In which I confess to a love of books that sweep you up and carry you along with their sheer energy, even if you have no idea where they’re going. And you’re pretty sure that the author’s not really got much of an idea, either. And while I haven’t enjoyed all of Hunter S Thompson’s …
Between one thing and the other at the moment, I’m not getting a lot of what I term ‘my’ writing done. That is, writing that’s not blog writing or work writing. And while I still enjoy my blog writing and work writing, it’s all rather closely related to real life, which is not an area …
In which I talk about still being in awe of Roald Dahl’s ability to put an amazing twist in his stories, but also discover that, on rereading as an adult, some of his treatment of female characters doesn’t really do it for me (although this was only really in one collection out of the five …
Here’s a thing that happened to me the other day. I’d been having a lot of trouble with my shoulder, and attributed it to overdoing things on the weights, even though the problem appeared (weirdly) on a day off, while I was sat on the couch (conclusion: sitting on the couch is dangerous, kids. Don’t …
In which I blame my terrible memory on Robert Louis Stevenson, because I can still remember his poems from when I was a kid, meaning I have no memory space available for shopping lists or appointment times. I mean, I’ve got to blame someone, right? I also show off my favourite mercaticorn nightie, and the …
Look away now, meat lovers. Or don’t, and laugh at my discomfort instead. I’ve been vegetarian for somewhere over a decade now, and even before that never ate much meat. I was vegan for a year or so, but gave it up because it was so hard to eat out or to go to friends’ …
In which I talk about books by Paul Torday, Mark Haddon and Marcus Zusak that you might not be able to name straight off. Or you might. As has been observed, I’m not very good at keeping up with trends. Maybe these have been just as popular as their big hit books, and I just …
Hello lovely readers – if you’ve been around for a while you’ll know that at the start of the year I scaled my short story writing back to just one story a month, which would go out in the newsletter. Which was a fine and lovely idea, as I was struggling a little to get …
In which I get a little over-enthusiastic about just how good Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London series in, and complain about losing books while moving. Again. But really, if you haven’t read these – why not? Modern police work, ancient magic, and the river gods of London, among other things. They’re good! Do you …
Writing takes time. We all know that. We do know we need patience. It’s not like we can sit down and whip off 70,000 words in an afternoon (or however many your particular genre’s asking for). Well, okay, maybe some of you can, but I’m deliberately not talking to you, because you scare me with …