Blog Posts

  • Redhead by the Side of the Road

    Redhead by the Side of the Road

    I always think you can map a book to two axes: focus and travel. The more you move along one axis, the less you move…

  • Roald Dahl’s SF

    Roald Dahl’s SF

    Speaking of Roald Dahl, I’ve been re reading some of his short stories following the rewriting debate. I’d forgotten that he’d written SF. I’m thinking…

  • Rewriting

    Rewriting

    I’ve never had someone change my stories in a way that I disagree with. My work has been edited – of course it has. Editors…

  • I Wrote a Sentence Today

    I Wrote a Sentence Today

    Something like don’t forget the pasta, and I found myself just looking at the words. I was thinking about all these things that we write,…

  • How Many Times do I Have to Say This?

    How Many Times do I Have to Say This?

    My advice to would be writers: start blogging. Why? Because blogging once a week helps instill the discipline necessary to becoming a writer. It forces…

  • A New Way to Evernote

    A New Way to Evernote

    Many people in the Personal Knowledge Management field are getting excited by Maps of Content: a new way of organizing your notes. A Map of…

  • Hitchhiking to the Discworld

    Hitchhiking to the Discworld

    I’m currently reading Terry Pratchett’s biography. (sponsored link). There’s a passage in there on the effect that the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy had on…

  • Three Times I Predicted the Future

    Three Times I Predicted the Future

    I took a parcel to be returned to Amazon to the shop around the corner and I realised I’d predicted this in Recursion. It might…

  • Forbidden Words

    Forbidden Words

    On Sunday I’m going to my writing group. There are number of authors there, some well established, some newer. All of them provide valuable feedback.…

  • Show Don’t Tell

    Show Don’t Tell

    Show don’t tell. There’s online debate at the moment about this advice traditionally given to writers. A lot of people are saying it’s over rated, that…

  • The Proprioception of Christmas

    The Proprioception of Christmas

    Johnny Mathis reminds me of my childhood. My mother would play songs such as The Sounds of Christmas, It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like…

  • Annabel

    I was delighted to be asked to contribute a monologue to Pen to Print. I was even more delighted when I heard the results. If…