Amanda McVitty

Another productive session. I love digging around in the archives so it was easy to get into 'flow' reading sources and taking notes / writing questions to myself. I now have a skeleton for the next chapter ready for my next writing session. #amwriting #writingcommunity #Ghostbook #history

Day 5 (the final day) of my virtual #writingretreat and I'm feeling positive about my week. I hit my goal of a full draft of Ch 3 yesterday, so today will be research / ideas for the next chapter. Goal is 6-8 🍅 Join me if you need a writing buddy! ✒️😀 #amwriting #writingcommunity #Ghostbook #history

😮 Warm here in Pōneke, too - currently 18C at my place (although we're making up for that with biblical rain).

Fortune cookie fortune reads “You will gain admiration from your pears.”🍐

but the nectarines think you’re kind of an asshole

Commiserations! Do you have some good strategies for shifting the block? I always find going back to my sources helps, or else doing something creative that isn't writing.

2 hours in and things went better than expected. I finished the first draft of Ch 3! 🎉 Now, tea break and some journaling 🫖✒️, then I'll do some research for Ch 4. Digging into the sources is my fav part, so it will be a treat. #amwriting #writingcommunity #writingretreat #Ghostbook #history

Good tip! I'm definitely going to organise a hiking trip up there for spring.

Sitting down for Day 4 of my virtual #writingretreat. Today's goal is 4-6 pomodoros editing Ch 3. It's close to done but needs a better balance of narrative and historical analysis in a few places. Feel free to join me if you need a writing buddy! ✒️😅 #amwriting #writingcommunity #Ghostbook #history

I was asked not to write anything like an op-ed for sensible reasons, so I can potentially editorialize here instead.

Firstly, what Seymour is doing is a practiced playbook of an online harassment campaign: that's not accidental. The 'just a joke' defence is also textbook. 1/ #nzpol #kikorangi

a mossy forest with footbridge

I have a (very) long list of places I want to visit in Aotearoa, and the goblin forest has now been added.

*Photo is from Stuff.

The tit for tat row between the deputy PM and an academic It’s a standoff with no signs of retreat - one championing academic freedom, the other pressing for what he views as long-overdue regulatory reform.

For crying out loud Stuff, this is NOT "tit for tat" ... this is one person (the deputy PM no less) using his platform & power to target academics & others who speak up from evidence against his proposals, and another speaking up to defend folks & ask him to stop.
www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360...

Did you know part of the forest on the eastern side of Taranaki Maunga is called a goblin forest? I did not and was delighted to discover this today.

This is a very cool idea. Niche, but cool!

a man with glasses is sitting on a couch and saying pretty pretty pretty good . Alt: Larry David sitting on a couch and saying pretty pretty pretty good .

Day 3 is done! I achieved all my writing goals for today and in fact, I'm a bit ahead of where I expected to be on this chapter. It's such a buzz when I read my own writing and think 'hey, this is actually pretty good!' #amwriting #writingcommunity #writingretreat #Ghostbook

Oops, took a short break that turned into 2 hours but getting back to it now for at least another hour... Posting here is keeping me honest!

Day 3 of my virtual #writingretreat today. My goal is 4-6 pomodoros editing Ch 3. and incorporating some secondary lit. on ghosts and the undead in medieval Britain (thank you Nancy Caciola). Join me if you need an accountability buddy! 😀✒️ #amwriting #WritingCommunity #Ghostbook

View across a high country farm field glowing with a grain silo & shearing shed in the background, willow trees line the Kye Burn river with clay cliffs in the background & a dark snowy sky in the background

That moment when you're racing all over the Māniatoto looking for compositions & subjects & the late afternoon sun breaks through the cloud & everything starts glowing.

Kyeburn, Central Otago, NZ

#Nikon #Photography

😩 I'm surprised there are any empty bins left after they sent them around New Zealand.

Has anyone written on the auctioning of goods (especially of the dead) in London in the first half of the seventeenth century? Interested in the work of criers, how estates are sold off etc.

I'll be here all week if you feel up to it at any point 😀

Hello! I hope the new job is going well (not so new now, I guess) and the move has worked out.

Ha ha, snap! I saw a message about ANZAMEMS and wondered if you'd be there. I probably won't make it to the conference (going to the NZHA conference the week before) but I'll be in Melbourne in late Feb/early March, so hopefully we can catch up. Would love to see you again!

Woot, had a good session today. My sources were lots of fun as well as providing lots of rich material to interpret and reflect on. I've finished a very rough Section 4 so tomorrow it will be on to editing and refining. #amwriting #WritingCommunity #writingretreat #Ghostbook

Thanks! We'll see how it goes and if I'm still smashing the pomodoros out by the end of the week... Winter weather here helps, since it's not too tempting to bunk off outdoors!

Today is Day 2 of my home-based writing retreat. Yesterday I got 591 good words on Ch 3. Today's goal is a shitty first draft of the final case in that chapter, using newspaper accounts and a few other historical sources. Happy writing all! #amwriting #WritingCommunity #writingretreat #Ghostbook

Sunday was gorgeous up Mt Kaukau, though chilly!

Breathtaking! The lighting is perfect for that space and really makes the instruments pop.

Day 1 of my #writingretreat and I did 3.5 hours. Managed a few good paragraphs on Section 4, fell into a fascinating research rabbit hole, and left myself some breadcrumbs for tomorrow. 🌟to me! #amwriting #ghostbook

I always say post-it, but I think that's the brand name (like 'hoover' for vacuum), and sticky notes is the generic alternative. I would think either would be fine as long as you're consistent.

So I haven't been active on this platform for a while, but I'm back and looking forward to catching up with all my medievalist and historian friends 👋