War and Peace - no, not the novel. Just me.
A peaceful missive from the world of books
Hello there,
“All war is a symptom of man's failure as a thinking animal.”
― John Steinbeck
I hope you’re keeping well and managing to maintain your equilibrium. There’s no doubt about it, we are living through turbulent times, but I hope my newsletters provide a moment or two of calm, and maybe even a laugh.
I’ve had some nice comments about the essay-type pieces I’ve been sending out (special thanks to Glenn K), so I hope to post more of those pieces. Apologies that my email schedule has gone to the dogs recently - I’m doing all I can, when I can.
I’ve been getting on with the next Devonshire Crime Thriller, and after a sticky point where I really didn’t know how DC Spiller and the other hardworking coppers were going to solve the case, I had an ah-hah moment.
No, I didn’t sing Take on Me in a high-pitched voice, I simply saw how the thing could be done. Confidence renewed, I ploughed on. I must be 75% through the first draft.
I’ve also been getting the new version of A Study in Stone ready for publication. It took me a while to make changes in the light of comments from the beta readers, but I did it. Again, thanks to everyone who sent feedback.
And that book got me thinking about war, because some of the story harks back to WWI. While in London for a writers conference, I popped into the Imperial War Museum. I wanted to get a glimpse into the world inhabited by those characters. They may be fictional, but the people they represent were not, so I wanted to do them justice.
Here are a few photos from my visit:
Featured Photos
And now for some peace
More photos soon. Until then, happy reading.
Podcast and Readings
There will be a reading of this piece in both video and audio format. These types of recordings are for everyone, only the Behind the Scenes videos are exclusive to paying members. Here’s this one. Click on Read the Full Story to see it.
You can find the videos and audio in the podcast section of VIP Readers Club, and there’s info on how to add the podcast to your favourite app:
Behind the Scenes
I sent out a livestream for paying members of the club, so in case you missed it, it’s here:
Signing Off
I’ll leave you with a hope for peace, if not in the world at large, perhaps found in the pages of a good book.
Happy reading and take care,
Mikey
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