Mick Davidson: Words & Pictures
  • Home
  • Captain's Blog
  • It's All About Inspiration
    • It's All About You Guidelines
  • Writing
    • Poetry
    • Reviews
    • Stories
    • Travel
    • Twitter Verse
  • Photography
    • Travel >
      • Australia >
        • Melbourne, 2012/13
        • Melbourne, 2013/14
      • France
      • Latin America
      • Luxembourg
      • Netherland >
        • Groningen
        • Limburg
        • Zeeland
      • Spain >
        • Alhambra
    • In Concert >
      • Celebr80s Party
      • Sultans of Slide
      • Tio Gringo
      • Blues Festival 2010
    • All Sorts of Treasures >
      • RuneFest 2103
  • Bio
  • Contact

60 Hour Hiccup Marathon

2/26/2012

5 Comments

 
Trial by Hiccups
Finally, it's over! 

I can't tell you how depressing it is to have almost non-stop hiccups for a such a long period. Because just saying that I am ecstatic now that they've gone doesn't say it all. What I will tell you is that if you have enemies and want to cripple them mentally and physically, hiccups is the way to go. And they can't be traced back to you either. The perfect weapon in fact.

There's also a lot of cures on the web, of course, including this little cracker which worked well for the milder attacks I had.

After 48 hours worth of chest-busting, rib-cracking hilarity/misery I finally went to the hospital where I was given muscle relaxing pills. So far they seem to be working; I haven't hiccuped now for nearly 24 hours, so fingers crossed that it's all over.

Hiccups are mysterious beings, they come from out of nowhere outstay their welcome, then disappear into the night without so much as a handshake or a peck on the cheek. To have them stay for so long is even more mysterious and needs to be checked out by a doctor. Which is where I'll be spending some of tomorrow.

Death by Books
Yet another book has fallen victim of my 'If you can't be bothered to write, I'm not bothering to read' intolerance/law. Sadly, and I have to say that it is, another book slipped into my life purporting to have been a) well written and b) edited when in fact neither are true. I won't name names, but if the people who say it is 'a real page-turner' actually believe that, then they have obviously never read 'a real page-turner' or have never actually read a good book.

I'm not going into the details but the main character is an idiot who couldn't think his way into a public toilet let alone run an international research organisation. He annoys and is suspect almost from the beginning and gets worse the further you drag yourself through the pages. Also, character and location background material should be quietly and carefully slipped into the story, not parachuted in with all guns blazing. If you don't know what I mean try reading The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Echo. Finally, short sentences can either speed up the action or, as in this example, sound like a very dull shopping list. 

And don't tell me that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and this is a matter of taste: that's bollocks. Poor writing is poor writing and the same goes for poor editing - and there is no excuse for either.

I've ditched the second-rate for something entirely first rate and, so far, faultless on all fronts, namely Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. This is not only well researched it is really well written and a joy to read. It manages to combine the modern with the old, the foreign with the local and all told with a real ear and flair for language. This is a book that you need on your bookshelf.
5 Comments
    Picture

    Author

    Mick Davidson is a full time technical writer and semi-full time fiction author. He also finds time for both guitar playing and photography. When not being creative, he is heavily involved in Staring Out The Window research.

    He is definitely in the market for publication and agent representation.

    The links in my blog are doors to adventures and other countries, they don't all land in the most obvious puddle.


    Fav Blogs + Websites
    Specter Magazine

    Zencherry
    Dave Palmer
    Libboo
    Peirene Press
    Rebecca Venn
    Bigo + Twigetti
    Wryd Climate

    Archives

    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011

    Categories

    All
    2012
    3d
    A. A. Milne
    Abstract
    Adelaide
    Amazon
    Art
    Artist
    Australia
    Author
    Authors
    Aylesbury
    Bach
    Barnes And Noble
    Bbc
    Blog
    Blue Door
    Blurb
    Book Covers
    Border Trilogy
    Borges
    Botton
    Boundaries
    Calligraphy
    Carlos Ruiz Zafon
    Cbd
    Censorship
    Character
    Charles A. Wustum
    Charles Dickens
    Charlotte Wood
    Choose
    Christina Cummings
    Comfort Zone
    Competitions
    Composer
    Cormac Mccarthy
    Creative
    Creativity
    Critique
    Cycling
    Cyclist
    Damocles
    Dbc Pierre
    Delusions
    Depression
    Design
    Dickens
    Distraction
    Dreams
    Ebook
    Editing
    Ego
    Escape
    Eurovision
    Experiments
    Facebook
    Fiction
    Flow
    Francis Bacon
    Free Book
    Friends
    Gayla Drummond
    Gormenghast
    Graffiti
    Great Ocean Road
    Guitar
    Harpercollins
    Hiccups
    Holiday
    Holland Park Press
    Hot
    Iaay
    Indie Author
    Indifference
    Inspiration
    Inspire
    Istc
    Jane Austin
    Jan Freidlin
    Jealousy
    Jeffrey Eugenides
    Js Bach
    Julian Barnes
    Julien Barnes
    Kenosha
    Kent Haruf
    Kentucky
    Latin America
    Laura Numeroff
    Lazy
    Lee
    Le Guin
    Lesson
    Lettering
    Libboo
    Life Problems
    Lincoln Brady
    Lionel Shriver
    London
    Lonely
    Loss De Plott
    Madness
    Magical Realism
    Marian Newell
    Marilyn French
    Marketing
    Masterpiece
    Maureen Hovermale
    Mccarthy
    Melbourne
    Mervyn Peake
    Middlesex
    Motorbike
    Myers
    Mystery
    Negative
    New Authors
    Novel
    Novels
    Opinion
    Optimism
    O'Reilly
    Owensboro
    Paddy O'Reilly
    P.A. O'Reilly
    Peirene Press
    Perspire
    Plan
    Pod
    Poetry
    Positive
    Pr
    Print On Demand
    Prometheus
    Publication
    Publishers
    Publishing
    Racine
    Reading
    Rebecca Venn
    Resistance
    Restrictions
    Review
    Reviewing
    Re-write
    Re-writing
    Roald Dahl
    Rules
    Russ King
    Self Help
    Self-help
    Sign Writer
    Simon Imagin
    Sleepless
    Songwriting
    Specter Collective
    Specter Magazine
    Stephan J Myers
    Success
    Suicide
    Suitcases
    Sun
    Sutcliff
    Tale Of Two Cities
    Tate
    Tate Modern
    Taxes
    The Hoopla
    The Mind
    The Sense Of An Ending
    Tonya Cannariato
    Train
    Travel
    Twitter
    Type
    Umberto Echo
    Usa
    Uw Parkside
    Vampire
    Vintage Press
    Water Color
    Water Colour
    Winnie-the-Pooh
    Wise Grey Owl
    Writers
    Writer's Block
    Writing
    Writing Problems

    RSS Feed


Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.