Ali Mercer
@alimercerwriter.bsky.social
Here but not here. Often sleepy and mildly baffled. Late adopter. Jotter-downer. Onetime diary keeper. Writes stuff. Sometimes cannot then read it back, especially when have tried to keep secret by using rusty shorthand. Likes tea.
Reposted by Ali Mercer
I was taught to always avoid the Oxford comma by Mrs Nelson, my year 4 primary school teacher and a formidable dominatrix.
But seriously, I love the Oxford Comma. So I made a starter pack of other serial comma aficionados. And I'll keep adding to it as I find more members of Team Oxford Comma . . .
But seriously, I love the Oxford Comma. So I made a starter pack of other serial comma aficionados. And I'll keep adding to it as I find more members of Team Oxford Comma . . .
November 26, 2024 at 11:36 AM
I was taught to always avoid the Oxford comma by Mrs Nelson, my year 4 primary school teacher and a formidable dominatrix.
But seriously, I love the Oxford Comma. So I made a starter pack of other serial comma aficionados. And I'll keep adding to it as I find more members of Team Oxford Comma . . .
But seriously, I love the Oxford Comma. So I made a starter pack of other serial comma aficionados. And I'll keep adding to it as I find more members of Team Oxford Comma . . .
Reposted by Ali Mercer
Having filled one starter pack for book lovers with animals, I've started another of book publishers. If you are a publisher or have a favourite publisher that you think should be included, please let me know. Re posts would be awesome! 💙
go.bsky.app/HHdzkXR
go.bsky.app/HHdzkXR
November 22, 2024 at 6:34 PM
Having filled one starter pack for book lovers with animals, I've started another of book publishers. If you are a publisher or have a favourite publisher that you think should be included, please let me know. Re posts would be awesome! 💙
go.bsky.app/HHdzkXR
go.bsky.app/HHdzkXR
Reposted by Ali Mercer
Looking to connect with the bookish community? 📚 I’ve put together a starter pack of authors, bloggers, bookstores, librarians, reviewers, & all-around great people!
It’s not exhaustive—so many amazing folks on BlueSky. Drop your recs for who else should be included! #BookSky 💙📚
go.bsky.app/KQrxmsW
It’s not exhaustive—so many amazing folks on BlueSky. Drop your recs for who else should be included! #BookSky 💙📚
go.bsky.app/KQrxmsW
November 23, 2024 at 3:28 PM
Looking to connect with the bookish community? 📚 I’ve put together a starter pack of authors, bloggers, bookstores, librarians, reviewers, & all-around great people!
It’s not exhaustive—so many amazing folks on BlueSky. Drop your recs for who else should be included! #BookSky 💙📚
go.bsky.app/KQrxmsW
It’s not exhaustive—so many amazing folks on BlueSky. Drop your recs for who else should be included! #BookSky 💙📚
go.bsky.app/KQrxmsW
Reposted by Ali Mercer
*Useful Starter Pack Alert*
November 21, 2024 at 9:42 AM
*Useful Starter Pack Alert*
Reposted by Ali Mercer
got a Louis MacNeice situation out there I see, what have you got to lose by admitting that the last line of that poem underlies yr entire persistent episteme
November 19, 2024 at 10:10 AM
got a Louis MacNeice situation out there I see, what have you got to lose by admitting that the last line of that poem underlies yr entire persistent episteme
today I have been sitting next to a radiator and a window in the sun, which is going down now, and I am soaking in the very last of its lemon-yellow glow and it feels like such luxury.
January 9, 2024 at 4:14 PM
today I have been sitting next to a radiator and a window in the sun, which is going down now, and I am soaking in the very last of its lemon-yellow glow and it feels like such luxury.
ordering new slippers, I can't help but be faintly conscious of the probability that my children will tease me for them. Hum ho middle age
January 2, 2024 at 6:30 PM
ordering new slippers, I can't help but be faintly conscious of the probability that my children will tease me for them. Hum ho middle age
started reading Small Things Like These and oh boy, it's good (as good as everyone says)
January 2, 2024 at 6:29 PM
started reading Small Things Like These and oh boy, it's good (as good as everyone says)
a lull in the storm in #Oxford earlier today... in the morning, groups on walking tours huddled under the frontage of the Weston Library for shelter from the rain. Not that many takers out and about for the sequin jackets and shiny red ouchy-looking high heels left over from Christmas...
January 2, 2024 at 6:26 PM
a lull in the storm in #Oxford earlier today... in the morning, groups on walking tours huddled under the frontage of the Weston Library for shelter from the rain. Not that many takers out and about for the sequin jackets and shiny red ouchy-looking high heels left over from Christmas...
planning to make bubble and squeak for the first time ever. I think everybody else will probably refuse to eat it.
Vaguely reminded of Douglas Adams' 3 stages of civilisation... what shall we eat, how shall we eat, where should we have lunch. Now: what to do, or not do, with old brussels sprouts?
Vaguely reminded of Douglas Adams' 3 stages of civilisation... what shall we eat, how shall we eat, where should we have lunch. Now: what to do, or not do, with old brussels sprouts?
December 26, 2023 at 10:12 AM
planning to make bubble and squeak for the first time ever. I think everybody else will probably refuse to eat it.
Vaguely reminded of Douglas Adams' 3 stages of civilisation... what shall we eat, how shall we eat, where should we have lunch. Now: what to do, or not do, with old brussels sprouts?
Vaguely reminded of Douglas Adams' 3 stages of civilisation... what shall we eat, how shall we eat, where should we have lunch. Now: what to do, or not do, with old brussels sprouts?
4.19 start this am. 🥴 (my son is excited... he's not usually such an early riser...)
December 24, 2023 at 7:34 AM
4.19 start this am. 🥴 (my son is excited... he's not usually such an early riser...)
Muddy walk therapy! My son has been poorly but is better now, so off we went for a walk beside the swollen Thames. (Me looking slightly more knackered than usual.)
December 16, 2023 at 8:15 AM
Muddy walk therapy! My son has been poorly but is better now, so off we went for a walk beside the swollen Thames. (Me looking slightly more knackered than usual.)
‘the lapsing, unsoilable, whispering sea’… which is the last line of an Oliver St John Gogarty poem in The Oxford Book of Twentieth Century Verse, an anthology that my aunt gave me for my 16th birthday (cover tattered now.) Anyway, it came back to me on the beach in Kent with my son at the weekend.
December 11, 2023 at 11:48 AM
‘the lapsing, unsoilable, whispering sea’… which is the last line of an Oliver St John Gogarty poem in The Oxford Book of Twentieth Century Verse, an anthology that my aunt gave me for my 16th birthday (cover tattered now.) Anyway, it came back to me on the beach in Kent with my son at the weekend.
Reposted by Ali Mercer
We are so close to 1000 followers on here, please repost to help us get over the line by nightfall.
'Literary podcast that gives old life to new books WLTM anyone who hangs around in secondhand bookshops hoping to score.'
'Literary podcast that gives old life to new books WLTM anyone who hangs around in secondhand bookshops hoping to score.'
November 29, 2023 at 4:20 PM
We are so close to 1000 followers on here, please repost to help us get over the line by nightfall.
'Literary podcast that gives old life to new books WLTM anyone who hangs around in secondhand bookshops hoping to score.'
'Literary podcast that gives old life to new books WLTM anyone who hangs around in secondhand bookshops hoping to score.'
have sampled many and various mince pies, and now it's time to celebrate the small manky citrus fruits of Yuletide
November 24, 2023 at 8:39 AM
have sampled many and various mince pies, and now it's time to celebrate the small manky citrus fruits of Yuletide
thanks to the magic of digital publishing and algorithms and readers and reviewers, A Child's Goodbye is on a bit of a roll and back in the top 100 in Amazon UK's Kindle mystery, thriller and suspense literary fiction chart geni.us/B0BQ7P48B1so... thank you to everyone who's supported it :-)
November 24, 2023 at 8:29 AM
thanks to the magic of digital publishing and algorithms and readers and reviewers, A Child's Goodbye is on a bit of a roll and back in the top 100 in Amazon UK's Kindle mystery, thriller and suspense literary fiction chart geni.us/B0BQ7P48B1so... thank you to everyone who's supported it :-)
The Children in Read @childreninread.bsky.social signed book auction in aid of BBC Children in Need is now open!
My latest, A Child's Goodbye, is lot 62: www.jumblebee.co.uk/auction/deta... (UK only)
My latest, A Child's Goodbye, is lot 62: www.jumblebee.co.uk/auction/deta... (UK only)
November 6, 2023 at 9:20 AM
The Children in Read @childreninread.bsky.social signed book auction in aid of BBC Children in Need is now open!
My latest, A Child's Goodbye, is lot 62: www.jumblebee.co.uk/auction/deta... (UK only)
My latest, A Child's Goodbye, is lot 62: www.jumblebee.co.uk/auction/deta... (UK only)
just to show I'm not a total Scrooge, here's my son enjoying the lights on the Christmas tree back in the day.
November 4, 2023 at 8:26 AM
just to show I'm not a total Scrooge, here's my son enjoying the lights on the Christmas tree back in the day.
totally down with the spirit of the new M&S Christmas ad. Christmas is about having the nicest time possible consistent with cutting as many corners as possible. (Also, as I discovered last year, about Die Hard.) And is best approached with low expectations.
November 4, 2023 at 8:16 AM
totally down with the spirit of the new M&S Christmas ad. Christmas is about having the nicest time possible consistent with cutting as many corners as possible. (Also, as I discovered last year, about Die Hard.) And is best approached with low expectations.
Very happy about this wonderful news - #Oxford-based inclusive charity the Parasol Project, which runs a holiday club for disabled and disadvantaged young people that my teenage son goes to, has been awarded £215k Lottery funding over next three years. Here's their website www.parasolproject.org
October 31, 2023 at 9:05 AM
Very happy about this wonderful news - #Oxford-based inclusive charity the Parasol Project, which runs a holiday club for disabled and disadvantaged young people that my teenage son goes to, has been awarded £215k Lottery funding over next three years. Here's their website www.parasolproject.org
was just remembering how when Mary Wesley published her run of bestsellers later in life (after years of financial ups and downs) she decided to indulge her fondness for cashmere jumpers. Have a feeling Jean Rhys might have done the same thing after Wide Sargasso Sea came out...
October 31, 2023 at 8:52 AM
was just remembering how when Mary Wesley published her run of bestsellers later in life (after years of financial ups and downs) she decided to indulge her fondness for cashmere jumpers. Have a feeling Jean Rhys might have done the same thing after Wide Sargasso Sea came out...
Reposted by Ali Mercer
I have news. I’ve now a member of the Society of Authors management committee. Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete their ballot forms and voted for me and extra thanks to Dorothy Koomson & Patricia Marques for nominating me and congratulations to my fellow successful candidates 🎉
October 30, 2023 at 9:58 AM
I have news. I’ve now a member of the Society of Authors management committee. Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete their ballot forms and voted for me and extra thanks to Dorothy Koomson & Patricia Marques for nominating me and congratulations to my fellow successful candidates 🎉
I was just really late to pick up T (my son), which is so much one of my nightmares that I wrote a book about it (except in A Child's Goodbye the late mum runs straight into an accident and doesn't get to go home for tea. Anyway, here's me on pub day vaguely matching my cardi to my cover.) #writing
October 26, 2023 at 4:56 PM
I was just really late to pick up T (my son), which is so much one of my nightmares that I wrote a book about it (except in A Child's Goodbye the late mum runs straight into an accident and doesn't get to go home for tea. Anyway, here's me on pub day vaguely matching my cardi to my cover.) #writing
Reposted by Ali Mercer
Just published on our blog: Bluesky for Journalists FAQ
This page also includes a link to a waitlist form for journalists, so members of the press no longer have to email our press inbox for a code.
We appreciate everyone's help sharing this information!
This page also includes a link to a waitlist form for journalists, so members of the press no longer have to email our press inbox for a code.
We appreciate everyone's help sharing this information!
Bluesky for Journalists
blueskyweb.xyz
October 13, 2023 at 10:57 PM
Just published on our blog: Bluesky for Journalists FAQ
This page also includes a link to a waitlist form for journalists, so members of the press no longer have to email our press inbox for a code.
We appreciate everyone's help sharing this information!
This page also includes a link to a waitlist form for journalists, so members of the press no longer have to email our press inbox for a code.
We appreciate everyone's help sharing this information!