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Sunday 7th August, 2011

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Same old same old.

Let’s start with the reminder about the new shared SSS website [External Link]. The information for the Durham and Sheffield chapters are up and running. If you’re interested in historical fencing and near either, please drop us a line.

Yes, these means I haven’t really done much this week. Just the usual work, write and walk the dog. The main writing project is still Part I of The Three Guineveres – with no interruptions from short stories, this week! Battle ten has gone and the action is working its wa up to battle eleven. The Shhh! project didn’t pass through to the next stage of the competition and I’m not sure what to do with it from now. But that goes with all of the “secret” projects because they’re all in areas totally outside of my usual speculative fiction area. If it can be called “usual” when I’m barely published!

Right, off to go read through The Bull of Essylt. See you next week.

Sunday 31st July, 2011

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The three week silence is broken.

Not that I wasn’t around. I’ve even been talking to people on Facebook [External Link], Google+ [External Link] and Twitter [External Link]. As well as in real life. Well, I think I’ve been talking to people. I have vague memories of working during the week.

About a fortnight ago was my dad’s birthday and my present was tickets for “Twelfth Night” as performed by Illyria [External Link] at Nostell Priory [External Link], yesterday. This was the third time we’ve been to watch an Illyria production (Three Musketeers in 2009, Pride and Prejudice in 2010) and we enjoyed it again but they didn’t half rattle through Shakespeare! Not one to do unless you’re already familiar with the language, we decided.

The new shared SSS website: [External Link], has the SSSSheffield information up, so – if you’re interested and in the area – let us know!

The suggestion of my own site redesign is still sitting in the back of my head. I’m reluctant to take on any major work for a while but I might slot it in between big writing projects. I’m still tapping away at Part I of The Three Guineveres, my current big project. I’ve got through battle nine of the sequence of twelve and there are some other story arc bits to throw in and / or correct. Once I have Part I drafted out, I think I’ll ask for some beta readers for it and work on redrafting of 25 Ways to Kill A Werewolf – pending a bit more feedback.

As for short works and minor projects: I haven’t heard back from the Shhh! project and I would have heard Friday if I was invited to the next stage, so that hasn’t worked! Beaumains, the kind of noir thing, went out under its working title – and no news yet. And I’ve been putting together a piece currently titled The Bull of Essylt. Again, anyone who knows their Arthuriana probably knows the inspiration. I’m running into a lot of bits and pieces while doing the background work on The Three Guineveres that doesn’t fit into that version but gives me intriguing ideas.

Sunday 10th July, 2011

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The swords section is back!

Last Wednesday (6th July), I was voted in as the Sheffield branch of the Society for the Study of Swordsmanship’s secretary. All of the SSS branches / chapters are in the process of moving their web-presence to a new shared site: [External Link]. The SSSDurham member responsible for the website (Mark Thomson) has done a lovely job with the site and has made me wonder if I should put mine through another redesign. It’s been this way for three years, after all!

The Sheffield bit should go live soon. For those who are interested now:

We currently have two British Federation of Historical Swordplay certified instructors. We mainly study smallsword, rapier and military sabre but also have an interest in longsword, bayonet, cutlass and singlestick. We meet on Wednesday evenings 7.00 till 9.00 in Darnall, Sheffield.
Attendants to the classes must to be over the age of 18 and must undergo several weeks of basic training before being allowed to join in the sparring sessions.
New members are welcomed on the first Wednesday of each month and observers are welcome at any time, so please email us for more information: [Link disabled]

I’ve also decided to reinstate the swords section of the site. It’s limited to one page only, at the moment, but I will be using it in future to mention events and stuff so it will expand with time – even if I go for a site redesign!

In my writing projects, I’m still about halfway through the seventh battle in The Three Guineveres. I’m still considering changing the framing device – it’s my motivation for getting through the first draft of the first part although, based on my limited 1000 word progress, it doesn’t appear to be working. The Shhh! project got posted off this week. Fingers crossed. That kind of noir thing I keep mentioning is currently called Beaumains (if you know your Arthuriana, you now know what story that’s based on) and is in second draft form. I’m not sure whether to go with the name or not.

Sunday 20th February, 2011

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SWASH 2011 [External Link] has been and gone. Life continues.

SWASH 2011 started on Friday (18th) and finishes some time today (20th). You can probably tell from the vague-ness of that comment that I didn’t do the whole weekend. I was there for Saturday morning and a touch of the afternoon, helping Simon McGrory from the Sheffield SSS [External Link] teach a lesson on smallsword disarms. I say “help”, I mean I got disarmed, repeatedly, while he used me to demonstrate the techniques to the class. Despite thus spending an hour and a half looking useless, I enjoyed the day. Snow outside does not prevent fun with swords.

25 Ways To Kill A Werewolf (world info on the Alex Jones’ page) continues. I now only have three werewolves to kill. Which, if you’re interested, means I have three chapters to do away with the “big bad” and provide an end that suits the character arcs. While the book does more or less what it says in the title (presents 25 ways to kill werewolves, subject to the rules presented in that particular fictional world), the characters involved go through a story line that is more than just a weekly monster – their own lives, in fact. The paths they’ve gone on weren’t exactly mapped before I set out but I had a rough idea of how my three teenagers would grow up. Now I’ve just got to heckle them into place for the final scenes. After that, rewrite! Rinse and repeat, etc. Will I get it finished in time for the end of the Angry Robot Books’ [External Link] open submissions (March 31st)? We’ll see.

Sunday 6th February, 2011

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A minor spring-clean on the site and some sword news (or, “Come to SWASH 2011 [External Link]!”).

So, for those who’ve been in the last week or so, you may have noticed the look of the site changing slightly from day to day. I’ve made a couple of tweaks to how text displays on the page and have then gone back through all the individual site pages (not including the diary archive) to update them to the new standard. I’ve caught a few more spelling mistakes and edited some sentences that just didn’t make sense. If you see anything that didn’t get caught that’s an obvious mistake, please let me know. For that matter, please let me know if something isn’t displaying as well as it should!

The updating also includes (as promised) the report available on the LOWE page. Although I now know where in Shropshire Zachariah LOWE (mk I) is from – what is now the Telford area – I haven’t found any further information on the family, yet. The most likely lead, oddly enough, is a christening in Worcestershire.

As you’ve been reading / I’ve been banging on about for a few months now, 25 Ways To Kill A Werewolf (See the Alex Jones’ page) is my main pass-time at the moment. I’ve now written method 18 and I’m about to launch into method 19 – after walking Finn and reading through a story draft for Amber Fox [Link Defunct]. After that, 6 more werewolves to kill. Almost there! Woot!

(PS. I thoroughly recommend following through the Foxie link, as she has some interesting blog entries in general but she – like a lot of us – is not a big fan of David Cameron right now and has articulated it better than I ever will.)

Finally, the sword news. I shall be at SWASH 2011 [External Link] at Leeds Royal Armouries on the weekend February 19th & 20th. More precisely, I shall be stooging (being an instructor’s sidekick and whipping boy) for the “Small Sword dis-arms” session on the Saturday, the instructor being Simon McGrory from the Sheffield SSS [External Link]. Entrance to the sessions and talks at SWASH is charged but members of the public will actually be able to observe the training sessions. If you’re at all interested in taking up fencing, sport or historical, or any other western martial art for that matter, it’s well worth a look.

Sunday 28th March, 2010

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A genealogy update. And the remnants of “Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! It’s my birthday!”

Okay, so maybe I should start with the birthday. I am now 30. Being a late developer in all things, this means I’ve caught up to the behaviour of a 10 year old, I reckon. Oh, and be warned: more on the “late developer” issues at some point in the future. I have fairly recently been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome [External Link] and I intend to put something together about what “symptoms” I have and what made me finally go for diagnosis, along with some sources of information other than Wikipedia!)

My actual birthday was celebrated by going out to dinner with my family – including my recently turned 4 niece. At some point, I fully intend to try to convince her she’s a fortnight older than me! Then on Saturday, I dragged my big sister off to Leeds to visit the Royal Armouries [External Link] so I could go look at shiny, pointy objects designed for causing damage to people. (I mean swords, for those of you who haven’t noticed my obsession included in the sections across the top of the site!) Coincidentally, it was a Napoleonic weekend at the Armouries and we found the Sharpe Appreciation Society [External Link] and got to watch some interpretational stuff by the museum staff. The presentations also covered The School of Fencing By Domenico Angelo [External Link], which is the treatise that SSS Sheffield [External Link] (my club) use to study smallsword.

And now back to the serious business of genealogy. I’ve made a small update to the CHARLESWORTH page. David FLETCHER, a descendant of the Black Bull line and a relative of mine, sent me and email way-back-when in January with a newspaper cutting about the currently unrelated MASON line. I’ve now included that story in the relevant part of the page. If you have any news about this line, please let me know!

For Easter (next week), Finn and I are off to visit Foxie [External Link] (road trip!) and the update to the site will probably be delayed until Easter Monday. I shall make it up to you by eating lots of Easter Eggs and possibly remembering to do some more CHARLESWORTH updates.

Sunday 5th April, 2009

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Well, I’ve been historical fencing for just over a month now. I think that means the Society for the Study of Swordsmanship [External Link] are considering keeping me. Well, for a couple of hours a week, anyway! It also means it’s time to start admitting that I do it. As this is a pastime that involves collecting shiny things, I shall be posting more information about said shiny things as I get them in the new Swords section. Other things and links may also appear there. I haven’t decided, yet!