Facebook, reading n writing and lazy bin men!

4 January

Cold, wet and miserable; that's what it's like outside right now. For the first time ever our bin men have worked on a Saturday - and it's cold, wet and miserable. Perhaps that is why they emptied our large bin but then left all the black bags of rubbish stacked around it. I shall be on to the council on Monday over it. Considering they are being paid extra today, I don't know why they won't do the job properly! Perhaps they are just too damned lazy?

It's now time for me to get back to writing again. I've not done any at all since I sent Bill Howe my latest NANO effort. The more I sit and think about the longer it will be before I actually 'do' anything about it. First job I think will be finishing my new Cooper novel. Once that is done I'll have a look at what other stories I have on the go and decide from there. In between of course, I'll be making the corrections that Bill finds as well as trying to keep up the reading I'm doing.

The other day I wrote something on Facebook about an item in the current issue of Writing Magazine. In it writer Margaret Atwood says it take here four to six hours to read a book. For that reason she won't write any blurbs for new books. Seeing as she gets around ten requests a week for such work, she's talking of 40-60 hours a week - and without pay too. I can see her point you know. Anyway, it got me thinking. A 400 page novel will take me a minimum of 20 hours to read, depending on the writing style and voice. After all, some writers are easier to read than others. Robert Ludlum I find very hard to read whereas Lynda La Plant I find a lot easier. Dyslexia causes many problems for those who have to live with it, and a slow reading speed is one such problem for me.

Let's look back to 1490s for a bit. I have always believed that Christopher Columbus burned his ships when he arrived in America, making the most important find of that era. When he arrived he is supposed to have burnt his ships to prevent his men from leaving for home. Yet according to today's Telegraph it was today in 1493 that he set sail from America to Spain. A quick look at Wikipedia tells me that the Telegraph is correct. So much for false history then! No wonder so many people don't like history.

No sailing ship photos but I do have this one ... 

A ferry arriving from Belfast making its way into Fleetwood.

And a funny ...

Daughter asked me this morning " Dad can I have a Pony?"
Reply............Naaaaaaaaah you haven't eaten the one in the freezer yet........