Start the week #65
music, videos, great links, foliage, the book deal I rejected
Greetings!
Today’s STW has loads of good stuff in it, so let me not waste any of the time that you could be actually reading it. In other words, enough of this persiflage! On with the newsletter.
Terry
A visit to the Barbican conservatory
Yesterday we visited the conservatory in the Barbican, which is in east London. If you plan to visit at all, the nearest station is Moorgate. Entry is free. Here are a few pics:
Ducks
Not a million miles from the Barbican, in Liverpool Street station (which you can go in order to get to Moorgate), a duck shop has opened up. I think it’s such a bonkers concept that it just has to succeed!
Breaking news! My haircut
Since
has paved the way for discussing hair length, I thought I’d follow suit. I had a haircut recently as well, so here are the before and after pictures to celebrate that event.I rejected a publisher
In 2005 I was approached by a publisher who wanted to publish an updated edition of a book that had been very successful, but needed updating.
I ended up turning them down, which I suppose was a reckless thing to do in a way. I was thinking about this because a couple of people I read on Substack have landed book deals, which is wonderful considering how hard that is to do. My main reason was that I didn’t entirely agree with the proposal, and on that score I think, in retrospect, that I was daft.
However, there were deeper reasons. I’d been freelancing for about a year, and was inundated with work — all generated by word of mouth. That in itself wouldn’t have been enough to prevent me working on a book as well. Unfortunately, though, my mother was succumbing to dementia, which was debilitating and time-consuming.
It really goes to show that as well as factors like hard work people batting for you and luck, you also need the timing to be right.
I just thought I’d say that in case it provides a bit of solace to someone.
A book I’m reading
Here’s a book I came across in the Barbican library yesterday:
As it happens, I prefer American short stories to British ones, on the whole (though I realise that’s a huge generalisation). I’m familiar with a few of the stories in this volume, which features some well-known names such as Raymond Carver, George Saunders, Grace Paley, Ursula Le Guin and Susan Sontag. Well worth checking out I’d say, which is why I checked it out of the library (chortle).
Some videos
Recently I was driving along, listening to some old classics, marvelling at the kind of vocabulary they used. Like the word ‘plebeian’ in Cry Me A River.
“Well”, I mused to Elaine, “I can’t see such words being used in modern songs.”
Lo and behold, a while later I turned on the radio, where they were playing a disco number. The main message, actually the only message, was “Get down”, “Get on Down”, “Get down” — a bit like my disco version of A Bang on the Head but less erudite.
Yeah, ok, so while I like disco music, I also like a bit of class and erudition, so call me a literary snob if it pleases you. But first, enjoy this number from Julie London:
That was an excerpt from a film called The Girl Can’t Help It, a brilliant film made in 1956. It has everything: love, comedy and great music (from people like Eddie Cochrane, Fats Domino and Little Richard). It is also totally poltically incorrect by today’s standards so enjoy it while you can before someone decides to ban it:
Back in the mid-70s there was a great film, serialised on TV, called Jesus of Nazareth. I’m not a Christian myself, but nevertheless found the film very moving. Very convincing too, because the dialogue included the sort of things people might say, as in this scene about Jairus’ daughter:
The whole film, all six hours of it, is on Youtube:
Finally, I thought you might like Spem in Alium by Thomas Tallis. I first heard this at a freind’s house. He’d picked up a Thomas Tallis album for 50 pence in a charity shop. We listened to this in silence, and in darkness, utterly rapt:
My recent articles
In case you missed them, or forgot to read them, here they are:
No, I don’t wear saffron robes, about my experience of meditation (TM)
Letter to Rebecca should give you a good laugh. It made Rebecca spill her tea, which is one of the criteria on my recently-invented ChortleMeter. It’s her turn to reply on Wednesday, so make sure you subscribe to hers so you don’t miss that.
Lastly, my latest version of the Bang on the Head story will make you weep if you recognise any of the editorial comments featured in it.
Other people’s articles
First, I enjoyed this essay by
on economics. As an ex-teacher of economics I recognise good treatments of the subject, and this is one:An open message to the top 0.1%
Relax with this lovely short story from
:Earlier in this article I mentioned people getting book deals. Here they are:
Book Deal? Done. Now I’ve Got 9 Months to Finish Writing, by
How to bank a Big Five book deal, by
And on the subject of book marketing, this is a good round-up post from
:2024 Book Marketing Forecast: The Top 10 Trends to Watch
That’s it for now. Have a lovely week. In my next post, for premium subscribers, I’m going to delve into the ‘editorial remarks’ experiment I linked to earlier. There’ll be a 7 day free trial in that post.
Do share, subsscribe, comment, upgrade or nominate me for a knighthood. Thanks for reading!
Next-to-be Sir Freedman: congrats for your editorial rejection. I think it's the highest level in a writer career.
Fascinating performance of Julie London, overall her breath control, and the sensual sound it makes along the song. By the way, your drawings are worthy of a cartoonist pro.
There's so much to like in this post - where to start?! As always, love your drawings, and the photos of where you've been, and the throw back to KC and Sunshine Band. Spem in Alium must have been amazing in darkness. And yes, timing is everything.