Mind the gap by Sarah Duncan
In 2002 I went to my first writing conference. At that time I was half way through a major re-write of my novel, which had been resoundingly turned down by agents and publishers with standard...
View ArticleLike the sound of this? by Julie Mayhew
I love radio drama. I love the way it occupies that fascinating hinterland between the cerebral novel and the all-action stage play or screenplay. In radio drama, every scene needs incident and...
View ArticleIn short – Get Writing! by Lesley Eames
Get Writing draws ever closer and those of us who’ve attended before know what a buzz there’ll be. Writing can be a quiet, solitary experience but Get Writing can be LOUD with laughter, learning and,...
View ArticleA prescription from The Book Doctor
Philippa Pride, aka The Book Doctor writes: I have the seeds of several ideas but I don’t know which to develop as a book? I hear it’s a tough market – is there any point in trying to get published?...
View ArticleI can’t hear you moaning because I’ve got my fingers in my ears and I’m...
There is something which, with the swift passing of time, gets more and more on my proverbial lady-mounds. And it’s this: There is a large section of society that yearns for their talent to be...
View ArticleThis monster is no metaphor
My friend and colleague David Chippendale committed suicide on 7 March. Many knew he was in a bad way, but sadly none realised how close to the edge he was. His loss prompted me to come clean about my...
View ArticleAn interview with Philippa Gregory
Ever wondered what Philippa Gregory thinks about the importance of the workings of the unconscious mind – about the relationship between fiction and history – about witchcraft and incest?… Here’s the...
View ArticleJimmy Savile, the 1970s, and getting away with it
Some thoughts on the most grotesque story of recent times and the scum that got away. Jimmy Savile: a decade on trial - the views, of course, are mine but I will be moderately surprised is anyone at...
View ArticleA splash of Ink (colour: Red)
Every so often somebody wanders into Verulam Writers’ Circle Towers (aka St Michael’s Church Hall) reads something and leaves you unable to think anything other than “Blimey, that was good”. So it was,...
View ArticleDarkness amid the light
Readers of the fiction of Iain Banks, or his science fiction alter ego Iain M Banks, will have been left wondering whether to laugh or cry at the characteristically bleak humour in his personal...
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