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RSSDon’t Panic 15th, April 2013
Stories release us from the limitations of our ordinary lives. They process the complexities of existence, they entertain, they counsel and console. And sometimes, they save us. I was fourteen and the world was going to end. Four minutes, that was all we’d have, and then we’d be atomised: nothing between us and the bomb except a stupid understairs cupboard or a stupid kitchen table. Every time the Soviet Union and the States went head to head over Afghanistan, say, or Nicaragua, it meant High Wycombe [...]
Fashion! (Turn To The Left) 20th, March 2013
I will not lie, I love dressing up. I love colour and texture; I’m a sucker for embellishment, embroidery and beads. I love over-the-knee boots and necklaces that look like breastplates. In my less confident days I dressed to be ignored (a face-covering fringe as a teenager, dark colours so I could blend in), but I don’t feel like that any more. Dressing up is fun, and (teenage angst aside) we’ve always done it. But fashion has a shameful, albeit hugely successful, history as a means [...]
Red Prose Day 3rd, March 2013
I’ve been trying to decide how I could contribute to this year’s Red Nose Day – and I’ve come up with an idea I’m really excited about; it’s a plan which will benefit Comic Relief and help out an unpublished writer into the bargain. Here’s the deal: on Red Nose Day (Friday, March 15th), writers can bid in a Twitter auction for an editorial report on their unpublished novel. I’ll read your first 10,000 words and send you written feedback which will cover the novel’s strengths, [...]
Mea Culpa 14th, February 2013
It’s been a very long time since I wrote anything on this blog – two and a half months, to be precise – so this post starts with an apology for my neglect. I’m sorry. In my defence, over the past weeks I’ve kept nearly-posting. I’ve nearly-posted about: Equal marriage (again) The different phases you go through when you write a novel The perfect writers’ retreat (I may return to this at some point) All the things I’m not doing because I’m writing instead Blogging [...]
A Day In The Life 5th, December 2012
Inspired by this lovely blog post from Carolyn Jess-Cooke, I’m presenting my own writer’s day in pictures. Here goes… It starts with coffee, and with proper respect accorded to my muse… No, not Jane Austen herself, but my trusty Jane Austen Action Figure, with poseable limbs, writing desk (out of shot), and a matching spencer-and-knickers set. Here’s an aerial view of my desk. There are various exhortations Blu-Tacked to the wall behind it, and also some of the visual work I’ve used [...]
Writers’ Wives 6th, November 2012
In recent weeks we’ve been treated to two spousal accounts of what it is to live with a novelist. There’s this, from Deborah Orr (wife to Booker shortlisted Will Self) and now these comments from Ian Rankin’s wife that, during the most trying period of each novel’s creation, the role of his family is “Chiefly… trying to get out from under his feet… it’s sort of staying out of his way while he gets on with it.” This sounds like a pretty good deal: having [...]
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