Look at the first of these two rules, and you'll see that nothing divides authorly opinion like writer's block. Most of these insights are either self-pitying or briskly unsympathetic - successful writers seem to believe in tough love when dispensing...
Read moreHere's a funny thing. Writers like to play down research. 'Just live your life and use that as your material,' seems to be the message. Even, 'And don't have too exciting a life while you're at it.' Here is a...
Read moreThe people's philosopher, Alain de Botton, has been considering Rolf Harris and his wandering hands. In de Botton's funny-yet-serious spoof of newspapers The Philosophers' Mail, he takes his customary rosy view of things. The Harris case and others like it,...
Read moreSo far in this series of Top Nine Writer's Rules, great and good authors have offered advice on matters which are fairly straightforward: starting a book, or how to get the inspiration to pick up the pen in the first...
Read moreThis the second of my Top Nine Writer's Rules, a series of blogs with which writers, would-be writers and readers will eventually be able to build their own rulebook for writing, based on the words of authors past and the...
Read moreFor many years, I have collected the thoughts and observations of writers about the process and the profession of writing. The authors can be dead or alive, famous or obscure, literary titans or contemporary crowd-pleasers. If they have something interesting,...
Read moreThe general consensus around here was that an image re-think was in order. The brand needed to be refreshed. And because a website can sometimes seem like a visible, external version of your professional life, the best place to start...
Read moreI should probably feel a twinge of sympathy for Andy Gray and Richard Keys, the two presenters of Sky football who have been heard making stupid, sexist comments about a woman linesman - after all, I used to play football...
Read moreIt is now almost four years since the life in our village changed. A farmer who owns 5000 acres in this area decided, in the way of farmers, to maximise his profits. There was a stretch of land between four...
Read moreThe bullfinch, a charming bird, has an apologetic song. While others in the hedgerow chatter, chortle and remonstrate, the bullfinch is usually heard in the form of an occasional one-note tweet. It prefers not to draw attention to itself with...
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