During my student holidays I drove a van for an office supplies firm. One hot summer's day, to the sound of Paul Simon's Graceland, I...

It's all there in the pages. So if I wanted to write a book similar to one I admire, I should be be able to pick apart the magic,...

Writers conjure narrative worlds consistent with reality. Even the most outlandish sci-fi or horror genres rely upon ideas which can be...

What flows from the nib of your pen or the tips of your fingers must be your first, clearest, unadulterated thoughts - right? Wrong. The...

When I was at secondary school two books were standard giveaways - the Gideon's Bible and a dictionary. Along the way, I lost both of...

I'm a good boy, I am. (N.B my daughter read this and told me it doesn't make sense - I'm not going to argue with her - she knows more...

We live in an age of wild abundance. Calories, cheap clothes, untruths, technology, and books. And with this vast array of material and...

Tonight I was swayed by several options. Number one was, given the latish hour (it's approaching five to nine), to give the job up as...

I've been banished from the kitchen. Flour, eggs, oil, sugar, honey, vanilla and chocolate are being transformed, as I type this, into...

Oh lucky day! Imagine this: you're a writer in the midst of creating a masterpiece. The Great LS29 Novel. A book of such tremendous...

Writer's block explored. The two main types and an extra two thoughts. Let's not get too serious about this.

It's so damned enjoyable. There's nothing quite so nice as working on a poem. Even the frustrations are poetry-sized. It takes far less...