Taking a day off writing to visit friends in Zeeland. Sitting in the train checking out writing podcasts, substacks, contests...I don't do days off well...

🗞️ NEWSFLASH 🗞️ Our competition is officially open! All need-to-knows at bridportprize.org.uk

#20SongsByYear 1966 Day 10: "Teenage Failure" - Chad & Jeremy "Summertime Blues" updated for the beat generation? Never has a song's music been so perky compared to the lyrics. Except the Hollies' cover of "I Am A Rock" maybe. Featured on a episode of Batman! /1 youtu.be/OvxkTfq428s?...

#NewWaveNovember "Echo Beach" - Martha & The Muffins (#5 RPM, #10 UK, #11 Ireland, #6 Australia, where art thou US? Oh, #35 on your "disco" chart...) Another CanCon classic... youtu.be/lpqDTQOFvf0?...

#NewMusicChallenge #B-SidesandBonusTracks "Kitty Can" - Bee Gees (1968) Sweet little b-side to "I've Got To Get A Message To You"! youtu.be/RfU9Wnb0z8o?...

Day 15: Connection - Another Hollies cover. "Lonely Hobo Lullaby" - Percy Sledge (2004) Not a typo. And a lovely song... youtu.be/sjrv19Qmzc0?...

Wordle 1,610 4/6* ⬜⬜⬜🟦⬜ 🟧🟧🟧⬜⬜ 🟧🟧🟧⬜⬜ 🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧

Wow

My new favourite podcast! 🥰

Aw, come on, people. Can we talking about 50+writers without saying "Gen X"? Boomers are still very much alive, thank you. We don't all want to run the world, just be included until we die...

I'm missing every deadline for everything this year. Gah.

#20SongsByYear 1966 Day 9: "I've Been Wrong" - The Buckinghams So what did they do immediately before "Kind Of A Drag"? Cover the Hollies! Didn't chart though, except for #13 on WLS. youtu.be/voob_RhagFM?...

#NewWaveNovember "I Only Want To Be With You" - The Tourists (#4 UK, #50 RPM, #83 US 1979) You have to be very cool to pull off a cover of the Bay City Rollers' cover of Dusty Springfield only 3 years later. But, hey, Annie Lennox! youtu.be/iVlEGHCSIro?...

#NewMusicChallenge #B-SidesandBonusTracks "Listen" - Chicago (Transit Authority) (1969) B-side to both "Questions 67 & 68" & "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" in 1970. When these dudes were cool. Or guitarist Terry Kath was alive. Pretty much the same thing. youtu.be/yoNJCT_2Ihk?...

Day 14: Connection - Gordon Waller solo. "My Life Is Over With You" (2011) from his posthumous album, Travelling Man. Lovely cover of the Hollies' song which Allan Clarke wrote about his fallout with Graham Nash (then got ambiguous in the last verse) youtu.be/g_6bBwBg224?... #DavidsMonthOfMusic

Wordle 1,609 5/6* ⬜🟦⬜🟦⬜ ⬜🟦🟦⬜⬜ 🟧🟦⬜⬜⬜ 🟧⬜🟧🟧⬜ 🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧

Anti-immigrant propaganda...Like all the anti-single mom propaganda I faced in the 1990s. "Oh, you're different." No I wasn't.

New BAD LIT FRIENDS drops tomorrow! Part 2 in our 3 part series on "So you want to write a novel!" We've got some ideas churning around our little noggins, but what would you like to hear us talk about next? Bad Lit Friends podcast is on Spotify, Apple, and wherever else you get your podcasts!

And my son is two years older. 😭

💀

In today's episode of "Animals with More Style Than I Will Ever Have"...

Even voor de goede orde: DILAN YESILGÖZ EEN LEUGENAAR!!!!!!! #DilanLiegt #DilanLeugenaar Zullen we dit viraal laten gaan?...

As a beta reader, I so appreciate it when writers give me questions/concerns they want me to focus on. Like: was there any point I lost interest in reading or was taken out of the narrative? And why? I think a beta reader, esp one you know, needs to feel they have permission to bring this up.

Hang on, when did reading become something you have to do in a fecking closet so you don't offend conformist weirdos?

Privileged nepobaby thinks she can give us lessons on "real optimism". Honey, I'm still alive and still writing despite everything. You are BECAUSE of everything. Who is the real optimist here?

My people. 🫂 Next time one's tempted to make a snarky 'boomer' remark, remember those who never conformed to the stereotype. We've had to leave our privileged bubble, if we ever lived in one, & have more in common with younger people than with our peers. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Racists take toys and go home rather than evolve with the times and keep kids happy. 🙄 www.dutchnews.nl//2025/11/yer...

#20SongsByYear 1966 Day 8: "7 And 7 Is" - Love (#33 US, #38 RPM) The most exhausting top 40 hit ever. Not surprisingly, drummer Alban "Snoopy" Pfisterer later said recording this was a "nightmare" & he got blisters on his fingers! youtu.be/MtFM-a5Xf1M?...

#NewWaveNovember Was going to post "Jet Boy Jet Girl" by Elton Motello, a fave dance tune for the ex & I in '81. But the subject matter, ew. So here's "Ça plane pour moi" by Plastic Bertrand. Not a cover--just 2 songs, same backing track! (#8 UK, #2 NL, #47 US, #58 RPM) youtu.be/Ln31raI2ezY?...

#NewMusicChallenge #B-SidesandBonusTracks "Daddy Rollin'" - Dion (1968) A love song to heroin. B-side to "Abraham, Martin & John". The man can rock. youtu.be/_pR7RFEh9nk?...

Day 13: Connection - Song composed by the same artrist but performed by a different one "I Go To Pieces" - Peter & Gordon (#21 RPM, #9 US) British act returns the favour but finds similar crossover success at home. Still a beauty. youtu.be/GqhWsSPqVmY?... #DavidsMonthOfMusic

Wordle 1,608 4/6* ⬜🟧⬜⬜🟧 ⬜🟧⬜⬜🟧 ⬜🟧🟧🟧🟧 🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧

Good reminder to unfollow Teen Vogue now that Condé Nast has fired all the writers that made it what it was.

I can't argue with that. Behold, Poutine, the brainless doofus in box about to be ambushed by Timmy Ho, the evil genius who wants in box. I miss them both. 😭

I love Internet Archive! archive.org/details/hitp...

Billionaire rubbing hands together: "Ah good. Working as intended." pluralistic.net/2025/11/11/s...

#20SongsByYear 1966 Day 7: "Substitute" - The Who (#5 UK, #97 RPM, #3 NL) A song that got constant airplay in the Lakehead back in the day but somehow did shit in the national charts. Still better than in the US though. youtu.be/eswQl-hcvU0?...

#NewWaveNovember "High School Confidential" - Rough Trade (#12 RPM, #8 CHUM, 1981) Somehow, "cream my jeans" got passed enough Canadian radio censors to make this groundbreaking song their biggest hit. Well done, Carole. youtu.be/V_gd-4s7knI?...

#NewMusicChallenge #B-SidesandBonusTracks "Who Do You Love" Ronnie Hawkins (1963) The b-side to "Bo Diddley" in Canada (#8 CHUM). Between Robbie Robertson's piercing guitar & Ronnie's screaming it would've caused a few car accidents on the Gardiner if were the a-side! /1 youtu.be/1z_lTCuB7QM?...

Day 12: Connection - Same artist, different tune "From Me To You" - Del Shannon (#13 CHUM, #77 US 1963) 1st North American chart appearance of a Lennon McCartney song. Decent sized hit in Toronto 7 months before Ed Sullivan &...everything! youtu.be/AeVDMFgQhxY?... #DavidsMonthOfMusic

What is a song lyric that changed your life? "When you ain't got nothin' you got nothin' to lose."

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There’s another wave of author impersonators offering consultations/mentoring for a price. (I got one from “Claire Keegan” telling me I’m very promising!) I’m sure you are great, but I didn’t email to tell you how swell you are. Here’s info on book scams: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/prh-fraud/

Yeah, I met my husband online 22 years ago. But it was a match made in broke, cynical heaven.

The finale of the great TV comedy show Blackadder goes Forth. Back then I didn't expect one of the funniest programmes ever to end with a scene that makes me cry every time I see it. Every single time.

3/ The BBC should survive in principle but be overhauled to truly be a public service.