Stuart Aken's Blog
August 8, 2025
How Goes the WIP?
This is my seventh post on the progress of my WIP. I suspect it won’t be the last. But I feel I’ve made real progress. The last post was on 19th July, when I was about to start work on Chapter 24 of 40, and the MS stood at 121,716 words over 280 pages. Today, …
July 28, 2025
Sharing the Love
Reviews for books are often overlooked by readers searching for something to read. So, I thought I’d share some short quotes from reviews of my books over the years. This one is a short book, available in digital form only. It’ll appeal to those readers who enjoy some spine-tingling, a bite of horror, a delve …
July 19, 2025
More Progress on the #WIP.
So, how’s the WIP progressing? I think the best description is ‘not as quickly as I would wish’. But I do have an excuse. A few weeks ago, I was diagnosed with a small hernia. Having been advised the waiting list for the necessary op was currently at around 21 months, I put it to …
July 12, 2025
A Wonderful Post From Another Writer
My books feature on another author’s website that examines the emotional aspect of writing fiction. You’ll find this very interesting post here.
June 25, 2025
What Great Paintings Say, by Rose-Marie & Rainer Hagen: #BookReview.
This 500-page encyclopaedic tome is one of a set of art books I was given by a kind and generous stranger, a woman neighbour from a nearby village. I’m conducting research for a novel, and the visual arts feature significantly in the story. Whilst I have some knowledge of the art world, working as a …
Continue reading What Great Paintings Say, by Rose-Marie & Rainer Hagen: #BookReview.
June 22, 2025
Further Progress on the #WIP.
22nd June 2025 When I last reported on progress, in May, the book in its developing form, stood as follows: 270 pages, a word count of 116,291, and 40 chapters. As I pen this update after my writing has been much interrupted by various issues, personal or imposed, I’ve finally begun the selection and insertion …
May 28, 2025
Further Progress on the #WIP
Writing is an odd business. In fact, for me, ‘business’ is a misnomer, since I’m told I do far too little to promote my work. I much prefer to spend my time and energy creating stories for others to enjoy. The current work in progress (WIP) has just had its second complete edit. That was …
May 18, 2025
The History of Art, by Blitz Editions: #BookReview.
Subtitled Pre-history to Avante-garde. The 28 contributors to this encyclopaedic tome are listed inside the book. All specialists in their fields. As the subtitle notes, it deals with art from pre-history through to the avante-garde, with the final dated entry from 1986. At the end of the beautifully illustrated set of sections, is a collection …
Continue reading The History of Art, by Blitz Editions: #BookReview.
April 29, 2025
The Secret Scripture, by Sebastian Barry: #BookReview.
Sebastian Barry has written one of those rare books that portray emotion without sentiment, diametrically opposed views with neutrality, and complex events in a manner easy to follow. Nevertheless, I was moved to tears on more than one occasion, and therefore rather pleased I was reading in private. The hypocrisy of religion is described without …
Continue reading The Secret Scripture, by Sebastian Barry: #BookReview.
April 28, 2025
A Spot of Serendipity
Writers Need Good Luck Sometimes. There you are, busily editing the first draft of your amazing, soon-to-be best seller WIP, hoping to move on toward that goal of publication when, from some inexplicable, unrecognised source, two new and unrelated ideas pop into your head. The question then is whether to give these intruders room to …
