Weekly Roundup Vol. 5
Long Journeys: Dover, a card and a writing update
Welcome to this week’s roundup! Firstly, we hit fifty subscribers this week! Thanks for all the support. The subtitle was the best I could to try and link everything that happened this week. Some exciting stuff. On with the roundup:
A Daytrip to Dover
Monday seems to be the day for these weekly excursions for some sort of historical visit or research, but this might be the last for a while. It’s getting colder, and a lot wetter!
We headed to Dover Castle, a site I like, once again, for its role throughout the historical eras, up to modern times! I’d been before, on a trip with my primary school and also before with my parents around that same age. And while I enjoy walking around an intact castle, dressed up with medieval furnishings, the thing that was of most interest to me this time was the Roman Lighthouse, built on an Iron Age hillfort, that became a Saxon church.
You can definitely see the lower part is Roman, and then the newer bell tower on top, keeping the octagonal shape but narrower. It was pretty hollow inside, except for the cooing of a white pigeon. The Roman lighthouse, and the white cliffs beneath it, were going to be the last of Britain that my magical crystal in its short story would see. Look through my previous roundups if you’re unfamiliar with the story. The light of the lighthouse may still be the last thing the crystal sees, if conceivably it would carry to the channel crossing from Richborough to the Rhine.
I did also enjoy the walk through the secret WW2 tunnels beneath the tower, to see the layout of such an underground base, to stand in the room where the Dunkirk evacuations were planned.
The Dover Museum was the next stop, which I’d head about because of a very special boat. I’ve you’re ever in Dover with a spare hour, I’d recommend the museum - it’s free!
You’re looking at the oldest sea-going vessel ever found - it’s older than King Tut’s tomb. It was found during roadworks in the centre of Dover, buried long ago when the route of the River Dour was different, when everything was different. It’s a bronze age construction, made from four pieces of one tree, carved into boat form and tied with twine that’s still there - it’s been freeze-dried, kept in the dark and at a certain temperature. So, as the history fan that I am, that was something cool to see, and all the displays were worthwhile reading as well. Plus the museum had its fare share of Roman finds, a Saxon grave with some runes on, and plenty about more modern times too if that floats your boat - pun intended.
Competitions
On quieter days this week I finally sat down to enter some competitions. First was the Prototype Development Programme. This is a six-month scheme for UK writers, where you’ll get expert and peer support, workshops, classes, check ins and other activities to improve your writing, plus a £500 bursary. Check it out to see if you’re eligible, and to hear more about it in words more official and detailed than my own.
Hopefully, I’ll get on the programme, but if not, at least I’ve shared it with you. But act fast: Applications close tomorrow, October 23rd!
I also entered the Commonwealth Short Story Prize, which is free to enter, and closes November 2nd. Hopefully this’ll be open for a few more of my readers, as I’ve got a few Australian and Canadian subscribers, according to my stats - thanks guys!
A card
You can kind of see how the subtitle ‘Long Journeys’ relates now, right? The Dover boat, the commonwealth competition, sort of. But this card took a long journey from America to my door:
Besides the obvious image of a dancing astronaut on the front, this card is special for another reason. It came from author ! After meeting her at Star Wars Celebration in April, I subscribed to her newsletter on here. (You should definitely subscribe to both her personal newsletter and Creativity Corner for snapshots into the writing life, and creative tips.) I jumped at the opportunity to be a beta reader for her WIP MG fantasy. I mean, I got to read a Star Wars author’s work before anyone else! It was a great experience in itself, reminding me of reading back through my own fantasy work. I can’t wait to hear more about the book on its journey to publication. And the great news was that my feedback was valuable enough to warrant a personalised card! Thanks Amy!
Writing update
It’s been so enjoyable this week to really dive into writing again. I went back and reworked what I talked about last week, and now the crystal has made its journey through to North Leigh villa, where the documents sent to me by the volunteers there have proved so helpful.
There’s descriptions from the man who uncovered the site, Henry Hakewell (a man after my own initials), about all the mosaics and coloured tiles on each room’s floor, the traces of coloured paint at the base of each wall. It’s amazing to be able to know and add those details when writing about a place that’s now just a low wall of grey stone. Of course, the one mosaic has survived - the rest were taken by locals in the early 1800s!
I’m writing the crystals journey in a very fractured style of images, senses, short sentences, trying to convey a lot with a little - maybe my screenwriting courses have helped there. Anyway, looking through those documents brings me onto…
This week’s books
This segment showcases the new additions to my research and fiction collections.
So, there’s the welcome guide and map to Dover Castle. Yes, I got the museum guidebook, to have all the information on the bronze age boat - a boat like it may well be part of a story someday! And I printed out a 1988 guide to the villa, which had lovely illustrations of the mosaics that I can describe, and a room plan corresponding to Hakewell’s notes that I could annotate.
Thanks for reading! Let me know how your week went, if you feel like it.
Cheers,
Harvey