It was always a magic moment having an Usborne book in my hands, and still is. Light and colourful, with exquisitely rendered pictures at...

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...

I worked for the Met back in the eighties in the heyday of Filofaxes and Golf GTIs. The Met was well groomed and shiny. Many of my...

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...

Great ideas can come at you at any moment. They can, but for me they usually don't - they knock at my mind when I'm wandering around,...

As well as in recipes, there's a connection between writing and food that runs deep. Way deep. Food descriptions work within music...

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

First off, I'll answer the question, 'Andy, why did you read it?' I had to. Firstly to see what it contained because I didn't want to be...

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...

What's the best way to measure writing progress? Am I being productive? Am I wasting my time? Would I be better off doing something else?...