prickled the backs of her thighs and she wondered how soon she could politely retire to bed. Her dress […]
Helping Those That Help Themselves
Something has been bothering me recently and has got me thinking about the phrase “help those that help themselves.” I was listening to an article on Radio 4 about the state of the Spanish Banking system. The experts were saying that the Spanish banks were doing less to support their local economy than that of […]
Free shots and new shots!
OK, so that’s the next ten shots wrapped up and published. Shot One “The First Shot” is now available on all e-readers and is free of charge. The Amazon Kindle may still be 99p for a few days whilst Amazon tries to change the price for me. This will be a permanent introductory offer to […]
Riptides and Weaver Fish – A Memorable Day at the Seaside
Our first family day on the beach this year proved to be something of a disaster. My eldest had just bought his first surfboard and had been desperate to take it out but we just hadn’t been able to find the right day. Finally, we found a day where we were all at home, no […]
How to Improve British Sports
I think it can be agreed that the Olympics has been a huge success but what has made it so successful? I would like to say that it’s been a lot more than the number of medals that we have won, although that has been great. I believe there has been a range of reasons […]
The Launch of a New Book
Well, all bar the sweeping up and a bit of publicity, my book is done. It is written and published and yet here I sit feeling concerned and deflated. When it launched as a digital version over the weekend I was nervous but began to receive some lovely feedback. As nice as that was there was […]
Never, Ever Make Reading a Chore for Children
I was on St Austell Bay Radio on Tuesday and had great fun, much less scary than I thought it was going to be, but then I hadn’t anticipated DJs on pogo boots, school kids and chocolate rolls. I was in to talk about books for children which is trickier than you’d think. Too many […]
One Coat is Never Enough
I am now the proud owner of a new coat, much to the confusion of Steve, who thinks that I have more than enough coats already. But that’s daft, I don’t have a heavy weather coat and this is what I need. For the past few winters, I have borrowed his, to his constant annoyance […]
Harry the Rubbish Gun Dog and his Rubbisher Handler!
As some of you may know we have a springer spaniel going by the name of Harry. He’s three years old now, and I have always meant to get him trained properly, it is after all what he is bred to do, and after my column on prevarication the other week I finally picked up […]
Launching the first collection of shots. Just 99p. I know!
Right I have bundled the first ten shots together to get the ball rolling. Step right up!! 99p When everyday life is anything but everyday. Ten short sharp columns on a range of topics. It’s a pick ‘n’ mix collection of funny takes on family life, political observations, rants and daydreams. Is Father Christmas real? […]
Right. What’s Next?
I’ve been playing with a new idea about book deliveries. It’s going to be a bit of an experiment but here is what I have in mind. Every week I shall release one or two of my columns, currently featured in my two books. When I get to ten I will remove them from my website, and […]
A History of Mevagissey – drum roll please
Edits, done. Proofs, done. Images assembled, done. Files sent to the typesetter, done. Deep breath, done. DONE! Thank you so much, everyone, for your help and support. Details on printing and publication in a few weeks time but should be ready sometime in July. I will be back in touch with my advance readers closer to […]
Rainy days in Cornwall and how to make the most of them!
You’ve booked a week off, you’ve been looking forward to it for ages, the kids are excited, the weather is sunny and you are making great time down the M5 but wait, what’s that ahead of you? Is it seven days of sea, sand and sunshine or is it a dirty big cloud looming over […]
Writing when your brain doesn’t translate
I have just started writing fiction. I may have something to show you in a few months, or not. At the moment, the “or not” scenario seems more likely as writing fiction is proving to be a very slippery beast. And I though non-fiction was tough. The problem seems to be somewhere in the output section […]
Melting your spell checker.
Oh me. I am a rotten speller, my use of punctuation is chaotic and my syntax is curious. I am an editor’s nightmare and a spell checker’s jackpot, so I thought I would upgrade from my built-in spell checker, which drives me batty, to Grammarly, thinking that it might be better for me. It’s not. Apparently, […]
None shall pass – Driving in Cornwall.
You come to Cornwall for the history, for the scenery, for the quaint little fishing villages and are then flummoxed by the god-awful roads. Fear not we have some solutions. First off, we completely understand that you have just spent what felt like 15 hours on the road. We understand that your journey planner said it […]