How to deal with negative reviews of your writing (without going crazy)
A writer’s guide to handling bad reviews If you write anything that gets enough reviews, it will, sadly, be criticised. It is just the way things are. If you write … Read More
Can Brain Damage Unlock Hidden Genius? The Strange Science Of Accidental Savants
Can a blow to the head really unlock an extraordinary hidden ability? In a handful of remarkable cases, apparently it can. It sounds like the unlikely origin story of a … Read More
The Surprisingly Deep Connections Between Star Trek, Cheers and Frasier
Cheers, Frasier and Star Trek have a surprising amount in common. Kelsey Grammer commanded a Federation starship. Captain Janeway once dated Sam Malone. Data sat next to Lilith on an … Read More
From NASA To Mountain Dew: The Greatest (And Funniest) Crowdsourced Naming Fails
From Boaty McBoatface to The Fred Durst Society of the Humanities and Arts – don’t ask the public to name things. Creating decent names for things can be tricky and … Read More
Self-Publishing Vs. Traditional Publishing: How Technology Is Changing The Game
Is self-publishing the new slush pile? Are publishers going out of business? Writers will be all too aware of the rapidly evolving world of getting a book published. I have … Read More
RMS Olympic: The Titanic’s Unsinkable and Nearly Identical Sister
Nearly identical to her sister ship, the Titanic, the Olympic survived numerous collisions and even sunk a U-boat in WW1 The RMS Olympic was the first of the White Star … Read More
Write Every Day: The Daily Word Counts Of Great Authors
If you are writing a book, set a target like authors do One factor that distinguishes professional authors from aspiring ones is consistency. Most professionals write daily, regardless of the … Read More
Weird Events At The Olympics – Pistol Duels, Pigeon Shooting, And More
The Olympics have had some really odd events like Plunge For Distance and some distasteful ones, like live pigeon shooting. Here are some highlights… The Olympic Games regularly update their … Read More
I’ve been rediscovering the unique genius of Agatha Christie books
I recently started reading Agatha Christie again and had forgotten how much I love her brilliant mysteries. I’d previously read around ten of her more famous books. Some at school … Read More
The Astonishing Story Of Nicholas Alkemade, The Rear Gunner Who Fell 18000 Feet
And was almost shot as a spy… Nicholas Stephen Alkemade was born in Norfolk, in the United Kingdom, in 1922. When World War Two began, he enlisted as a rear … Read More
Can durian really kill you? The strange truth about the world’s smelliest fruit
The ‘King of Fruits’ is pungent, healthy, and potentially deadly. The legendary durian fruit hails from Southeast Asia and is famous for a couple of things – but most notably, … Read More
Do Writers Really Work Better Drunk? Should you ‘Write Drunk, Edit Sober’?
Hemingway was actually against it… The aphorism ‘Write drunk, edit sober’ is often incorrectly attributed to Ernest Hemingway. After all, he was famous for writing and drinking, so it makes … Read More
The Loudest Man in the World, a Duck at a Presidential Briefing, and Pigeons with a Liver Compass
As the world is a grim place, I thought I would share some good/interesting news about the loudest man, a duck that got famous in Mexico (and is cute), and … Read More
Surviving Antarctica: The Fascinating Reason Residents Of Villa Las Estrellas Remove Their Appendixes
The small settlement of Villa Las Estrellas is one of the few settlements in Antarctica where people live for more than a couple of months. However, to live there long-term, … Read More
Medium and Substack – the Strange, Lonely Business of Finding Readers
Medium and Substack are great in their own ways, but after months of earning almost nothing on Medium while my ‘weird history’ Substack grew, I changed my posting routine and … Read More
This Is Why Japan Is Now Infested with Raccoons
Raccoons are undeniably cute, with a reputation for rascal-like behaviour. And it was precisely these qualities that led to their huge popularity in Japan, prompted by a 1970s TV show. … Read More
Did a Pope’s Hatred Of Cats Lead To The Plague?
Fewer cats resulted in more plague-bearing rats, or so the story goes People have different attitudes toward cats. Some people love them while others – not so much. But historically, … Read More
The Man Who Accidentally Took Control of 7,000 Robot Vacuums
The true story of a robot vacuum hack that was more successful than planned Controlling a robot vacuum cleaner with a PlayStation 5 controller sounds like the sort of thing … Read More
The Fascinating Story Of Africa’s Fake Mountains Of Kong
The mountain range stretched across the continent and was on maps for over a century. The Scottish explorer Mungo Park first mentioned the magnificently named ‘Mountains of Kong’ in his … Read More
The Real Reason Photos Are Banned in the Sistine Chapel
It is not about flash photography In 1512, Pope Julius II held a special vespers service. It was an evening event that was held to inaugurate the Sistine Chapel after … Read More