Coffee and Writing - What Could be Better? It could be Tea?

 Now, I know that I've written about my love of coffee before, but I won't make any excuses because I'm writing about it again.

Coffee drinking is not an insular experience—far from it. It brings people together. In any coffee shop in the land, you will find people, strangers, chatting over a cup of coffee.

The coffee chains have brought a lot of different products to the market to tempt both the pallet and the wallet. They have bought us the Latte, flavoured or not, and the infamous flat white.

Coffee has also created personalities from its Baristas and Roasters. One notable is James Hoffman, who became famous after winning the 2007 World Barista Championship. Now an entrepreneur and business consultant of some standing, his YouTube channel has 2.07 million subscribers. He founded Square Mile Roasters in 2008. 

Here in East Devon, we have several independent roasters. The one that I mainly use is RoastWorks, which is down the road from me in Willand. I take the opportunity to pick up my order; the aroma is lovely when you open the door. 

Likewise, in Exeter, there are Exe Roasters. They have a couple of coffee shops in the city, but the best for me is just off Fore Street. This is where they roast the beans. You can sit and watch the roasting process whilst sipping on a cup of their finest. It is fascinating to witness the roasting process. Very technology-based. Also in East Devon is Buzz Coffee. Based in Sidmouth, I have tried a couple of their roasts. Lovely coffee and funky bright packaging

But to get back to the social side of coffee, three of us are coffee geeks in the office where I work. We share our different coffees, which attract the attention of others who have since started their coffee journeys. 

I have an Aeropress and grind my beans, much to the ire of one person in the office. I may have become a bit of a coffee personality in the kitchen. This weekend, I made one of my coffee buddies' day by leaving him a particularly nice Ethiopian Guji bean roast for his French Press as he works this weekend.

The other evening, I was checking my social media accounts, and one suggested some 'friends' with whom I may like to connect. You know how it works, a long list of friends of friends, friends, the vast majority I have no idea who they are. Except this time, there was someone that I did know. I checked to see if this was a genuine account, which I always do, and to my surprise, he was a coffee roaster. I ordered a couple of different beans from his site and received a message from him. He and his wife have set the coffee business as a retirement proposition. We both served in Portsmouth Band in the 80s, and I'm happy to be able to support them in their new venture. The company? Darwin Coffee. I will post a link with the others at the end of this piece.

This week has been a productive writing week. For the first part of the week, I was at home and could spend a few hours in my new writing den. I have primarily been working on the rewrite/redraft of 'Beastin Dartmoor. It is taking a bit longer than I had imagined. I have rewritten a few scenes in the first three chapters so far. I like the deadline that I set myself for writing this blog and my Substack for Monday mornings. I can be found on a Zoom writing hour with William's Patreon Group on Sunday afternoons, which is great fun. William is a Tea lover and loves nothing better than being busy writing with Tea and a couple of biscuits and if it's a more tangible problem, it will be tea with three biscuits. His three biscuit guides on YouTube are legendary.

Last Sunday, I attempted to write the second half of a 3000-word short story for an anthology to be published later in the year. I got the idea for the story from an exercise at another writing workshop I attended. For the first 1500 words, I was fortunate to be critiqued and edited by Jenny, who runs the workshops. From the short pieces that I read in the workshop, this could be my third novel, which I laughed at, to be honest. However, when the writing hour ended, I could confirm that this story would exceed 3000 words. 2025 is looking to be an exciting year, and I will have to re-think the short story now.

Have a great week, everybody.

Links:

https://www.roastworks.co.uk/

https://execoffeeroasters.co.uk/

https://www.buzzcoffee.co.uk/

https://www.slowfood.org.uk/supporters/darwin-coffee

What's this? The Sun's out and the Master's Golf is on the TV - Easter was last week?

 

You can tell it's spring. The sun is in the sky—yes, that's what it is—and The Masters of Golf is on the TV. That usually indicates that it is Easter, but Easter is a bit earlier this year and seems a week late.

It has been nearly fifteen years since I last played a round of golf, most likely with my late brother, Andrew. He was a golf fanatic and played numerous times a week. He had the vision to set himself up as a customised golf club maker and had all the equipment in a shed in the back garden. Sadly, he was never able to achieve his wish, as MND changed all that.

I still have a set of clubs Andrew made for me in the loft. I'm loathed to get rid of them. He even supplied me with a bright yellow golf bag. He made these clubs a little longer for me and with a little more flex in the shaft. This enabled me to continue to play after my back operation some thirty years ago.

When I was serving at Dartmouth, the Dartmouth Golf and Country Club had recently opened. We could play on the courses for £10 all day. The Naval College had contributed some funds to get it off the ground, so we had a few years at that bargain price.

We played the course almost daily. We used to come down off the parade ground after Colours or Divisions, get changed, and shoot off out there. I used to go with a good friend and fellow inlier (living onboard/barracks), Trev D'Arcy. Sadly, Trev passed away a few years ago, but we spent many happy hours playing golf and getting paid for it. It was not a bad life.

When I retired from the RMs, I continued to play, albeit less often. The guys where I worked used to organise a couple of golf days, which was an excellent way to get to know everybody.

I can't say that I really miss playing. I could have a round with a couple of my brother-in-laws, but sadly, I no longer have the interest, sadly.

My new website is not yet ready for publication, but I am getting closer to it. I promise you will be the first to know when it's in cyberspace.

I shall try a different way of planning my writing week this week. I may have more time to write than anticipated when I first made the plan, but we will have to see how I feel on Monday morning.

Hopefully, you will also see my Substack posts on my social media. Please pop over and have a read. I make them very different on that platform. This week, I shall be discussing networking to promote my upcoming novels. 

Have a great writing week. If you haven't considered writing before, give it a go. Don't worry; only you will read it unless you're happy to share.

April Showers and erratic driving - more news of writing too

 

"Though April showers may come your way, They bring the flowers that bloom in May." 

April Showers, composed by Louis Silvers with lyrics by B.G. De Sylva, was first sung by Al Jolson in the Broadway Musical "Bombo" in 1921.

The words conjure up gentle April showers, giving rise to beautiful May flowers. A quick look into the fields on the way to work recently shows that we're not having April showers but have had a deluge of rainwater since last autumn. The temperatures forecast for the weekend are the highest since October last year, which is six and a half months.

It's been a pretty dank and dreary winter. We haven't had any extreme cold weather in the South West of England to be of notice. There was a flurry of snow a few weeks ago, but here in East Devon, it was just rain. I can only remember a few occasions where I have had to scrape frost or ice from my car before work.

On Friday morning, I was travelling to work at about 0730 and starting work at 0800. Work is only 20 minutes or so up the A30. I travel at different times during the week, depending on my shift. Friday was an early shift, but I also have shifts that start at 0900 and the late one starting at 1000. The journeys at these times are very different. 

When I drive to work at 0800, the A30 turns into a race track. The lorries had been on the move early after being laid up overnight, especially as the clocks went forward an hour last week. These lorries cause the inside lane, where we should all be if we use the road correctly, to be quite busy. Travelling at 70 miles per hour is OK, as by using both lanes properly, you can maintain distance and speed. Therein lies the problem. As people see that the inside lane is full of heavy goods vehicles, they put their collective feet down, and the outside lane turns into a speed track. Couple this with our not-so-gentle April showers, and it becomes quite a journey to work. Vans are the worst offenders. The same vans are limited to 60 miles per hour for the national speed limit, even on dual carriageways and motorways.

I have struggled to find what to write about this week; I must admit there is nothing new there. I started thinking about the weather, but it morphed into my journey to work this morning, which was particularly challenging due to the weather and driving styles. Anyway, we're here, and it has worked.

This week's writing update is that I remain trying to get most of the rewrite of 'Beasting Dartmoor' before next month's holiday. I have had the start of a short story I'm writing edited this week, and I can progress with that for the Ottery Writers' upcoming anthology later in the year. By the time that goes to print and provided my story is accepted, I hope to have 'Beasting' ready for professional editing or submission to publishers. There is a lot of work to do then. My second novel, 'Mince Pie Murders, ' will progress at a slightly slower pace for a few months, with the target of publication ready for Christmas 2025 still very much the aim. By then, I expect to have my third novel on the go, and who knows, I may have a fourth on the back burner.

I'm pleased to say I'm back on my website after trouble with usernames and passwords. I need to settle down over the weekend, watch how to set it up and prepare it for publication. I can't promise that next week's blog will be in a new place, but we will be very close to it.

Have a great writing week ahead. On Sunday evening, I will review my weekly calendar and organise the writing week ahead. Let's hope it won't be too long before the weather changes from "Drip Drip Drop Little April Showers" to "Sunny Days."

  

It's the Easter Bank Holiday Weekend - Not quite where I thought that I would be - Read On

 I had hoped that this Blog piece would appear on my wonderfully new and shiny WordPress site. Annoyingly, I haven’t been able to get back to the website dashboard to finalise the site due to access problems. It is a bit of a bugger really and over the last few days, I haven’t really had the time to sort the problem out, this week. As I’m working over the weekend, I don’t think I will be getting any further with it until well into next week. These things are sent to try us, as the cliché informs us.

This week, I have been working on the rewrite of my first novel, ‘Beasting Dartmoor’. It is taking a bit longer than I thought that it would, which is more than likely down to my typing speed, to be honest. What I have completed so far has changed a little bit, checking that I’m using First, Second or Third person properly and that the narration is sounding correct. I think that more difficult decisions regarding the structure are on the horizon. Still, it is something that needs to be done, and I just need to get on with it. I know some authors out there enjoy this part of novel writing and hate getting the first draft written. I’m unsure where I stand, but I certainly enjoyed writing the first draft of ‘Beasting’ and I am also enjoying writing the first draft of ‘Mince Pies’, although that will have to take a back seat for a while.

Alongside the rewrite this week, I have also been working on something for the Ottery Writers anthology. I was inspired by an exercise that I undertook during a Zoom workshop a few weeks back. I need no more than 3000 words for the anthology piece and I am fortunate that I can have the first 1500 words reviewed and edited. I also think that this may work as a plot for a longer piece of work, so I will have to think about what I want to do with it. In the meantime, I will be working on the second 1500 words for the anthology. 

Over the last week or so, I have had a few new subscriptions come onto my Substack, which is pleasing. Like this Blog, I didn’t write on there last week, so I must make every effort to publish once again this week.

As I write this, on Thursday, we are heading headlong into the Easter Bank Holiday Weekend. As usual, the talk is of busy and congested motorways and the appalling weather that we are experiencing currently. I am working Good Friday and over the weekend, so writing time may be a little limited, however, there will be writing, for that I am sure. 

May all your Hot Cross Buns be nicely spiced and your Easter Eggs chocolate. Have a great Bank Holiday whatever you are doing.

  

The Last Novel in a Year Workshop - Where has that time gone?

Today, Saturday 16th March 2024, is the last of my Novel in a Year workshop. It is a cliché, but where have those twelve months gone? They have been delightful and inspiring and also equally frustrating and confusing. That is what it takes to write a novel, I suppose.

This afternoon we will be learning and discussing to self-publish or mainstream publisher, and how to submit the book. Writing the blurb and a synopsis are the next important pieces of writing for the book. These may be short pieces but they are no less important, as will be the marketing of the book.

As I wrote in my Substack email this week, I have suffered a bit of Imposter syndrome. I haven’t done much editing of ‘Beasting Dartmoor’ so far. There is so much doubt going around in my head, currently, although I am very much enjoying writing my next novel/novella and I have reached ten thousand words in that piece this week. 

Since March 18th last year, I have written nearly seventy thousand words for the novel. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing at the start, all I knew was that I had the beginnings of a story that I had briefly written but I had no idea how to take it forward and yet we’re here 365 days later, and I have the first draft and I am actively thinking about polishing it up and getting it ready for publication.

I have had so much support from my wife, Kathy and family and friends. My work colleagues have been immensely interested too. I have written many of the word count during my lunch times and many want to read it too. I think I will be signing a few copies too.

Another great help I have had is from the Patreon group to which I belong. Each Sunday afternoon we join William on Zoom, and with a big countdown clock in the corner of the screen, we write away for an hour. I usually write between 900 to 1100 words in an hour, which is a great start to the writing week. 

Also as part of the Patreon group, on Fridays, we receive a Fess Up and Press On email. It's a great one for productivity. We Fess Up what we have written in the week. We are usually in the shadows of William, he is, after all, a professional freelancer. This week I hit 10k in my second novel ‘Mince Pie Murders’ and I estimate that two thousand of those were this week and this piece is coming up to five hundred words. I have done more in the past weeks, but as written before, ‘You can’t be a writer if you don’t write.’

Have a great week everybody  

Sunny Days in Hong Kong

 I must admit that March and spring have almost sprung, but not quite yet. It's Thursday, and it's time to write this week's Blog. The Blog this week comes from the Quiet Carriage of the 0855 train to Waterloo. We're travelling to see the Massed Bands of His Majesties Royal Marines at the Royal Albert Hall on Friday night. As always, we are up for a bit of a wander around London. You can expect a few photos on Social Media over the next few days.

This week, I decided to dig out another photo from my days on HMY Britannia. In this photo, we appear to be playing out of Hong Kong in 1986. It must have been when we were sailing up to Shanghai to commence Royal Duties for HM Queen Elizabeth's unique visit to China. We returned to Hong Kong with HRH, The Duke of Edinburgh, two weeks later. If these photos had been taken at that time, we wouldn't have been dressed in shorts. 

We had been in Hong Kong for several days before sailing for Shanghai. The band wasn't required to perform or participate in any parades, and we just had our usual morning rehearsals in the Unwinding Room before getting ready for shore leave, which would start at the allotted hour, probably 1200. 

For some, Pinkies Tattoo Parlour was a magnate. Pinkies was extremely busy during our visit. Not only were their sailors and a few Marines from HMY, but almost the entire crew was from our accompanying guard ship, HMS York. The following day, there was much hilarity in the Unwinding Room when drunk tattoo purchases were revealed. I must declare at this point that I have no tattoos.

I and several others found ourselves in the China Fleet Club that first day. There, we imbibed several beers. Very cleverly, the bar had an offer on Pusser's Rum. If I remember correctly, you received an enamelled mug with signal flags if you ordered two large Rums. As the evening went on, these mugs became more attractive, and hence, more Rum was drunk. We left early to find something to eat, but on leaving the Fleet Club, I witnessed a Sailor from HMS York staggering out with a carrier bag of said mugs.

Myself and a couple of the younger end of the band needed help finding where to eat; yeah right, this is Hong Kong, there are food outlets all over the place. That evening, we opted for street food and sat at a stand selling huge bowls of noodles and broth topped with meat and the hottest chilli condiment on earth. It was interesting to witness how this stall operated. It was a very well-lit stall, and there were electric heaters around; it was a tad chilly in the early evening at that time of the year. Seeing as we sat on a street corner, I wondered where all the power was coming from. A quick peruse of the cabling saw it end up at the top of the lamppost we were all sitting around; they were bootlegging the electricity. That wasn't all; we were sitting right outside the main entrance of the Hong Kong Police Headquarters.

The next day, we took the Star Ferry to Kowloon. We had lunch at a fish restaurant where we selected lobsters alive from various fish tanks. The lobsters were enormous.

I remember that on our last night there, this time around, there was the biggest fireworks display I had ever seen, costing millions of Hong Kong Dollars.

We left the next day for Shanghai and Royal Duties. We returned to Honky Fidd later, and that's where we parted company with HMS York. They went on to visit Tokyo, and I was very jealous. It would be another fifteen years before I would fulfil that dream. Perhaps that trip can be another Blog piece?

My Talk Last Month at Ottery Writers and the Week Ahead

Writing has been difficult this week for one reason or another, so I haven't done much at all. That is all in the past now, and there is nothing that I can do about that. I'm here, writing this week's blog on what happens as an extra day to the year. That has to be a bonus, doesn't it?

I am a member of Ottery Writers. I have been a member for quite a few years now. Unfortunately, my work shifts sometimes mean that I can't always attend, but it is immensely enjoyable and informative when I can. Last month, I was asked to talk about my experiences in the Novel in a Year workshops. I was somewhat nervous about taking this talk on, which is a bit of a laugh after all the music I have performed before immense audiences and lectures and talks I have given previously.

The evening was attended by a good number of members and a couple of new ones too. Ottery Writers meet, rather fittingly, in the library at Ottery St Mary. I talked about how the Novel in a Year workshops run and what we did on them. It was nice explaining the loose word count targets we were encouraged to hit before each workshop. I was happy to say that, on the whole, I hit the word counts and beyond quite well during the year, which hasn't finished yet. I also showed the apps and software that I used. That part concerned a few people still writing with pen and paper. I was quick to allay their fears. After all, we only need some of this technology to enjoy writing.

I'm pleased to say I had some great feedback from the talk, and I hope I have given a good insight into what it takes to write a novel this way.

'Beasting Dartmoor', which I am starting to edit, is about 68k words. I expect it to finish at nearly 70k by the time I have polished it.

The people who joined National Write a Novel in a Month (NaNoWriMo) undertook and attempted to write 50k words during November, and many of them worldwide succeeded. One year, I did think about giving it a go and did a bit of plotting. When it came to November, I couldn't find the time to write two thousand words a day. I would have to find two hours a day over thirty days at my typing speed. The Novel in a year works out at an average of 350 words daily over four days a week. We worked out that we would need forty to forty-five weeks in the year to complete. Most of us have full-time jobs other than writing. You can see the challenges of being a writer by squeezing two significant things into the day and everything else life throws at us.

Next week, I have another photo that I would like to share with you, along with a couple of dits.

Please have a great writing week, everybody; I'm off to write my Substack piece for next week. I shall be an evening performance by the Massed Bands of His Majesties Royal Marines on Friday, which I am greatly looking forward to. 

Ottery Writers (https://otterywriters.wordpress.com/) meet on the second Monday of the month at the Ottery St Mary Library (otterystmarylibrary)

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https://stuartbilverstone.substack.com/