I'm not a natural blogger. I can't think of something witty to say every day and tend to write at length about whatever subject is occupying my mind at the time. So I’ve decided to take a different approach. I will be setting up several blog/archives of articles on particular subjects which will basically be offshoots of my home page. Every few days I’ll be posting to my home page a short introduction to one or other of these, inviting my visitors to read the article in full.
Ms Montagna’s Miscellany is an archive of a variety of articles and essays I have written over the last few years. Some of these articles began life as assignments for my Professional Writing and Editing course. Some first appeared in an online magazine I ran for a couple of years called The Romance of History. Some are the result of momentary obsessions which I could only rid my self of by writing them out of my system! I still have a few of these in me, so from time to time I might add a new article or revise an old one.
Basically the contents of my Miscellany fall into four main categories.
Books and Writing – book reviews and reflections on writing. As
I have been concentrating on historical fiction, most of these are about that
genre. However, I had better warn you, my book reviews are more like in depth
analyses than teasers, so they might give away more of the plot than you want
to know before reading the book. If you have read the book I would welcome your
comments and responses.
History – my main genre is historical fiction for a reason. I
love history. Some of these essays come out of book reviews and will overlap
with the Books and Writing category.
I am mostly interested in European history, but you will find a few articles on
Australian history. These began as chapters of a non-fiction book on
sensational incidents in Australian history I might yet write to be called Scandals and Sensations.
Film and TV – as a single lady of a certain age, I tend to
watch lots of film and television. Sometimes what I am watching will pique my
curiosity, intrigue me or just make me angry. The shows that are most likely to
get me writing are those that have a great deal of potential, but are basically
flawed. I also have a tendency to get obsessed with particular programs,
especially if the leading man is exceptionally attractive.
The Beard of Avon – my Shakespeare project, The Stuff of Dreams, was instigated by my interest in the Great Authorship Debate. The image this gives you of Shakespeare is of a money-grubbing frontman for the true author/s, or in American parlance, a Beard. Thus my working title for the project and the accompanying blog. (It’s a joke, Joyce!) I have since created a new blog and transported across most of the material. However, there were a couple of posts which are a little ahead of their time, so to speak. I thought I might stash them here until The Stuff of Dreams needs them.
Each category will have a page of its own listing its
contents. You can also use the tags and the search box to navigate the archive.
Happy reading and I look forward to your comments.
