Processing... - March 2025
We’re a quarter into this year already… This month has actually seemed the longest so far for me, but in a good way. From celestial events, gigs and wellington boots to some very exciting writing news, it’s been packed! Quite a lot to process…
Things I did
One of the first things I did this month was support Stars and Sabers Publishing’s second anthology, Of Enchantment, Enigma and the Infinite! After the incredible delivery I received for backing their first anthology, how could I resist chipping in and supporting all the returning and new authors in this magic-themed collection. You can peruse supporter tiers and the wonderful writers involved here.
As Spring sprung, a trip to Eltham Palace and Greenwich.
I’ve explored both places a lot before, and have a whole story which has been brewing since I visited last Spring! But there’s always new things to see, like the Courtauld’s incredible brooches, matching the windows they renovated in the medieval hall part of their manor, or the Anglo-Saxon cemetery and view across from the west of Greenwich park.
Here’s my instagram post with more photos…
While nothing beats a sunny day, on the 4th, I hopped on a call with Angharad Jones, curator at Creswell Crags and a week later ARTE Concert’s Sounds Like Art video with Dan Smith and his Ampersand band, shot at Turner Contemporary Margate, was released. I can definitely be seen clapping on the front row at the start, and at sections throughout.
It was an honour to be present that day in December for the performance and chatting a little bit with some involved. Seeing how that footage turned out, even the shot of them coming downstairs, was fantastic. And the whole other side of the documentary - performances within other installations in the space and Dan talking through that physical art and his music, was equally fantastic. If you like music and art, well worth a watch!
Through grogginess, I captured the partial lunar eclipse visible here, looking equally as orange and bright as the streetlamp. It was worth waking up early to see it start to glow before it set behind the trees, as 2018’s total lunar eclipse plays a massive part in my first full-length novel. I’d had the idea to include an eclipse in the story since I was ten, decided on a blood moon and did all the research at eighteen but the morning of the 14th was the first time I’ve seen one.
To extremely different glowing orbs, here’s the aftermath of a Harry Hill performance, with bright-eyed Stouffer the cats. Yes, that is a giant sausage.
The day after that hilarious evening, after already attending a great Zoom meeting where I was introduced to the group, I went to my first WIP Comics meeting. I met some great indie comics artists and fellow writers, like Matt Adcock and Andrew Attwell.
Following that, I visited Apsley House, the last English Heritage site I had to conquer, and by conquer I mean visit. I knew the broad strokes of Wellington’s achievements but not much more about the Iron Duke. Highlights for me included all the artefacts he’d been gifted post-Waterloo that resonated with my love of history/myth, like the sprawling silver Portuguese Centrepiece or this massive set of Ancient Egyptian-style plates and other crockery, and a model.
The house also hosts a bizarre statue of Napoleon, a collection of fine art and the oldest piano in the UK.
Nothing compared to seeing the boots that started it all…
From one battle to another… Battle:
It’s always nice visiting the abbey ruins but this time the full battlefield walk was walkable. Quite an historic field. More snaps can be seen here!
The Folklore Rooms in Brighton have impeccable vibes. A lovely cosy venue, and I got a table right at the front of AK Patterson’s gig! Hearing all the songs from her new EP Jailbird plus unreleased songs on those three guitars and that harmonium was fantastic, as was properly chatting to Alex afterwards and picking up her two CDs plus her notes/setlist!
And if you know me you know I like my synchronicity. When in Juno she sung “So I look to the moon at my shoulder”, I couldn’t help noticing the crescent moon there on the wall.
There’s more photos on the ‘gram but the above is the most representative of a walk round Bewl Water, filled with the lovely calming surface and some spots of grebes, deer, an orange underwing moth and a swimming frog.
This evening, I’ll be at Waterstone Covent Garden for L.R. Lam, A.Y. Chao, Taran Matharu and Philip C. Quaintrell in conversation, discussing all things dragon! Hopefully I’ll remember to let you know how it goes next roundup!
Things I wrote
This newsletter… (I always like starting with this one!)
I HAVE A THIRD STAR WARS INSIDER ARTICLE ON THE WAY. I’ll give you a teaser: Keep an eye out for the Halloween issue 234 - I’m getting spooky.
But that wasn’t the only email deserving celebration this month. You may remember that I had a poem accepted into New York Public Library’s Zine, on their theme Progress is a Process. Well, they also invited me to read and discuss the poem, Processing… for their virtual launch on Thursday, April 17, 4-5PM, which for me will be 9PM in the UK!
I would love for anyone reading this to come along!
Library Zine! Volume 8 Virtual Launch
Those links to learn more and read their previous issues: https://www.nypl.org/nyplzine or bit.ly/LibraryZine
While the LAMDA-filmed episode with the first of my scripts for Be Scene: Director’s Cut has yet to come out, I’ve written another five bespoke scripts for actress/producer Marion Githegi and the attached directors! Not all will be used but it was a great, challenging and rewarding exercise to keep working on these two page scripts to distil people’s visions. The podcast interviews filmmaking professionals and records the directing process with the actors, shows the finished scene, then talks about the process afterwards.
Continuing the collaborative side, I drafted a brief and Google form for a competition I’m organising, coordinating with Blenheim Palace and English Heritage, as part of my volunteering at North Leigh Roman Villa. It’s a new responsibility for me, but luckily I’m an expert on the competition’s medium - Minecraft!
Two more wonderful editions of A Long Time Ago… came out this month. And I can definitely say one of them belongs on this list as I did in fact write it all, transcribing the ‘on the record’ parts of a great video call with inspiring and so knowledgeable paleoanthropologist Genevieve von Petzinger! My second and third WIP novels wouldn’t exist without her research! Plus, I was thrilled when Eric Goebelbecker, one of you lovely readers, wrote in with his Star Wars and history picks!
A Long Time Ago… with Genevieve von Petzinger
A Long Time Ago… with Eric Goebelbecker
The video game project has surged forward this month too. The whole story is outlined in a 64 page doc, never mind the tabs for minigames, collectables, music, art and a trading card game. And with three levels completed, the full script is at 52 pages, but nowhere near done. What’s most exciting is really seeing my words come to life with whole backgrounds created, 2D and 3D models, dialogue interactions with objects. Just seeing a thirty second snippet from the start of the game was such a boost.
Things I gained
It’s a the start of a new era for Marvel’s Star Wars comics. Long have we waited for The Rise of Skywalker‘s adaptation. That issue, and the last of the Ahsoka adaptation, did not disappoint. Neither did the beginning of Charles Soule’s incredible new Legacy of Vader - finally diving more into the sequel trilogy’s Kylo Ren/Ben Solo, and what he got up to between episodes VIII and IX.
I also had the pleasure of going to Station Books to pick up Inkstone Books' beautiful sprayed (Aurebesh) edged signed edition of the latest Star Wars novel The Mask of Fear by Alexander Freed. It's the first in a trilogy exploring The Reign of the Empire, like Andor but in prose form and I can't wait to dive in.
Great service from Laura and Ross who managed to get me a copy to their shop, the first to stock these special editions! More photos of the beautiful book’s foil hardcover and on my shelf are up here.
This month’s stack of new stuff. Apart from the Eltham Palace guide, the rest of these were either charity shop finds by myself or parents. Some are just a bit of fun. That’s my Ian M. Banks collection finished - now I have to find the time to read them all! And it was great to complete the set of the potential comp Y: The Last Man. Despite knowing a lot about it, I’ve never read Dracula so that’ll be amended.
That DC Super Dictionary is a real piece of history and comedy gold. It features an array of well-known characters and some I’ve never heard of. In wonderfully colourful illustrations, they say a sentence with a word in, sometimes stretching to make relevant to characters, then repeat the same sentence with a few synonymous words subbed in. I could probably dedicate a whole series to the amusing repetitions…
Thanks very much for following along. See you next month!