53. Plot Holes and Dinner Rolls
The Case of the Buffet Blogger
Hello, friend - hope you’ve had a great week!
This week I’ve celebrated birthdays, read for 24 hours straight, entered an elaborate imaginary world where my sketches all needed jobs, attended my actual job, began plotting out the bones of some Fishbird Fiction, laughed a lot at dogs and ate 2 steaks.
What exciting things are you working on at the moment? And don’t say nothing! I’m sure that someone as amazing as you, has a lot of irons in the fire - hot stuff is drawn to hot stuff, as they famously say! Are you learning a new skill or basking in the life that you’ve created? Drop some updates in the comments, so we can cheer you on!
Fishbird Catch of the Week
We publish articles twice a week on the Fishbird Central website - every Wednesday and Saturday! This week’s included:
CWA Gold Dagger Award Longlist 2025!
In this post we dust off our detective capes and shine our magnifying glasses to a classy sheen - to investigate the books long listed for the Gold Dagger Award! The CWA Gold Dagger award celebrates the best crime novel by an author of any nationality, originally written in English and first published in the UK during the judging period. Eligible books include thrillers, mysteries, police procedurals, psychological suspense novels and spy fiction. We even made a little printable to tick off the books as we read them. Which book are you most excited for?
Check out the latest post here - CWA Gold Dagger Award Longlist 2025!
Making Art - May, Week 3 2025!
In this post we send our free-loading sketches to the Fishbird Central Job Fair to find some employment in their chosen fields. Rodney 'Can' Clucken is a master of disguise, and Carlotta Crow can find things you didn't even know were lost! Jeremy Fish & Beans will feed your belly, while Felix the Fictional Frog feeds your mind! Stay safe with some Mallard Muscle and see remote sights with Grizzled Joe Cragmoss. Your flight attendants, Chippie and Squat, will make sure you get home safely! Happy job hunting, friends!
Check out the latest post here - Making Art - May, Week 3 2025!
Reading, Writing and Statithmetic.
I finished my 24-hour reading challenge! Stopping and starting the timer whenever I picked up a book - it took me from Friday 16 May at 8.15pm until Saturday 24 May at 12.45 pm!
I managed to get through 6 books, which keeps me on track to reach my Goodreads goal for the year (to hit 100) and also made some room on my shelves for new books! Overall I enjoyed what I read - 1x 5 star, 3x 4 stars, 2x 3 stars.
How much can you read in a 24-hour period? Challenge me to a read off, I dare you!
In other news, I’ve started making lots of convoluted notes for the books I’d like to write. There’s a lot going on in my brain, and unpicking what might be a kids book from what might be an adult novel - can get murky.
Kids like murder, and adults like talking animals, right?
Anyway, as Jessica Fletcher always says - ‘I don’t want to alarm you, but something very sinister is going on here.’
Quick Fire Wrap Up
Currently Reading: ‘The Monogram Murders’ by Sophie Hannah. Hercule Poirot’s quiet supper in a London coffee house is interrupted when a young woman confides to him that she is about to be murdered. Later that night, Poirot learns that three guests at the fashionable Bloxham Hotel have been murdered, a cufflink placed in each one’s mouth.
Currently Watching: ‘MobLand’ Season One on Prime. Power is up for grabs as two warring crime families clash in a battle that threatens to topple empires. In the crossfire stands Harry Da Souza, a street-smart 'fixer' who knows too well where loyalties lie when opposing forces collide. Stars Pierce Brosnan, Helen Mirren.
Currently Singing Along To: ‘Flowers on the Wall’ by The Statler Brothers. ‘… Countin' flowers on the wall, that don't bother me at all. Playin' solitaire 'til dawn with a deck of 51. Smokin' cigarettes and watchin' Captain Kangaroo. Now don't tell me, I've nothin' to do …’
Have any book, song or show recommendations? Let me know in the comments! :)
Wishes for the Week
As we head into a new week, friends - remember your value and know your worth.
So many times, it happens too fast, you trade your passion for glory. Don’t lose your grip on the dreams of the past - you must fight just to keep them alive.
Hang on, that’s ‘Eye of the Tiger’ … I digress.
Things may get rocky, but you also rock. You’re the original rock in a rock garden full of your past achievements. You rock so hard that only you can retrieve Excalibur from the rock of your own making.
You’re also pretty cute.
Stay cool, punks.
‘Between a rock and a hard place is where they make the diamonds.’ - George Clooney (probably)
Jen x