Anniversaries, birthdays and other such occasions are usually seen as celebrations of milestones successfully reached. People are allowed to reminisce about the past year, smiling at the things that went well and feeling sad at the things that went badly, but always with an eye to the year ahead and how their life WILL improve.
I have reached such a milestone, although it isn’t a birthday – far too many of them have passed for me to feel nostalgia about birthdays any more! Click here to read more »
Hi all
First let me apologize for my absence recently: this has been simply due to the high work load. First, I was copyediting and drawing maps – after all, a man’s got to live! – and I have only recently begun work on ‘Patricians’. Sadly, this too has now been delayed, although this time there is a good reason for the said interruption: I am proofreading ‘Valentinian and Valens’. The book is advertised as appearing “in all good bookshops” from 30 August, so I suppose I must get on with the job … Click here to read more »
In an earlier entry I put down my thoughts on one of the major problems faced by historians: whether to use a chronological or thematic approach (http://www.ianhughesma.com/2011/12/08/chronologist-or-thematicist/).
There are others. For example, when at university we were taught that there was a division between historians based upon their political belief or, obviously, upon their personal interests. As a result, we have ‘Marxist’ history, ‘Psychohistory’, ‘Economic’ history, ‘Gender’ history, ‘Military’ history, and even attempts at ‘Postmodernism’.
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Firstly, let me apologise for the lack of posts recently. Far from being engrossed in the latest chapters for the new book I’ve been forced to take on more ‘paying’ work. Sadly, houses need constant care and attention, therefore so does my bank balance. Don’t worry, though: although work has temporarily halted I am still determined to hit the deadline for the new book. Anyway, …
I feel that my blog entries should be divided into three: Work, Guitars, and Gibbering On. In this context, the following entry should be in the ‘Gibbering On’ section!
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When I was teaching, my students assumed that because I was older than them I knew nothing about computers or technology. Being young they failed to realise that, born in the 60s, I have grown up watching the development of modern technology from the space race to the microchip. Click here to read more »
Many years ago when it came to deciding upon my university education I had a major dilemma. I have always been fascinated by two distinct historical periods. As some of you may have noticed, one was the ‘Decline and Fall of the Western Empire and the Rise of the Successor Kingdoms’.
The other was ‘Archaic Italy’.
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I don’t know whether this is true for other writers, but I go through ‘phases’ when writing a book.
When I first start researching/writing there is the elation and excitement of a new project. Click here to read more »
First, let me apologize for the long delay between this posting and my last entry. This has been due to a combination of poor health and attempts to finish the text of ‘Valentinian and Valens’. Click here to read more »
I assume that other writers have been asked the question: “What method do you use to write your books? Do you read through every single piece of information and then construct your own narrative, or do you research specific segments at a time before beginning writing, or what?”
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Just a quick note to let everyone know that ‘Aetius’ has finally been published – at least according to my editor! Hopefully, by the time you read this stocks will already be on the way to your local bookshop. Again, I can only apologise for the delay and hope that the wait is justified.
In the meantime, I am writing the closing chapters of ‘Valentinian and Valens’ and hope to hand the manuscript in sooner rather than later. With any luck, this will not face the same delays as ‘Aetius’!