I shall be out and about in Warwickshire signing copies of my two thriller suspense novels Mystical Circles and A Passionate Spirit at three Christmas Fairs in the next few weeks: Kingsley School Hall Beauchamp Ave Leamington Spa CV32 5RD 11am-2pm Saturday 26th November Princethorpe College Princethorpe nr Rugby CV23 9PX 2-4.20pm Sunday 27th November and KingContinue reading “Book Signings in Warwickshire this Christmas”
Author Archives: SC Skillman
A Poet’s View of Life – Shakespeare, the Jesuit Priest and the ex-Archbishop
What did Shakespeare believe? He lived and created his work during a period of religious turmoil; and scholars are left to guess at his true spiritual worldview, despite his association with Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon, and the fact that he was baptized and buried there. And so it was appropriate that Holy Trinity Church, theContinue reading “A Poet’s View of Life – Shakespeare, the Jesuit Priest and the ex-Archbishop”
The Writing Process for Creating a Novel In Less Than a Month
NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) begins today for 2016 and I will be once again taking this challenge – completing the first draft of my new novel “Director’s Cut”. Here is an article I wrote when I was 3 weeks into the 2011 challenge, in order to write the first draft of my second novel “AContinue reading “The Writing Process for Creating a Novel In Less Than a Month”
Research in Southwark for Setting for New Novel
Last Saturday I was in Southwark, London SE1, researching locations for my new novel. To me, the setting for a novel must have a strong emotional connection. My first two novels were set in the Cotswolds, near where I now live. My next novels will be set in London, near where I was born andContinue reading “Research in Southwark for Setting for New Novel”
Book Review: The Looking Glass House by Vanessa Tait
The story of Alice Liddell and the real Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson) is one that has inspired so much speculation and analysis since the creation of Alice in Wonderland in 1862; and here is another book on the subject, The Looking Glass House, this time a novel told by Alice’s great granddaughter Vanessa, which draws onContinue reading “Book Review: The Looking Glass House by Vanessa Tait”
Fun, Tranquility and Happiness on My Third Visit to Highgrove Garden
Last week I visited HRH the Prince of Wales’ garden at Highgrove for the third time. Each time I’ve visited – the first time in pouring rain in August 2015, the second time near the end of the wildflower season in June 2016, and now in October 2016, we’ve been led by a different guide and each hasContinue reading “Fun, Tranquility and Happiness on My Third Visit to Highgrove Garden”
Beatles Shine with Passion and Energy in New Documentary “8 Days a Week: the Touring Years”
How young, innocent, and naive they were, aged in their early twenties: cheeky and endearing. As Paul McCartney puts it, “At the beginning it was all very simple. By the end it had become very complicated.” And in the Beatles new documentary “8 Days a Week: The Touring Years” we saw a transformation rather similarContinue reading “Beatles Shine with Passion and Energy in New Documentary “8 Days a Week: the Touring Years””
“Dream” Book Buyers at Festival of Crafts, Coombe Abbey
Thank you to the “dream buyers” who bought my books on Saturday at the Coombe Abbey Festival of Crafts. They needed no promotional chat of any kind from me, (which I’ve discovered is counter-productive), studied my banner, reviews and blurbs closely, and recognised that the stories were just their type of thing. Abigail, Jamie and IContinue reading ““Dream” Book Buyers at Festival of Crafts, Coombe Abbey”
The Joys of a Great Building, and its Healing Power to Relieve the Stresses of Our Lives: Beautiful Pershore Abbey
As the mother of a son with autism, I have throughout his life acted as an advocate, carer, companion, supporter. One of his difficulties is taking unfamiliar journeys alone. Now aged 18, he has just started a new course in Horticulture at Pershore College in Worcestershire. Yesterday we met what was, for both of us,Continue reading “The Joys of a Great Building, and its Healing Power to Relieve the Stresses of Our Lives: Beautiful Pershore Abbey”
What does Eadfrith, artist-scribe of the Lindisfarne Gospels, have to teach creative writers and artists today?
Nothing much, you may think – because Eadfrith was a seventh century monk in a monastery on an island, and we live in the fast, materialistic, time-pressured world of 2016. I’ve just spent three days on Lindisfarne (otherwise known as Holy Island), just off the Northumberland coast, where Eadfrith sat in the monastery scriptorium and scribedContinue reading “What does Eadfrith, artist-scribe of the Lindisfarne Gospels, have to teach creative writers and artists today?”
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