According to (perhaps a misunderstanding of) K. Anders Ericsson[1], it takes 10000 hours to become a master at something. 10,000 hours is a long time: 5 years at 40 hours per week (the average workload), or over a year without a break or rest of any kind. That takes tenacity, it takes commitment… but it... Continue Reading →
Sell Me Up The River
The difference between this kind of backstabbing and other ways of being exploited.
Pumpkin Spice Season
Who among us does not love the syrupy, seasonally bound gloop? Whether it's the messy crème egg, the cranberry sauce which belongs only on the Christmas table, or the much hyped, much maligned PSL. I am a great fan of the pumpkin spiced latte: I love pumpkin, I love spice, I love autumn-winter, I love... Continue Reading →
I Fell In Love With The Girl At The Pen Show
October 10th to 12th was the London (Autumn) Pen Show. This is like any trade show: you have vendors who like to sell you things, customers who want deals on those things, and a few onlookers trying to build brands, follow next year's marketing trends, make relationships with mutually beneficial businesses… or who just want to hold the bags of somebody they love, looking for a place to sit. I went for the Sunday as a customer.
I Can Fix The House Of Lords
Britain's House of Lords is a second chamber made of compromise. We as a nation understand the value of a second chamber: it is essential for governmental checks and balances, for debate, and so that the government of the country cannot be swayed by current moods in electoral politics blinding us to widespread issues or... Continue Reading →
Janis Ian, Anna Karenina, and Sadness
It cannot be said that Tolstoy understood women, yet his famous introduction to Anna Karenina can just as well be applied to women as families: "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Are women not the head of the household? This is a complicated statement, but even in... Continue Reading →
Uncover Forgotten Gems in Classic Literature – For FREE!
A friendly guide to the depths of Project Gutenberg.
When Visual Art Turns To Words
At a recent(ish)* visit to the Tate Modern, I was captivated by art with words. An image of Venice with paragraphs of text, a flashing light installation which ran ribbons of words to make pithy phrases - it's surprising in a gallery with such emphasis on form and impact to see words, associated with other... Continue Reading →
How a Growing TBR Can Enhance Your Reading Journey
After a touch of quick maths yesterday, I discovered that if I read on average four books a month (not an insignificant amount) for the rest of my projected life, I will have read about half of my TBR as logged on the website StoryGraph. This being a website, and a relatively new one in... Continue Reading →
Moodboard: Crafting A Vibe for Summer ’25
June, then, is a crossroads, where we decide what we'll embody in the next few months… so here are some tips for a more in-depth, considered summer metamorphosis.
Late Romantic 