Promoting the literary life for all Nik Perring tagged me with this and although I don’t usually do these, I’m sort of interested in the question here – from a different angle, I’m always wondering why people do the various literary things they do, and this is another way of exploring that question. So I […]
The Grist Short Story Competition You know, sometimes you want to spit. We all know that writers are low down the food chain. Watch the BAFTAs and be convinced (the writers are the ones in the rented tuxedos, all the actors and directors and producers have bespoke ones) of our relative insignificance. But you expect […]
These are better days …Largely thanks to Montezuma’s chocolate (their dried banana and milk chocolate turtles appear to have a wonderful effect on my mood), good friends and running. Okay, the good friends bit – thanks to everyone who emailed or posted comments. Knowing that all writers (or all creative types generally) have these wheel-spinning […]
Fannying Around on the Far Side* This is how I think of times like this: fannying around on the Far Side – where nothing is quite real and conversations are utterly surreal and while nothing much happens, the not-happening seems fraught with portent and nasty things with lots of legs hiding in wardrobes and just […]
Novel Review: The Great Lover Sometimes reviewing books can be a solitary and frightening experience. When I ordered The Great Lover, I knew I was taking a risk. I’d first contacted Jill Dawson to tell her how much I’d admired her novels Wild Boy and Fred and Edie, and we’d sort of kept in touch, […]
Why Robert McCrum is wrong (partly) Riffing on Diana Athill and her memoir published age 91, he says that ‘Old people, in general, don’t have literary careers.’ Well yes and no. He then points out some of the exceptions: Daniel Defoe first published aged 59. Mary Wesley first published aged 71. William Golding banging out […]
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