I wish you all a happy holiday season. May 2025 be synonymous with health, success and precious moments shared.
See you soon 🙂
First aid
Although this is not within the remit of writers, on October 4 I took first aid training and obtained a PSC 1 certificate. A big thank you to the trainer (federation of firefighters). I acquired notions that interested me a lot. Beyond the fact that it can be useful in everyday life, it is a very rewarding personal experience that I recommend to everyone.
Towards more tolerance
I signed the call for mobilization of actresses and actors in the world of books. The link to the petition is here.
Cultural openness
On June 10, the opening ceremony of the third edition of the Nostre Mar festival took place. A festival wishing to bring people together so as not to spread anti-LGBT hatred, racism and anti-semitism.
I listened to the first part devoted to a conference by the historian Marie-Anne Matard-Bonucci on the theme “fascism and anti-semitism” as well as the second part which was called “entre-là” and which was devoted to music.
It was an intense moment of reflection and exchange.
The memorial also has very interesting books.
Here are some photos from the evening:
Link to the memorial to inform you.
E-reader and accessibility
As part of the accessibility of digital books, the reading tool is very important. It must be adapted. Currently, very few e-reader models can both read text in audio and allow correct navigation. When I talk about navigation, I mean keys allowing you to move through the text and select actions indicated in the menu.
For my part, I tried a first model that was lent to me some time ago. He read the text of my book, which is quite astonishing and which, for people whose need arises, proves very useful function text to speech. Enlarging sans serif fonts is also an essential feature for reading digital books.
Music and inspirations
I really like Music, it accompanies me in professional life as well as in private life.
If I publish this post today it is also to talk about the importance I attach to listening to all styles of music, multicultural enrichment and meetings during festivals and concerts whatever they may be large or small sizes.
This weekend, I listened to the group Cuerteto Tafi as part of the Aspres spring festival. An event that I particularly like and for which I would like to post a link today so that you can discover a list of artists with open sounds and horizons.
“They can cut off all the flowers, they won’t stop spring.” an inspired quote from Pablo Neruda pronounced by the band during the concert
List of links to find out more:
Through History and Literature
From March 8 to 22, 2024, events around women’s rights week took place in libraries and other cultural places in my area.
At the start of the week, I listened to extracts from several books by women authors during an evening hosted by a feminist reading club. During these discussions, several specific points were shed light on. After the club’s intervention, I added a comment on the vision of witches through History and Literature.
Later in the week, I attended a conference on the role of women during antiquity and in particular as philosopher.
Among the books proposed, I opted to read the novel the daughters of Egalie written by Gerd Branterberg.
In another setting, I read also rock’n roll witch from Pleasant Gehman who I worked on documentation about Fantastic L.A.
Currently, I am devoting myself to several artistic projects, however taking the time to discover and discuss current themes enriches my thoughts.
Thought 0518
What is the difference between science fiction and fantasy? the most widespread idea is that science fiction would not contain magic elements and would be oriented more towards stories more rooted in reality with many references to new technologies. This is not always accurate, there are special cases in the literature. As an author I think that the barrier between fantasy and science fiction must be crossed without any qualms. And the same goes for fantasy, crime fiction and historical fiction. It does not matter the classification given by a publishing house and the radius that my book will integrate in a bookstore, a public library and on a website. There is certainly a logic. ,However in terms of writing, I don’t currently want to lock myself into a genre or a style with predefined codes.
Thought 0421
As an artist, I am crossed by all kinds of emotions which interact on my job. This is not just about looking for inspiration and writing hundreds of books without interruption.
The world around me is important.
Today, I heard a program on the radio on France culture and which quoted a group of several authors in the United Kingdom. Its objective was to question the various publishing companies on their ability to control printing in order to move towards a more responsible use of paper.
This environmental issue had already worried me during the first COVID epidemic when I started my professional activity. And, I was indeed not the only one. Conferences on the malaise of authors facing their profession and the possible impacts on the planet had taken place at the BnF.
My comments are not those of all the authors, they engage only myself.
In a previous article, I proposed some lines of thought on a changing profession and they were as follows:
- promote on-demand printing
- the end of the D.R.M
accelerate digital accessibility (for all types of audiences) - remunerate the authors for their creation (for example: the systematic payment of an advance at the signing of a publishing contract rather than a payment at the end sales when not self-publishing)
Currently, there is a disparity between accessing and purchasing a physical book and a digital book. In the majority of cases, for digital it is access to online content under conditions clearly defined by the broadcaster. Which wouldn’t be a problem if we were talking about a reading subscription rather than a book purchase. In the case of a file purchase for the digital version of the book, if it is done without D.R.M, the author may be exposed to a sharing of the book without receiving the benefits, but this is not certain. In order not to hamper individual freedom, having a digital file in an open format is fairer. It is up to us to make the public aware of our working conditions as artists and our method of remuneration.
In the context of printing on demand, if the choice of the type of paper is recycled, certain labels should make it possible to ensure that it has not been treated beforehand and that the forest has not been over exploited. . As for the use of vegetable inks, they can prove to be an alternative to think about.
It has always seemed obvious to me that it is better to favor quality over quantity and that in any activity.
As an author, I try to act at my level by having a human and logical rhythm of artistic creativity, by talking about these ideas around me, thus proposing the result of my reflections. Everyone is free to use them.