Author Archives: admin

PC, pencil, typewriter……dictaphone……whatever…… Just write. (That is what I am telling myself anyway.)

I like what Alan Ayckbourn, the playwright said – I believe in the right to fail – that has a religious significance for me as well as the obvious. I always used to say to leaders in churches, Have a … Continue reading →

What did you find in the fields today you who have wandered so far away? I found a wind-flower, small and frail, I found a hill that was clad in gorse, a new-built nest, and a streamlet’s source; I saw … Continue reading →

Someone said that artists and writers have a special celebrity status, somehow above others. Nowadays I am not so sure. I would have thought that sportsmen and women held a special place in people’s affections. And what about the mere … Continue reading →

People who write about death call it the ultimate taboo, but it is amazing how many authors writing on aging say that death has to be confronted, before one can truly live. Jilly Cooper, says that sex is a difficult … Continue reading →

Alexei Sayle, said that writing is a megalomaniac’s art form, because you control the whole process yourself. My own experience is that sometimes the writing takes over the writer. Very spooky.

Jeanette Winterson is an author whose style I much admire. On the topic of plots, she cited Shakespeare as never having invented a plot; rather he worked on pre-existing material and then used his imagination. I guess he was one … Continue reading →

Maeve Binchy said that she was proud to be called an airport novelist. she meant that it was great that people should want to read her books as companions on a journey. She is certainly someone who uses characterisation to … Continue reading →

From Helen Dunmore, historical novelist. You have to think, what would it be like, to be in that place, at that time. It’s about little things. Things like, what does the air smell like?

Anniversary greetings to Him Behind the Wheel. And me too, of course