Category Archives: language

Love In A Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Michelle

I love this book. It’s a masterpiece of social comedy and it deserves to be more widely read, so that’s why I’ve decided to rave about it today. Imagine Pride and Prejudice set in the 1930s, and you’ll have some … Continue reading →

Posted in 1930s, books, language, my favourite books | 8 Comments

‘Dated’ Books, Part Four: Police at the Funeral

Posted on August 22, 2011 by Michelle

When I read books written in the past, I try to keep in mind LP Hartley’s idea that: “The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.” That’s what makes visiting those books so interesting. I can’t help … Continue reading →

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Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss

Posted on August 5, 2011 by Michelle

I’ve spent most of this year reading depressing non-fiction about the Second World War, but after I handed Montmaray Three over to my publisher, I gave myself permission to read anything I wanted. Something fun! So I decided to read … Continue reading →

Posted in books, language, my favourite books, this writing life | 2 Comments

The Kitchen Front, Part Two: Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam . . .

Posted on May 22, 2011 by Michelle

I’d been intending to do another Kitchen Front post for a while, but sadly, my attempts at authentic 1940s meals have not been a success. The vegetable part has been easy – I like vegetables – although I must admit, … Continue reading →

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How To Write A Novel

Posted on February 26, 2011 by Michelle

The Saturday edition of The Sydney Morning Herald has been running “a series about how to write”, which I have been reading with increasing irritation. First there was Sue Woolfe, who stated that anyone can write a novel, provided they … Continue reading →

Posted in language, rant, this writing life | 2 Comments

‘Dated’ Books, Part One: Wigs on the Green

Posted on November 15, 2010 by Michelle

Some time ago, a fellow Australian writer described one of my books as ‘dated’ (in fact, she stated in her blog that she was going to re-read that particular book so she could learn how NOT to write a novel). … Continue reading →

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The Search for Enlightenment

Posted on October 26, 2010 by Michelle

I possess many of the personality traits of a nerd, but few of the technological skills, which is why it’s only now, three years after I set up my author website, that I’ve discovered my own website statistics. Web statistics … Continue reading →

Posted in language, The Montmaray Journals, The Rage of Sheep, this writing life | 4 Comments

A Rose By Any Other Name

Posted on October 8, 2010 by Michelle

Would Harry Potter have been such a success if he’d been called Nigel Clutterworth? I don’t think so. I suspect most authors put quite a bit of time and effort into finding the right names for their characters – I … Continue reading →

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Shorthand for Geeks

Posted on September 27, 2010 by Michelle

One of the topics I’ve been researching lately is shorthand. The narrator of my work-in-progress briefly attends a secretarial college in 1939, so I needed to know what she’d learn there. Shorthand, I figured – but then I found out … Continue reading →

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