The Awkward Squad
A Readers' Group by Michael Campling
Hello
Words should be weighed, not counted.
-Yiddish or Polish proverb.
Thanks to Ian for sending me these words of wisdom. Words have power: the power to reveal or obscure, lift up or oppress. They can bring peace or war, joy or sorrow. They are part of our culture, our identity. They make us who we are.
As you can imagine, I spend a large part of each day considering the words I use, but then, I've always been someone who thinks in terms of words. To me, the process of writing is endlessly fascinating. Time flies by when I'm writing, and when I emerge to seek a mug of tea or a sandwich, I generally measure my success in terms of the number of words I've written. This is great when it's going well, but it can be frustrating. Why did I only manage 500 words in that session? I could've written a thousand by now!
This proverb will help, so I've copied it to a bright pink sticky note and placed it next to my monitor so I can keep that sentiment in mind.
On with the newsletter, but before we get to the photo of me in a funny hat, here are some words of thanks:
Cheers!
A special thank you to these kind people who have sent me a mug of tea via ko-fi.com. I'm raising a mug of Yorkshire tea to toast these recent supporters:
Tamara
Cynthia
Lara
Pat
Marge.
Thank you for you encouragement and support.
Want to join them?
Featured Photos
The City of Bath - Ancient and Modern
Mrs C and I took a break to visit the city of Bath, and we enjoyed it immensely. I'd been once before, and I knew there were many historical treasures in the place, but I hadn't realised the modern city was so vibrant and busy. Living in such a small and quiet village, we find it quite a novelty to have a choice of restaurants and entertainment venues on our doorstep.
We began with the Jane Austen Centre: a small museum where you're shown around by a character in full costume. There's a chance to dress up for a photo, so we gave it a go.
I reflected that in my younger day I might've fancied myself as Mr Darcy, but I knew deep down that I was more like Mr Bingley. Now, somehow, I seem to have wound up as Mr Bennet. Oh well.
I love a good book shop, and Toppings is a cathedral of books. If you ask, the staff will make you a cup of tea or coffee. Delightfully, they don't charge for this service. You can take your drink and sit at a table and browse. And browse and browse. Glorious.
The Roman baths were rather wonderful. The thermal springs still flow hot. The water emerging from the earth fell as rain over 10,000 years ago on the Mendips. As well as the hot bath, there are several well-preserved rooms that stretch out beneath the modern streets. We spent several hours looking at everything, and I found it eye-opening.
As always, there are more photos on the site, and there's a link in the big, blue button just above my signature.
Book News
October is a great time to sit in the warm with an engaging murder mystery to read, so I've reduced the price of the Devonshire Mystery, Valley of Lies.
And don't forget, you can borrow this book for free if you request it at your local library and they order a copy for you via OverDrive or one of the other library distributors.
What's Next?
I'm still tapping away at a new Devonshire Mystery and that will be the state of affairs for at least a month. Sorry to keep you waiting, but I aim to start sharing some snippets before too long. It's not always easy to find snippets to share when you're writing a mystery, because it seems to me that the clues and suspects mustn't be revealed too early. It's those piece-by-piece discoveries that make reading a mystery so enjoyable.
I'm a bit behind on my recorded chats, but I'm taking some time to see if I can make them into more of a podcast, perhaps serialising some of my books by performing readings. I love reading aloud, and I feel this may add extra value to listeners. I could always add in a brief item of personal news each week.
But which books should I start with? The Devonshire Mysteries are the obvious choice, but what would you like to hear? I may need to run more than one podcast to cater for different genres.
I'd better get back to producing some more words for Dan and Alan to speak. And as I work, I'll be sure to weigh those words instead of counting them.
Happy reading and take care.
All the best,
Mikey C
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