I have always thought (mostly from not giving it enough thought) that the reason I love books is because it is an ‘escape’, it is the one key thing that turns off my ‘worrier button’. This is true enough, I always say that reading to me is like meditation. If I find a book I [...]
As I’ve mentioned numerous times I have always loved to read. I was (and still am) an only child (still think the french way of saying that sounds better), and would entertain myself for whole summers by reading everything and anything I could get my hands on.
I started, like most kids, with books like [...]
Hurray! The short story anthology ‘Even More Tonto Short Stories’ is officially out on 5th August (it really is I promise you) and it features a very short story from me (I think you may have gathered this by now…)
Please do buy and let me have your thoughts. A few very kind individuals have [...]
Since I’ve been a grown up (I am a grown up I tell you) I’ve only stayed up through the night on three occasions to finish a book I’ve been too engrossed in to even consider putting my head down and going to sleep. These were The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood, Norwegian Wood by [...]
Just a short post to say I have eventually realised you have to spend more time editing than you do writing, when you’re ehm…writing.
So the reason for the short post is that I am spending an unhealthy amount of time editing. But actually it is not as painful today as it usually is. I [...]
I am sure I started writing very early on in childhood but when I think back to ‘What were the first things I ever wrote?’ two pieces (well I say pieces!) come to mind.
The first was a poem about a cat I wrote when I was about 8 or 9. With a rather [...]
I’m delighted to be involved in the innovative ‘Blog Tour’ for Caroline Smailes’ new book ‘Like Bees to Honey’. She’s a great writer who deals with tough subjects honestly and innovates with form and language. Below you will find Chapter 12 of Caroline’s new book. Other chapters are dotted around writing blogs across the web. [...]
Mara can’t believe Katie has given her a book titled ‘Bipolar for Dummies’.
She’d bought if for herself and then thought Mara might find it ‘useful’. She has ‘usefully’ turned down pages and underlined sections she thinks Mara should read. Mara wonders if there is anywhere she can write to complain about the title, and [...]
New York was even better than I anticipated, and I anticipated great things. I’ll come onto my trip highlights and recommendations for others in a mo but I have to say there were a couple of things about New York that really surprised me, having in mind, as I did, that it may be similar [...]
This semester of my Masters in Creative Writing has been focused on the ‘Life of Writing’, with (as you will see from previous posts) talks from a range of very interesting writers, publishers, agents etc.
We have been tasked to write an assignment centred on a topic of our interest from the themes that developed [...]
Favourite Books
