The Write to Know, Issue 9

Recommendations, reviews, randoms and reads

Is anyone else out there struggling to keep up?

Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance, failing to keep up with the production line, in I Love Lucy.

Here’s just a snapshot of what’s gone on this week, both good and bad:

I didn’t get a writing gig I could have done standing on my head, so that was disappointing (surely just a mix up?). However, I filed three pieces of copy to different clients (didn’t mix anything up, hurrah!), hustled as best I could for more work, reached out to a couple of writers about taking part in a Ten for The TEN (with mixed results), filmed another video diary and posted it on Thursday (to mixed reviews from myself), went to my improv class (mixed it up!), had a pre-show meeting about a comedy revue I performed in last night (with a bad back - heroic!), made a brilliant reel about my recent trip to the Seychelles and somehow ended up losing it (something to do with low data mode apparently), plotted out the next two months of The TEN and then dyed my hair (mixing those pots to perfection) because those 50 shades of greys are just not for me.

Plus, a shit ton of personal stuff, some of which is overwhelming because frankly, I’m a woman of a certain age living on a certain edge. There are too many plates and not all of them are spinning as they should.

However, I had a rather marvellous moment when I accompanied my friend to her late uncle’s house and found what I think is a Waterman 52 Red Ripple fountain pen (made sometime between 1915 and 1930), hidden in a box.

It’s in pretty bad shape but as a bona fide fountain pen nerd I geeked out so hard that she’s allowing me to clean it up. It's 9ct gold with a gold ink lever and honestly, this might have been the greatest thing that has happened this week.

If like me, you love fountain pens, check out

@idipbananasintocoffee

. They know their stuff. The pens are beautiful and the posts are bountiful.

Okay, so that’s the anxiety, panic and nerd-out dealt with! Let’s crack on with this newsletter. The theme is busy and eclectic, just like the week.

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SCRUBS UP WELL

I’ve been a huge fan of TLC since the Nineties. I didn’t know their back story because you don’t always need to know everything when it comes to the art you love.

But when Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes died in a car crash, in 2002, aged just 30, it was a horrible shock. She was a natural rapper; charismatic, quirky and a little bit crazy (and sexy and cool).

I mean, they were (are) all great. To this day, if any of their hits - No Scrubs, Unpretty or Waterfalls (TUNE!) - comes on the radio or pops up on a playlist, it makes me heart happy. I’m immediately there with the choreography, metaphorically wearing cargo pants, and living my best London life.

So I got stuck into this Netflix documentary, TLC Forever, the minute I knew it existed, about the band’s rise to fame, subsequent careers and fallout from Lisa’s premature passing. Loved it. Will probably watch again. Chilli and T-Boz are still performing. Has anyone seen them live?

Edit: Since I first wrote this, I have watched it again. No scrubs, no time wasting.

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WORDS WITH FEMMES

Waterstones’ Women’s Prize for Fiction 2024 have announced their shortlist.

The prize was founded in 1996 as a riposte to 1991’s all-male Booker Prize shortlist, launching “a renaissance in literary fiction written by women”.

Former winners include Zadie Smith, Madeline Miller, Ali Smith, Maggie O’Farrell and the late Andrea Levy. Sidnote, I’m still in awe of that first read of Zadie Smith’s White Teeth more than twenty years ago.

The winner is announced on June 13 but the books are worth a look and range from an empowering story of female independence in nineteenth-century New South Wales to a searing examination of art and belonging in modern-day Palestine.

The whole kit and caboodle basically. Check out the shortlist here. I like the look of mother/daughter saga River East, River West, by Aube Rey Lescure.

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DONALD, WHERE’S ME KIMCHI?

A house in Toji, South Korea.

This is so niche I had a good chuckle when I first read it but it’s too good not to share.

On the off-chance a writer with strong links to Edinburgh is reading this, and wants to spend eight weeks in South Korea, the Wonju Residency is for you.

As I said, niche. But it’s actually an amazing opportunity.

Some blurb: Wonju UNESCO City of Literature are offering an eight-week residency opportunity at the Toji Cultural Centre to writers connected to the cities that make up the Cities of Literature network. Applications will be accepted from writers who have a strong connection to Edinburgh, and that was illustrated by Martin MacInnes being selected in 2023.

If it ends up being you, please let me know because I will be extremely envious. The closing date for applications is May 31. Link here.

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PAOLA’S POST WAR MASTERPIECE

Paola Cortellesi, on the right, in a scene (one of my favourites actually), from There’s Still Tomorrow.

Anyone who read this week’s Monday mote knows that I waxed lyrical about the film, There’s Still Tomorrow.

Co-written, produced and directed by Paola Cortellesi, who also stars as abused wife Delia in post-war Italy, please run - don’t walk - to see it. It’s phenomenal.

I spent some time this week trying to find a decent profile piece so I could learn more about this wonderful woman.

If you have a subscription to Le Monde, this interview looks teasingly good. However, pretty much anyone can read this interview with AnOther Mag, and this one with SF Gate.

Eschew mainstream superheroes for five minutes for a marvel of another kind, and support independent film-making. *steps off soapbox*

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ACTING OUT

Speaking of good interviews, this recent Marc Maron WTF pod with actor Malcolm McDowell is well worth a listen.

I discovered Marc’s podcast round about episode six (he’s now on episode 1535) and he’s flourished. Actually, he’s probably now seen as the godfather of the medium. It’s been a journey. The early days of the show were literal therapy sessions as he came to terms with his relationship with his parents, his addictions, the fact that many of his comedy peers had gone on to great things and how much he loved his cats (Boomer, lives!).

Somehow, as he interviewed comedian after comedian after comedian in those early days, the show found a groove, a wider audience and he’s become a really great interviewer (President Obama was interviewed in his garage, in 2015, putting him squarely on the pod-map), as well as an ever more successful stand-up, actor, writer and producer.

But I digress. Malcolm, who became a huge star after starring in Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, has worked with all the greats including Sir Laurence Olivier, and is a now a bona fide great himself. I loved his performance in the splendid TV series, Our Friends in the North, as a ruthless Soho gangster Benny Barratt.

He covers a lot of ground in this chat and is incredibly honest about everyone and everything including Sir Larry - and why not, the man’s now 80 and has earned the right. He’s currently starring in Canadian comedy series, Son of a Critch, on the CW.

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IF YOU CANNES, YOU SHOULD

Diana Dors and Ginger Rogers arriving at Cannes, in 1956.

With the 77th Cannes Film Festival just around the corner, I rather enjoyed this fun look back at the some of the most iconic images from across the years, courtesy of Elle mag.

There are 48 photos that range from the one above, which is just glorious, to a baby-faced Ryan Gosling and Sandra Bullock, Madonna giving it her all, in 1991, a deeply tanned Elizabeth Taylor, in 1987, and Jane Birkin, with a bag that’s not a Birkin.

Wonderful stuff. I’ll dig up some more on Cannes for the next newsletter as it’s such fun. Never been sadly, so if you’ve got a spare ticket, give me a call!

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BIG MAGIC AND MORE WRITING TRICKS

Last week, I interviewed Eleni Kyriacou, about her second novel, The Unspeakable Acts of Zina Pavlou, which is now out in paperback.

She had some great recommendations and return reads which I simply must share with you now. I asked her what books have informed her life and she recommended three really useful books about the craft of writing.

“I like to keep learning, so as well as taking various courses, I’ve read several books about writing. A few of them stand out: The Emotional Craft of Fiction, by Donald Maas is particularly good on character, On Writing, by Stephen King is a classic (if a bit dated now), and my other go-to is the excellent Big Magic, by Elizabeth Gilbert, which is a bit ‘woo-woo’ but great on motivation and living a creative life.

“I always take notes when reading, and the ones from Big Magic are on my office wall for when the going gets tough. Two examples are: ‘calm down and get back to work’, and ‘the clock is ticking and the world is spinning and we do not have time to think small’. I know that sounds a bit cheesy but it works for me.”

Her return reads include Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier, “anything by Patricia Highsmith (especially the Ripley stories), and anything by David Sedaris”.

David Sedaris is turning out to be a TEN favourite. I think that’s his third vote from one of my interviewees. And why not, he’s an utter genius. The Donald Maas book is now on my to-read list too.

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AND FINALLY…

If I had to see this then so do you! My brain has just folded inwards.