I’m editing a multi-narrative and making a 6-scene storyboard for each of the key characters in my novel using the Five F approach as taught by Louise Dean at The Novelry. The idea for my […]
I don't feel the world is looking over my shoulder when I am working - I never think about this at all. What I think about is trying to make my work pure, and if it is pure it is accessible. It is quite straightforward really.
Ian Hamilton Finlay
in conversation with Nagy Rashwan
I wrote this poem about 20 years ago. It seems, now, to reflect things that have happened in Britain – how we have been snared in a tangle of information – some of it clearly spreading propaganda, division and hate. Some of it is more subtle and nuanced. The virtual evolves into a near-tangible creature […]
The man who had a seed in his ear — Elizabeth Stott - to Blog or Not
Kontiki Suite, Burned.
A film I made for Kontiki Suite for their track ‘Burned’ off their album ‘The Greatest Show on Earth.’
Good writers are those who keep the language efficient. That is to say, keep it accurate, keep it clear.
Ezra Pound. ABC of Reading, 1934
Cross out as many adjectives and adverbs as you can … It is comprehensible when I write: ‘The man sat on the grass,’ because it is clear and does not detain one’s attention. On the other hand, it is difficult to figure out and hard on the brain if I write: ‘The tall, narrow-chested man of medium height and with a red beard sat down on the green grass that had already been trampled down by the pedestrians, sat down silently, looking around timidly and fearfully.’ The brain can’t grasp all that at once, and art must be grasped at once, instantaneously.
Anton Chekhov in a letter to Maxim Gorky, 1899.

Hardy’s Cottage
Have a good weekend, everyone. X If you’re writing a novel, short story, poem, song… and keep a visual diary please feel free to share an image. Everyday this week I’m sharing an image I’ve […]

The Wild Places – Robert Macfarlane
Originally posted on Letters of Lydia:
Sometimes, when life is stressful, you need a book that talks to you about trees and valleys and water. When I sat down on my lunch break and read…

Mind Your Head
This image is from Thomas Hardy’s cottage in Higher Bockhampton, Dorset. Hardy’s Cottage and garden was the inspiration for a cottage in a heart-shaped wood in ‘100 People’ called Hith (Hidden in the Heart.)

The Bridleway
If you’re writing a novel, short story, poem, song… and keep a visual diary please feel free to share an image. Every day this week I’m sharing an image I’ve taken from my novel’s visual diary.
I’ve Joined The Novelry
“Our writers are mothered all the way to our literary agency partners’ desks. Time to start a new chapter of your life as an author?”

Queen of the Castle
If you’re writing a novel, short story, poem, song… and keep a visual diary please feel free to share an image. Everyday this week I’m sharing an image I’ve taken from my novel’s visual diary.

Running in the Family
Most weekends I plan on sharing memorable opening lines from books. Fancy reciprocating? Here’s the opening from Michael Ondaatje’s Running in the Family. . . #bibliophile #books #bookstagram #booksofinstagram #bookobsessed #bookshelf #firstlinesinfiction #library #literature #michaelondjaate […]

The Hand That First Held Mine
Opening lines from Maggie O’Farrell’s novel ‘The Hand That First Held Mine.’ The words are apt as a new indie publishing house is launched: pomeranianbooks.com Congratulations to the team Louise Dean, Louise Tucker and Janice […]

Fragments of Existence
If you’re writing a novel, short story, poem, song… and keep a visual diary please feel free to share an image. Everyday this week I’m sharing an image I’ve taken from my novel’s visual diary. […]
On The Couch
I noticed she used the same coloured pegs, two orange, or blue, pink, for each item of clothing.

Keith McSherry Art
Keith McSherry, a full time artist working from his studio in Cumbria.
What’s it all about, Alfie.
Our friend, Alfie, is a five year-old Border Collie on borrowed time.

When The Workbench Was Pink
Some people with great virtues are disagreeable, while others with great vices are delightful. (Francois Alexandre Frederic duc de la Rochefoucald)