Havant Plenty of scope for puns (sorry I Havant a clue etc) but I shall ignore them. Havant is a beautiful little place and The Spring is an excellent arts centre in a truly stunning setting. I had a fine time reading there and hope the audience enjoyed it too. I can’t recommend this literary […]

The writer exultant But not sure if it’s bad form to talk about things. One is British after all! And the British do not discuss religion, salaries or other embarassing subjects. And this could come under ‘salary’ or under ‘boasting’ or possibly both. Still, what the hell, I only get to say this once. The […]

Rapture syndrome (or flu) and launches, reviews and writerly things For the past week I have either had precursors of The Rapture or flu, depending on where you are based in the world and how credulous you are. I think the voiceless, joint-aching, temperature-rocketing condition is a virus, but certain American states appear to believe […]

Book launches and how to survive them I wasn’t really looking forward to my book launch. There were aspects of it that were wonderful to anticipate: seeing some people I really love, eating some delicious chutney (Smy chutney, not my own home-made stuff) and enjoying some wonderful cheeses. There were some last minute surprises of […]

Blimey – book launch! Yes, I’m still panicking. I do now have something to wear – a 1950’s sheath dress with an abstract fruit and vegetable print, plus some rather cute green leather shoes with floral buckles. • I do have wine – donated by the awesome Ali of Barefoot Wines who is coming along […]

Hubris, gratefulness, politesse? I’ve spent a couple of days now, staring at the little heap of my books that was delivered on Monday. They stare back. I am paralysed by knowing what it is good, or fair, or right to do in this situation. I am sending books to people who have been instrumental in […]

Day 13 – the ‘danger of magical thinking during a run’ day Stats at the bottom, such as they are. Magical thinking – many of us are guilty of it. In one of those serendipities that can seem miraculous, I was writing about the process of magical thinking in alcoholics for a client today and […]

Older, Colder, Slower, Tireder (or not as the case may be) Janathon Day 4 Today’s run is brought to you by: • Solo Gamalat (Gamal Goma)• Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (Daft Punk)• Weapon of Choice (Fatboy Slim) I didn’t expect today’s run to be any fun at all, for the reasons in the title plus: […]

Googlism Somebody has been in touch with me (hi Matt!) because he found me through Googling – not so surprising, perhaps but what he Googled was having his window hit by a snipe and that led him to me. His snipe (in Birmingham) also flew off fairly soon after the shocking impact with plate glass. […]

Literary hubris, squared It is hubristic to start thinking about your next book when you haven’t heard back from your editor about the first one. It is hubristic to make a pudding to take to your friend’s house when you have a secret agenda of road-testing said pudding for the book that you shouldn’t even […]