Hello and welcome to the very first edition of the Scriptorium Newsletter. As the scribes have absolutely no idea how many people will be reading this (estimates vary from none to half a dozen, with the firm favourite being none) they are running a sweepstake. The winner will be announced next month.
You might be wondering what this newsletter is all about and if it was a mistake to subscribe. Well, the idea is to keep readers updated with what’s going on in the Scriptorium. It’s that simple. Oh, and if the scribes have got it to work there should be an unsubscribe link at the bottom of this email.
Of course, the scribes being the scribes, they reserve the right to add whatever they feel like to the newsletter. To be honest, this could be almost anything, although it will have to go past the editorial team and the prior will have final approval on whatever goes out so there shouldn’t be anything too shocking. Quite likely there will be a recipe from Mrs Pritchett the cook, and Alexa the scullery maid has said that she wants to do an advice column.
Social Media Update
If you have been following the adventures of the scribes on the social media site TwitFace (formerly Ex), you may have noticed that they have gone awfully quiet of late. That is because they have upped sticks and headed over to Bluesky, where they seem to be having a fine old time. They can be found by looking for the instigator-in-chief’s account @markweaver.bsky.social
Literary Competition News
The scribes have entered two of their forthcoming novels in a prestigious competition, but are not at liberty to say which one due to the competition rules. They can’t even say which novels they have entered. They can’t say how they are getting on until after the long list is made public, and even then, they can’t say anything about the titles. What they can say is that they have a lot of work to do on one of the entries as it only just made it within the submission deadline and if it makes it to the next stage they won’t have much time to finish the final edits to the next [redacted] thousand words that will be needed. The other one is ready to go so doesn’t need anything doing to it other than sending off, should it be chosen.
While the scribes have their hands tied due to the competition rules, they can say that they are happy with what they have submitted and are quietly hopeful that at least one of their entries will make it to the next round, which they can’t say when it will be because otherwise it will be a dead giveaway which competition it is that they are talking about. For those that may be wondering, no, it isn’t The Scriptorium Chronicle as that doesn’t have a long enough word count to qualify and it isn’t The Scriptorium Cookbook either as they haven’t finished writing that (and it isn’t a novel anyway). Astute readers could always check out the website to see what that leaves.
Works In Progress
What began life as “the scriptorium thing” and is now known as The Scriptorium Chronicle is in its fifth draft. After going out to a bunch of readers organised by Jimmy Hollis i Dickson of La Gr@not@ publishing hut (who gave really great feedback anonymously)(the readers that is), there have been major revisions done to get the structure right, do an introduction, make it read more like a chronicle, make January funnier, do some gorgeous endpapers and add a load more graphics to balance the look and feel of the pages. It has been a lot of work but it needed to be done. In short, it is looking more like what it is intended to be. It is currently sitting to one side to get some distance from it before the sixth and hopefully final edit is done, which should be after the round of edits taking place on All Steamed Up are completed.
The other work in progress is a side project which started out as an idea to gather together favourite recipes scattered across various books, printouts and handwritten pieces of paper. This then became influenced by The Scriptorium Chronicle with the addition of recipes for ginger nut biscuits, lemon drizzle cake and others, before somehow morphing into The Scriptorium Cookbook. All of the recipes are being tested and tweaked as necessary, weights and measures standardised, techniques refined and scribes’ notes added. It is also taking quite a bit of research into things such as the origin of shepherd’s pie and the history of tomato ketchup.
Dear Alexa,
I recently discovered that my work colleagues have secretly been sewing raw prawns into the seams of my robes. After days of wondering what the dreadful smell was and attracting the unwanted attention of the neighbourhood cats, I finally realised it was me. What should I do?
Stinky of the Scriptorium
Dear Stinky,
Before you consider taking your revenge, you should borrow the stitch ripper from the sewing box and remove the prawns as we can all smell them. There is a needle and thread to sew the seams back up when you’re done. For revenge, remember that it is a dish best served cold but if you make a mess then you’ll be the one cleaning it up, not me.
Alexa
Mrs Pritchett was going to write down the recipe for her famous Lemon Drizzle Cake but didn’t have time to get round to it, what with one thing and another, but has promised to let the scribes have it for the next newsletter.
Mark Weaver 