Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks



Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks by John Curran is a fascinating read for any fan of Agatha Christie. The discovery of her notebooks has led to an extremely interesting insight of her ideas and methods of writing.

It was amazing to read that often she did not have the murderer in mind while writing her mysteries, and notes scrawled through her notebooks try different murderers and motives to fit the plot. Christie also had recurring images or vignettes that she tried to fit into stories, but often had to discard these ideas, with some of them never being used. Many of her mysteries seemed to have started with a one-sentence idea that grows over the years.

The notebooks are mostly made up of quick jottings of ideas, these are rarely expanded into dialogue or more fully developed writing. They are scattered with packing lists, doodles, and diagrams, inserted between the barely legible writing.

As a huge Agatha Christie fan, and being interested in writing, I found these notebooks a fascinating glimpse into Agatha's plotting and ideas. At some stages, however, the book was slightly repetitive, though this would I expect reflect on the repetitiveness of Christie's notebooks. The bonus of two 'new' short stories was particularly exciting, as I have read all of her currently published novels and short stories.

Change of direction


This blog has always been my 'craft' blog. I started it as a way to record my knitting progress and projects, and expanded into other crafts as I have learnt new skills. In fact, my first blog was called 'Just a Little Knit', and I created this new blog to incorporate sewing and other crafting.



There have been large gaps in my blogging. Not because my interest in craft has waned, but because either
a) I haven't been crafting or
b) I've been crafting, but not taking pictures and/or blogging

And of course I either feel guilty that I'm not actually creating things, or that I am creating things, but not keeping an accurate record of them. And in both cases, that I am neglecting my blog. No matter what, I think about craft every day, and am constantly planning projects in my mind, and reading all the other amazing blogs out there.


But...I've decided to include my other love - reading - in this blog. This means that I can keep up my blogging however I spend my time, as I can always fit in some reading. When blogging about books, I don't have to worry so much about progress shots, which I always stress about with my knitting!


These photos were taken between Bondi and Turramurra Beach, at the Sculpture by the Sea exhibition. I try to go every year, there is always something amazing!