You often hear it said, ‘Old habits die hard’ or ‘habits are made to be broken’. However, what about good habits? Helpful in many capacities but for a writer essential. You’re on your own, no rules of the work place, a boss hovering at your door, colleagues to consult and spur you on. You are […]

I’m talking about a novel but the same must apply to any of the arts; painting a picture, scripting a play, devising dance; a solo act. You are expressing  ideas through your own imagination, a very personal act. Research may be involved, but the primary force of the piece is you, yourself, creating characters and plot, […]

I was reminded of my love for magic realism recently when hearing of a new novel by Max Porter, ‘Lanny’. He is an author I do not know but look forward finding his work. https://www.maxporter.co.uk/lanny I first encountered magic realism when reading ‘One Hundred Years’ of Solitude’ by Gabriel Garcia Marquez soon after it was […]

The cover, or sleeve as it used to be called, is a vital element in attracting the reader to a book. People, companies, are paid a lot of money for the most dominant and appropriate image. Creating a new book cover for my novel, ‘Incident on the Line’ has been under discussion between Drew, my […]

In a previous blog I discussed my view of literary fiction and its value. The fact is that I enjoy a novel which is more than plot, which makes me think and keep on thinking, which offers me language that sings. And I tend to avoid those classed as bestsellers! For this reason I always […]

A friend recently wrote an email questioning the purpose of blogging, who it served and whether to do so had any worth. Hum? Blog. A web log, I have just learned, was first introduced as an online journal in the late 1990s, thus the origin of the word ‘blog. Joe Bloggs, on the other hand, […]

This has to end! This idleness and guilt. What would Virginia say? Maybe this situation has prevented me visiting an exhibition of her work. I cannot face her disapprobation. You see it comes down to this. I have all the time in world so I watch the birds. Endlessly busy flitting from feeder to feeder, […]

In a discussion I heard recently – I believe on Radio 4 – an author was asked which writers influenced them and by whom they measured their own work. The response was, yes, that there are those ‘go-to’ authors to whose writing they aspire. That is not to say copy, for, as was said at […]

A romance is the genre claimed for ‘Mothering Sunday’ by Graham Swift, a novel which I’m reading for the third time prior to discussing at http://thespring.co.uk Book Group this month. Yes, it is a marvellous story of love but never borders on the sickly sweet, happy ending which I’ve always associated with that genre. I’ve avoided […]