Posted by on Mar 31, 2006 in Uncategorised | 3 Comments

Many writers seem to drift around in their writing, sometimes feeling it’s like a warm bath that bouys them up and supports everything in their lives – and at other times that it’s a cold maelstrom sucking them down to a miserable death. I tend to think that what water needs is a good pier […]

Posted by on Mar 30, 2006 in Uncategorised | One Comment

Sex on the brain You might think I spend all my time thinking about sex – but it’s not so. Really, honestly, truly I don’t. It’s just that teaching ‘Writing about Sex’ for six weeks, as well as reading slush for an erotica publisher this month, has focused me on the issue. Last night was […]

Posted by on Mar 29, 2006 in Uncategorised | 3 Comments

So, what do you know about sex (and literature)? Only Richard Allan Cooper was brave enough to guess who said what, so for the rest of you, here are the answers! Who said this about sex? A widespread taste for pornography means that nature is alerting us to some threat of extinction. J G Ballard, […]

Posted by on Mar 28, 2006 in Uncategorised | 4 Comments

How NOT to become a writer (or, ‘Bring me the pen of Alfredo Garcia’) If you’re one of the many who subscribes to the myth that you must write one perfect piece of work, polishing and perfecting it until it could not possibly be better, and then your talent will be recognised – I’m probably […]

Posted by on Mar 27, 2006 in Uncategorised | 2 Comments

So you want to be a writer? Really? Are you sure?Because although I hate to rain on anybody’s parade, most of the people I meet who say they want to be writers, don’t actually want to be writers at all. What they want is for the blue fairy of happiness (read Pinocchio) to lean down […]

Posted by on Mar 25, 2006 in Uncategorised | 4 Comments

I’m not going to update at weekends – if I do, people will think I don’t have a life. That’s an announcement so it doesn’t count as an update! One entrant for the sex and literature quiz so far, and Richard Allan Cooper is about to receive his sixteen fascinating transitions. Two of the names […]

Posted by on Mar 24, 2006 in Uncategorised | 2 Comments

Okay, just for fun and because I am indeed a nasty person: if you have a go at answering these via the comment function, I’ll send you the list of elegant transitions for use in writing about sex that was brainstormed by my superb students. And I will hurrah mightily whoever gets these mainly, or […]

Posted by on Mar 23, 2006 in Uncategorised | 2 Comments

NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDENS – DUBLIN A little bit of trumpet blowing is in order. I’ve finally got my hands on a copy of the brochure for Green Thought in an Urban Shade, which has been showing at Glasnevin, Dublin. For complex reasons I couldn’t get to the Irish show, and so this is the first […]

Posted by on Mar 22, 2006 in Uncategorised | 3 Comments

Last night was the fifth of six classes I’m teaching on Writing about Sex. The group is small and highly skilled, so it’s an intensive environment where a lot of good learning is happening, often by me as well as the student group! Last night was no exception. One of the invaluable experiences that emerges […]

Posted by on Mar 21, 2006 in Uncategorised | 4 Comments

So, I’ve been doing this a couple of days now and I’ve been very nice. Enough nice! Today I’ve had a story rejected. Now, believe it or not, I cope well with rejection, but sometimes I do wonder how much of a masochist a writer has to be to survive. A science fiction journal in […]