Rod Duncan
@rodduncan.bsky.social
Writer. Writing mentor. Printmaker. Photographer. Lecturer. Dyslexia. Aphantasia. ADHD. PhD. Shortlisted for the Philip K Dick Award & the John Creasey Dagger. He/him.
Today's editing-related Web searches include: 'When are artichokes in season', 'Sufficient unto the day', and 'Canticle'.
November 27, 2025 at 11:49 AM
Today's editing-related Web searches include: 'When are artichokes in season', 'Sufficient unto the day', and 'Canticle'.
Had my first chance to view the Open Exhibition at New Walk Museum. My print has a better position than I managed last year. My ambition is to get something displayed at eye level.
November 26, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Had my first chance to view the Open Exhibition at New Walk Museum. My print has a better position than I managed last year. My ambition is to get something displayed at eye level.
And here's the Three Swans pub signboard again. This time against the evening sky. I had a lovely time at the Harborough creative writing competition prize giving. Some talented writers. It was a pleasant challenge to judge the short story competition.
November 23, 2025 at 5:38 PM
And here's the Three Swans pub signboard again. This time against the evening sky. I had a lovely time at the Harborough creative writing competition prize giving. Some talented writers. It was a pleasant challenge to judge the short story competition.
Three Swans. Market Harborough.
November 23, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Three Swans. Market Harborough.
Reposted by Rod Duncan
In Tesco’s this afternoon: an elderly Polish man at the self-checkout, trying to buy a pint of milk and a white radish. There is no picture for the radish on the machine. The assistant doesn’t know what it is. She asks a colleague: “It’s a white radish.” There is no entry for it on the machine.
November 22, 2025 at 1:28 PM
In Tesco’s this afternoon: an elderly Polish man at the self-checkout, trying to buy a pint of milk and a white radish. There is no picture for the radish on the machine. The assistant doesn’t know what it is. She asks a colleague: “It’s a white radish.” There is no entry for it on the machine.
This is so true.
Unsolicited writing advice, no. 13:
Publishing is too often risk-averse and anxious. But the very best writing takes *all* the risks, and carries the readers along with it...
Publishing is too often risk-averse and anxious. But the very best writing takes *all* the risks, and carries the readers along with it...
November 22, 2025 at 2:13 PM
This is so true.
As soon as one's language goes a few yards off piste Autocorrect bounds in to help like an over-enthusiastic St Bernard with a little barrel of distilled clichés.
On the other hand, my spelling is so bad that I do kinda need help.
#dyslexia #autocorrect
On the other hand, my spelling is so bad that I do kinda need help.
#dyslexia #autocorrect
November 22, 2025 at 11:09 AM
As soon as one's language goes a few yards off piste Autocorrect bounds in to help like an over-enthusiastic St Bernard with a little barrel of distilled clichés.
On the other hand, my spelling is so bad that I do kinda need help.
#dyslexia #autocorrect
On the other hand, my spelling is so bad that I do kinda need help.
#dyslexia #autocorrect
What? We the government was chaotic, acted "too little late" on Covid and thousands died as a result? Possibly the least surprising result to come out of an independent inquiry. But good to have confirmed. Lest we forget. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Covid inquiry: Lockdown could have been avoided and other key findings
The long-awaited report is published into how well or badly the government handled the Covid pandemic.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 21, 2025 at 8:46 AM
What? We the government was chaotic, acted "too little late" on Covid and thousands died as a result? Possibly the least surprising result to come out of an independent inquiry. But good to have confirmed. Lest we forget. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Once I've finished this pass through the novel, I'm going to allow myself with a few days of sketching and printmaking. Partly as incentive/reward - to get me to the end. But also to break myself out of the intense critical mode of thought that goes with late stage editing.
November 20, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Once I've finished this pass through the novel, I'm going to allow myself with a few days of sketching and printmaking. Partly as incentive/reward - to get me to the end. But also to break myself out of the intense critical mode of thought that goes with late stage editing.
I took this seven years ago. Since then, I've returned to that spot every autumn (except for the long covid years) but I'm yet to see a repeat of theses colours.
November 19, 2025 at 9:40 AM
I took this seven years ago. Since then, I've returned to that spot every autumn (except for the long covid years) but I'm yet to see a repeat of theses colours.
Want to reduce immigration? Easy. Go back in time. Stop Britain colonising/asset-stripping half the world. As a result, English is spoken only in England. Prosperity is more evenly distributed, reducing warfare and instability. Fewer people are driven to seek refuge here. QED
November 18, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Want to reduce immigration? Easy. Go back in time. Stop Britain colonising/asset-stripping half the world. As a result, English is spoken only in England. Prosperity is more evenly distributed, reducing warfare and instability. Fewer people are driven to seek refuge here. QED
Contemplating the possibility of adapting a salad spinner to extract the last of the mayonnaise. Working out the wording for my gravestone. (Creator of the Mayonnaise Spinner TM). Everything computes. However I don't have a salad spinner. I attack the container with kitchen scissors.
November 18, 2025 at 9:33 AM
Contemplating the possibility of adapting a salad spinner to extract the last of the mayonnaise. Working out the wording for my gravestone. (Creator of the Mayonnaise Spinner TM). Everything computes. However I don't have a salad spinner. I attack the container with kitchen scissors.
You know those nature documentaries where small woodland creatures are seen carrying dead leaves in their teeth, with which to line hibernation burrows? Well, perhaps from some deep-time species memory, I find the temptation of a good leaf impossible to resist. And I have pockets.
November 16, 2025 at 12:19 PM
You know those nature documentaries where small woodland creatures are seen carrying dead leaves in their teeth, with which to line hibernation burrows? Well, perhaps from some deep-time species memory, I find the temptation of a good leaf impossible to resist. And I have pockets.
Handed in my print at the Museum for the Open Exhibition. While I was there, I browsed the Egyptian section. Here is actual footage of thr Great Lighthouse.
November 15, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Handed in my print at the Museum for the Open Exhibition. While I was there, I browsed the Egyptian section. Here is actual footage of thr Great Lighthouse.
Yesterday in Morrisons car park, Glenfield.
November 15, 2025 at 8:32 AM
Yesterday in Morrisons car park, Glenfield.
This caught my eye on my walk to the Writers' Club this evening.
November 13, 2025 at 9:27 PM
This caught my eye on my walk to the Writers' Club this evening.
I tend to make the mistake of not considering the frame until I've finished the print. Happily, I found a frame to fit this one. Getting ready to take it in for the Leicester Open exhibition at New Walk Museum.
November 13, 2025 at 3:04 PM
I tend to make the mistake of not considering the frame until I've finished the print. Happily, I found a frame to fit this one. Getting ready to take it in for the Leicester Open exhibition at New Walk Museum.
I'm sure there was something I should have remembered today.
November 5, 2025 at 12:47 PM
I'm sure there was something I should have remembered today.
Instagram congratulates me if my posts one week reach a larger audience than my posts the week before. As if that was my goal. As if one genuine interaction with an individual was somehow less important than an uptick on a graph.
November 4, 2025 at 9:04 AM
Instagram congratulates me if my posts one week reach a larger audience than my posts the week before. As if that was my goal. As if one genuine interaction with an individual was somehow less important than an uptick on a graph.
Being no longer employed by a university, I'm now free to talk about the bad management, money wasted on vanity projects, cruel treatment of lecturers, unsustainable workloads, widespread burnout and mental health crises - all of which seem common in the HE sector.
November 3, 2025 at 10:31 AM
Being no longer employed by a university, I'm now free to talk about the bad management, money wasted on vanity projects, cruel treatment of lecturers, unsustainable workloads, widespread burnout and mental health crises - all of which seem common in the HE sector.
And they hadn't yet invented the National Student Survey or staff appraisal software...
Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching
November 3, 2025 at 10:23 AM
And they hadn't yet invented the National Student Survey or staff appraisal software...
Spotted on my walk this morning. Only had my camera phone to hand.
November 2, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Spotted on my walk this morning. Only had my camera phone to hand.
I'm delighted to have had this relief print, 'Distraction', accepted for Leicester's Open Exhibition. The exhibition will be at New Walk Museum. It runs from the 14th December untill the end of January.
October 31, 2025 at 3:14 PM
I'm delighted to have had this relief print, 'Distraction', accepted for Leicester's Open Exhibition. The exhibition will be at New Walk Museum. It runs from the 14th December untill the end of January.
October 29, 2025 at 11:34 AM
When I started my writing journey, I didn't know how many of those miles would be filled with editing.
#WritersLife
#WritersLife
October 27, 2025 at 11:25 AM
When I started my writing journey, I didn't know how many of those miles would be filled with editing.
#WritersLife
#WritersLife