This week, a little spurt of writing advice as we gather pace towards a month made for hunkering down and making a dent in your wordcount. The organisation behind Nanowrimo hasn’t made any friends with its embrace of AI assistance, and I understand the calls for boycott. For many of us, though, November is still hardwired as a blessed 30 days of hard work. Will you be indulging? Even if you can’t make the whole 50,000 word goal, it’s a great time to pick up the habit of doing something creative every day. Hope to see you on the start line.
Wherever you are, whenever you are, however you are, welcome to The Swipe.
Rob is reading…
Daughters Of The Witching Hill by Mary Sharratt. A loan from Pal Jillian, and a fine evocation of the dark times of witchfinding and pyre building. Based around the Pendle Witch trials in 1612, it casts an eerie spell from the first page. You know the story will end tragically, but somehow you keep reading.
Rob is watching…
Not a great deal, to be frank, although I am looking forward to a few trips to the cinema in the next couple of weeks. The new Tron and the Springsteen biopic. No linking theme for you to parse, I just like the idea of both. And of course, in this house we believe in Bruce Springsteen.
Rob is listening…
To this intro playlist, which should tee you up nicely for the real deal on WROB in a couple of weeks. And please don’t forget our most recent show, To Have Loved, which has a similar feel. Hit the link in the sidebar for some spooky tunage.
Rob is eating…
Chicken teriyaki. The art is to use thigh meat, brine and marinade thoroughly and scorch hard and fast on a ripping hot grill for that perfect mix of succulent umami and smoky char. Sticky rice, a little slaw and perhaps a few pickles on the side is all you need. Proper comfort food.
Rob’s Low-Key Obsession Of The Week…
I could watch this for days.
Oh, look, we’re in the season. Let’s kick off with the history of a ghost ship which, even in recent times, was causing nautical nervousness and the firing of cannon into the mist. I particularly like the revelation that the source of so many stories may never have existed at all.
Speaking of haunted hulls, I am very pleased to note the arrival on comic shelves of an official prequel to a favourite of mine. Event Horizon: Dark Descent fills out the back-story of the doomed FTL spacecraft and its crew. Normally, I find prequels un-necessary and annoying. But the creative team on this venture are top-notch. Dark Descent is a creepy, gory treat which I recommend for all lovers of SF horror.
A quick about-face into a few links about writers and booze. I don’t have the kind of brass neck to count myself amongst masters like Hemingway or Fitzgerald but hey, it’s important to take notes from the greats, even if you’re just looking for cocktail recipes.
Drinking About The Writing Life
Hemingway was a fount of wisdom on the trials and troubles of life as an author. If Fitzgerald took his advice, we damn sure can. November could be a great time to get those ninety pages of shit out of you. There will be a diamond in the dung if you dig hard enough.
Lastly in this tranche, I urge you to settle down with Ted Gioia’s three-part exploration into the life and times of a writer who had the chops to be one of the greats. Sure, he carved a path and a name in his own cussedly belligerent way. I wonder what might have been if he hadn’t started believing so strongly in his own press and taken his boot off the gas pedal. I’ve linked to the first part, follow along to the rest on Ted’s site.
The Rise And Fall Of Hunter S. Thompson
It’s easy to over-complicate the simple things. But the simple things work for good reason, and there’s often more to the process than you think. Why is is so easy to mess up a classic pasta dish that only has three ingredients? Let’s investigate. Oh, by the way, this isn’t just about cooking…
Has my relationship with music changed over the years? Well, kinda. The bumps and bruises you attain in the travel down life’s bumpy road twang in a new key when you suddenly realise what the song-writer was really talking about. It’s the same with all art, of course—my relationship with Rembrandt hits different now I recognise myself in some of his craggier self-portraits. This piece does get quite gloomy towards the end, so I’ll attach a melancholia warning for general unfocused sads.
The Time Is Gone, The Song Is Over
To brighten the mood, this note from Norman Garrett to any prospective thieves of his old Porsche 914 made me cackle loudly. As the proud owner of what has just been announced as one of the most reliable cars on the road, I have to ask why anyone would put themselves through all this just to go to the shops.
Reading back through this week’s Swipe, there’s a distinct, muted, quietly blue mood to the collection. I guess my radar is tuned in that direction right now. To finish, raising the Comics Do It Best flag, let’s look at a lovely little graphic novel which explores Japanese forests, the chance of ghosts and an aging population who seem content with slipping quietly into the night.
One last thing. British viewers may understand the concept better as Trigger’s Broom.
Nope, you don’t even get respite in the Outro. But then, if Tom Waits emerges from his compound, it’s important to listen up and pay attention. This rendition of a classic, in the period before he started belting on anvils and throwing pianos down stairwells, is an elegiac paean to drifters, hobos and swagmen, which Waits explicitly points at a less romantic truism—the brutal life of the homeless. Yes, I know Tom’s an acquired taste, and this performance will not turn you into a fan if you think he sings like a glass-gargling buffalo. But goddam, this hit me hard in the feels.
I promise to be a bit lighter next week. See you in seven, fellow travellers.
EXCUSES AND HALF TRUTHS 
The secret of carbonara is that all carbonara is good because how could you go wrong with pasta, eggs, cured pork and cheese? Also the secret of any good food is make it how you want to eat it and stop telling other people what to do, right?
Also really looking forward to the Springsteen biopic. Biscuit Factory?
We’ve spoken about this before, of course. You’re right, and yet I have made horrid, scrambled carbo-nono using the same methods, ingredients and even pan as a successful version. Go figure.
Yes, Deliver Me From Nowhere is definitely a Biscuit Factory movie. If you fancy a meet-up, let’s talk.