With Cloudflare down, there are downsides - I can't order the thing I was going to. On the other hand ... Twitter's down too, so it's not all bad!

Strangely enough, today a bunch of websites on Cloudflare seem to be failing. I only discovered because the Register had a piece about whether it was possible to attack Chinese hackers when they attack western websites - um ...

Smug author here with excellent harvest of chillies!

A few weeks ago, FEDEX delivered a parcel from a reader in the US. Very kind of her. Then, two weeks later, FEDEX posted me an invoice for over £50! Yes, my fan had paid for the delivery. But FEDEX didn't tell her or me that I'd have to pay extra for tax AND their own £12 handling!

The Tudor Notebook Blog Tour: Pilgrims War By Michael Jecks amymcelroy.substack.com/p/blog-tour-... @michaeljecksauthor.bsky.social @amymcelroy.bsky.social #Medieval #HistoricalFiction

This week at the museum: 🎨 Make Your Mark – Open until Sun 7 Dec 🖼️ The Time Is Now – Until 4 Jan 🌿 Quiet Mornings – Thu 13 Nov, 10–12 ⚔️ Civil War Tour – Sat 15 Nov 🛡️ Medieval Mercenary Tour – Sat 15 Nov Explore, reflect, create. 👉 www.museumofgloucester.co.uk/whats-on

Happy republication day for PILGRIM'S WAR, out now in perfect time for Christmas! Follow the pilgrims on the 1st Crusade marching all the way to the Holy Land to save Jerusalem. But on the way they meet many enemies. buff.ly/kOYH2W9

Our friend Jim died less than a year after his MND diagnosis. If you have something to spare, please consider donating to this fund-raiser for others suffering from this horrible disease. socialsync.app/fundraiser/c...

For all those using LinkedIn, here's a nice one: LinkedIn will start scraping everyone's data to train AI in one week, according to the Reg. This article explains how to prevent them: theregister.com/2025/10/27/l... Highly recommend you do as I did and reject any data slurping!

As @jimgoldgeier.bsky.social & I predicted in @foreignaffairs.com back in the early days of DOGE. www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...

Don't expect much from me today - a particularly foul cold has come and got me! Dozing now so I can get up to London for a meeting this afternoon!

One of those lovely days. Woke up, went Morris dancing with Tinner's Morris - and as soon as I got there, started sneezing. Yup, my first cold of the winter!

And happily, the tiles are getting laid on the new kitchen floor. Feels like it's been too long since we last had a floor in here!Irreg

Nice little walk today - for once in a bit of sun (yeah, OK, it rained as well at times, but it was mostly glorious autumn weather!)

@gtconway.bsky.social is there no means to control the members of the military to prevent this kind of lawless military action? It seems unbelievable that the US Navy is killing people without any form of court to decide guilt or innocence. Just a missile as judge, jury and executioner!

#writingcommunity #writersky #amwriting #writerslife #wordweavers

A day of tiling the floors. Loads more workmen in the house and all of them on their knees means rather more disruption again, but thank God, it means things are close to the end!

One of those days when I receive a nice new surprise package: audio versions of the latest Vintaine series story!

When is some elected republican member of congress going to stand up for this democracy? At the end of the day, will you be okay telling your grandchildren that you were complicit in the descent of this country into authoritarianism because you were scared of one man. Man up!!!!

Two irritated hounds today after they didn't get the walk they had hoped for. Why? Well, I had to wait in for another delivery. Yesterday I ordered a lamp & paid for next day delivery. They just emailed to say it's on 48 hour delivery and only posted this afternoon! I want my next day cash back!

Excellent morning delivering books to Okehampton for Torquay Library, meeting up with Jenny Kane, the fabulous writer of so many books, and then home to practice sketching a Christmas card, researching the 1st Crusade, and recording a new video. It's all go in this house!

Ah, bless. UPS wrote yesterday to say they'd deliver my package today. Again. And again they haven't. Because UPS has never, not once in 5 years, managed to deliver on the day they've promised.

I have to mention this again. My son & friends are fund raising for Motor Neurone Disease Assoc'n. A lovely guy, Jim, is suffering from it. It's a hideous disease; if you can help, it would be much appreciated. Link below. socialsync.app/fundraiser/c...

Busy times. Trying to get things done - planning, researching, plotting the next book, also sorting out medical checkups (nothing important, just checks) and thinking of a painting for Christmas cards. Past ones below. What to do this year?Dartm

Woah we saw this sign earlier too — had no idea David Byrne himself was hanging out with us today in Philly at No Kings!

Huge turnout and great day at No Kings in Pasadena.

If you're curious what that costume looked like before the cops tackled her and arrested her for lewd conduct.....

There is a stink emanating from the House of Reps created by the refusal of Johnson to swear in Rep-Elect Adelita Grijalva. Very reminiscent of the stench that rose from the Senate in 2016 when McConnell refused to hold a hearing re Obama’s nominee for Supreme Court.Someone please file a law suit.

There are times - like when blatant spam messages come from such a safe company that they have state they're safe (such as those from Russia) - when you have to appreciate their honesty!

Then I also received an email from "DPCommunity". Well, I may be an old fart, but that rang alarm bells. My iMac thought the same, which is why it went straight into my Spam folder. 1/2

It's obviously a sign of my extreme doubts about certain emails coming in. Today I totally ignored a message from "JohnGrisham0", even though he was offering to help me market my books...

He would rather shut down our government than have you see the truth. It's not complicated.

A lovely guy, Jim, last October got diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease. It is a horrible disease with no cure. My son & friends are doing a sponsored game to raise funds for the MND society. socialsync.app/fundraiser/c... Please consider supporting their efforts but also share this message.

Well, yesterday meant meeting my friends in South West Writers for a great lunch, buying new pair of shoes (I'd worn out the old ones), two new keyboards, and a pile of research material. Back to the 1st Crusade!

Meanwhile working on the second Holy Wars story, which means re-reading all my books on the First Crusade. A fair bit to do there! At the same time, dealing with editorial questions about banners and shields for the 5th in my Vintaine series! It never ends!

Gradually the kitchen is taking shape. Trying to find a light to sit over the middle is interesting, though. A white, LED beam is all we want - but most suppliers seem to think I want a gaudy gold-coloured one. No. I want a simple white or stainless steel on!

That's my lot. A load of editing completed. Another 50 pages tomorrow and I can rest... until I have to write the next book, anyway!

Another day, another 100 pages edited, amended, added to, with sections deleted ... Another hour to go, then bed. Must complete this edit by Monday! Sorry for the radio silence!

Absolutely love this 🥰

Working currently with a large saw going through the floorboards upstairs, trying to work out where the electric cables go for the new ovens. Later, out to view a new kitchen light. Hopefully by end today the first units will be installed. Then to paint a ceiling, treat a beam, fit some lights!

And meanwhile, a selection of the AI generated crap I received this morning

AI could well be the end of a bunch of software firms. Expensive, with no clear route of cost savings in terms of staff, AI could bankrupt software companies because buyers won't pay their charges without provable benefits. www.theregister.com/2025/10/09/m...

Trump just admitted that his mass deportations are bad for farmers and the economy, and crucially, also admitted that workers who are getting deported are "almost impossible to replace." That's a massive repudiation of MAGA ideology:

The noise is not reducing. And now we have a kitchen space filled with cupboards and flooring tiles. Concentrate, Jecks, concentrate!

A very sad but instructive video on AI by the excellent Kurzgesagt folks. youtu.be/_zfN9wnPvU0?...

Meanwhile, new plasterboarding going up today. Tomorrow, losing electricity while new wiring is tested, and new kitchen units arriving, as well as floor tiles. Lots of floor tiles. On a pallet. Where the hell can we store a pallet of tiles?

Another day, another seven book marketing "experts" and clubs claiming to love my book. All clearly AI generated marketing pieces, all straight to spam and delete. The number of fraudsters and scammers with my email is irritating as hell!

Thank God I got out while they did it. On returning, there was a lot of noise from a damn great diesel generator, as well as the racket from all the fire and smoke alarms going off in the house! Luckily I enjoyed a walk around Meldon first!

If you ever wondered what sort of a mess having your wooden beam and granite hearth sand-blasted to clean them might result in ...