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.
Question - hypothetically, if someone came up with a means of using this packaging for colograph printing, would the chocolate become tax deductible against earnings on their wider creative endeavours?
#askingforafriend
#askingforafriend
December 5, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Question - hypothetically, if someone came up with a means of using this packaging for colograph printing, would the chocolate become tax deductible against earnings on their wider creative endeavours?
#askingforafriend
#askingforafriend
Kitchen table snapshot.
December 5, 2025 at 10:36 AM
Kitchen table snapshot.
Mark making. Loosening up. Process not product.
December 5, 2025 at 8:59 AM
Mark making. Loosening up. Process not product.
Tomorrow I get my reward for all that editing... a bit of time on visual art. I have no idea what I'm going to do. Take my camera into the city perhaps? Get out the charcoal and make some marks? Acrylic paint and gelplate? Inks and paper? Any other suggestions?
December 4, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Tomorrow I get my reward for all that editing... a bit of time on visual art. I have no idea what I'm going to do. Take my camera into the city perhaps? Get out the charcoal and make some marks? Acrylic paint and gelplate? Inks and paper? Any other suggestions?
I'm calling an end to this edit. There's more to be done, of course. But there always will be. The only limit on editing is a deadline. I actually gave myself till tomorrow to finish it. But it's become too stressful and I need a better sleep tonight. Now it goes to 'S' for proofreading.
December 4, 2025 at 12:01 PM
I'm calling an end to this edit. There's more to be done, of course. But there always will be. The only limit on editing is a deadline. I actually gave myself till tomorrow to finish it. But it's become too stressful and I need a better sleep tonight. Now it goes to 'S' for proofreading.
Having listened to a number of people online who are generously trying to help me 'make it' as an artist, I've concluded that IT is money and that I would have done better stacking supermarket shelves than I did messing around with words and ink.
December 3, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Having listened to a number of people online who are generously trying to help me 'make it' as an artist, I've concluded that IT is money and that I would have done better stacking supermarket shelves than I did messing around with words and ink.
Walking in order to do more editing without turning into a couch potato.
December 3, 2025 at 11:37 AM
Walking in order to do more editing without turning into a couch potato.
The Christmas cactus getting ready for its big day.
December 2, 2025 at 10:55 AM
The Christmas cactus getting ready for its big day.
I am an editing machine at present. All I do is edit and perform such self-care as will help me continue to edit.
Normal service will be resumed in a few days, when the edit will be over.
Normal service will be resumed in a few days, when the edit will be over.
December 1, 2025 at 9:58 AM
I am an editing machine at present. All I do is edit and perform such self-care as will help me continue to edit.
Normal service will be resumed in a few days, when the edit will be over.
Normal service will be resumed in a few days, when the edit will be over.
On this rainy day, here is something golden. Shadows and light cast on and through a sheet of perspex that has been frosted by dirt and neglect.
December 1, 2025 at 9:54 AM
On this rainy day, here is something golden. Shadows and light cast on and through a sheet of perspex that has been frosted by dirt and neglect.
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.