Category Archives: Writing

The Gutenbergs

No one would deny that Gutenberg is a name with which to conjure. Johannes Gutenberg transformed society with his invention of mechanical printing in the 1440s. Half a millenium later, in 1971, Michael Hart, an American student, wangled himself time … Continue reading

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Fair wabbit

Had I posted last week it would have been the 301st post since I started writing this blog, nearly seven years ago. As it was I was undone by a trip south, via a monastery in Yorkshire, to run a … Continue reading

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Tread softly

This story is just one of a trillion reasons why Tim Berners-Lee deserves to stand alongside William Caxton and James Watt in the history of human connectivity. A little over five years ago, on 9 March 2011, an email arrived … Continue reading

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Poetry path

In the hills a few miles outside our village of Birnam is a Camphill community. Here, on the Corbenic estate, 27 adults with learning difficulties live with their carers and a number of volunteers in 50 acres of agricultural land, … Continue reading

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Feet of clay

Last night I finished reading H is for Hawk, Helen MacDonald’s extraordinary and much-fêted memoir about how she worked through her grief at her father’s death by training a goshawk. I loved the book for the luminosity of the writing, … Continue reading

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Untold stories

If one is asked the same question often enough, no matter how difficult, one sooner or later comes up with an answer that can be given without too much further thought. It may not be precisely the right one, but … Continue reading

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Established

Two years ago, against all the odds, 15 Dark Angels wrote and published a collective novel. Keeping Mum was a project that could very easily have come unstuck, but it didn’t and we were rightly proud of what might even … Continue reading

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Second wind

I’ve mentioned here my friend and neighbour, Fiona Ritchie, before. Fiona is an authority on the traditional music of Scotland and Ireland. From her tiny studio in Dunkeld she presents the most-listened-to Celtic music programme on US radio, the weekly … Continue reading

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Dem bones

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned a book by Julia Cameron called The Right To Write. Since then I have been reading what I think of as its older sister, Writing Down The Bones, by Natalie Goldberg. I’ve been … Continue reading

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Morning pages

Some years ago I read a book by the American writer Julia Cameron called The Right To Write. She is internationally famous for The Artist’s Way, which offers a 12-step guide to creative living, but I was drawn to the … Continue reading

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