Society of Authors

This morning, I was revisiting a section which connects the former occupiers of a house in which Jefferson, Krug and Johnson find themselves, with the assassination of the Panamanian president, José Rémon, in 1955. I also had a look at the opening page of the novel, and inserted a paragraph about what I called the machinery of human life on Earth.

It was going well, but I had only about two hours writing time before I had to leave the house. On my way out, I noticed a letter on the doormat. The logo of the Society of Authors was on the envelope. 'Oho,' I said out loud, to myself, 'this will be my rejection…' I had applied for a writing bursary back in April and had forgotten all about it. I haven't had much (any) luck with these pots of money that get dished out to writers from time to time by the likes of the Arts Council. But this time there was a letter of congratulation and, astonishingly, a cheque. I stood dumbfounded with the letter in one hand and the cheque in the other for several minutes. So, I would like to thank Lady Antonia Fraser, Wendy Cope, Jim Crace, Susannah Herbert and David Profumo (they were the assessors of the award this year) for the award, which will be put to good use.

Photography still distracts, of course, as I am now using Lightroom to process images and watching tutorial videos on YouTube. Which reminds me, I haven't heard back from the NAC director about my exhibition idea. I will nudge him next week.

Above is an example of a image I made using strobist techniques (a Canon 580 EXII, a Vivitar 285H, Cactus trigger/receivers, the handmade softbox) and some processing with Lightroom.