Isolation and the Writer Is it necessary? Is it pernicious? There’s a mythology about the writer who lurks in a garret, producing work of coruscating brilliance. Most of us don’t have so much luck! We have to write surrounded by family members, dogs, cats, deadlines, requests to cook, clean, drive people to places, collect dry […]
Closer, ever closer … Comes the most exciting month of the year. November, when NaNoWriMo takes over my mind, my house and all my waking hours. Last year Brighton (and Hove actually) had 37 new novelists. More than 37 started, on 1 November, full of confidence. At least two of them, by 27 November, were […]
When you get it right … There’s a certain feeling that I suspect is only known to writers, and maybe lyricists. It’s the sensation you get when somebody contacts you and tells you that something you wrote resonated with their own thoughts or experiences in such a way that you illuminated something for them. Maybe […]
Random thoughts – editors, titles and writers It always surprises me how little writers know, or bother to find out, about the process of short story publication. When they send their stories out, they seem to lose all interest in what happens. So let me tell you … Most editors – say over 80% of […]
I’ll tell you something surprising. Three years ago I didn’t know a single novelist – now I reckon I know about thirty. And only a couple of those are people I’ve met at readings and other events, most of them are real-life, down-to-earth, working writers, whom I’ve come into contact with at workshops or through […]
Kendal part 2 You remember a few days ago I was saying how performance made me so nervous that I would hardly sleep the night before? Well, this is the outcome of that nerve-wracking period. Tell Tales performed on Friday, to an audience of venue promoters, managers and live literature bookers. Quite a tough crowd […]
Lit Up (part one) This is the Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal, where I spent Thursday and Friday exploring issues relating to performance poetry, literature and spoken word. This showcase was devoted to promoting live literature to arts professionals and on Thursday evening I was part of a panel that explored what live literature meant to […]
The art of the illustrator I’ve worked with quite a few illustrators now, and always been fascinated by the process that turns my words into a picture – possibly because I’ve spent the past two years working with an artist and a large part of that time has been looking at her paintings and waiting […]
Funny – or not? Humour is a difficult thing. We’ve all sat through the cringingly embarrassing Best Man’s speech; the long, complicated joke recounted by our boss, that isn’t funny when we get to the punchline; the borderline offensive story told by our elderly uncle … ouch! And yet, humour done well is an absolute […]
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