During my visit to The Holy Island of Lindisfarne last year, I sat on the shore by the Lindisfarne Causeway and watched the tide come in and cover the road. Here are my insights – and a few images – from that experience. Sitting at the end of the causeway and watching the tide comeContinue reading “What the Tide at Lindisfarne Has To Teach a Creative Writer”
Category Archives: Authors I love
Staying Focused as a Writer: Learning From Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy, the author of the novel widely regarded as one of the world’s greatest, War and Peace, not only crafted characters we love and care about – Pierre, Natasha, Anna Karenina, and many others – but was also fond of sideways excursions into his theory of history during the course of a novel. SoContinue reading “Staying Focused as a Writer: Learning From Leo Tolstoy”
The Gatiss/Moffatt Post-StoryTelling World of Sherlock
We’re familiar with the phrase postmodern and more recently with the notion of post-truth. But now I think, for writers, it is true that there is a post-storytelling phenomenon – which moves beyond and over-turns current rules. And it’s illustrated in the scripts that Steven Moffatt and Mark Gatiss create for their TV drama seriesContinue reading “The Gatiss/Moffatt Post-StoryTelling World of Sherlock”
Garden of Significant Inspiration and Curious A-MUSE-ments at Shakespeare’s New Place in Stratford-upon-Avon
O for a muse of fire that would ascend the brightest heaven of invention. So wrote William Shakespeare in the Prologue to Henry V – and a few days ago we were in the garden at New Place, Stratford-upon-Avon, site of Shakespeare’s former family home – infusing marbles with the power of that same muse.Continue reading “Garden of Significant Inspiration and Curious A-MUSE-ments at Shakespeare’s New Place in Stratford-upon-Avon”
A Poet’s View of Life – Shakespeare, the Jesuit Priest and the ex-Archbishop
What did Shakespeare believe? He lived and created his work during a period of religious turmoil; and scholars are left to guess at his true spiritual worldview, despite his association with Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon, and the fact that he was baptized and buried there. And so it was appropriate that Holy Trinity Church, theContinue reading “A Poet’s View of Life – Shakespeare, the Jesuit Priest and the ex-Archbishop”
Book Review: The Looking Glass House by Vanessa Tait
The story of Alice Liddell and the real Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson) is one that has inspired so much speculation and analysis since the creation of Alice in Wonderland in 1862; and here is another book on the subject, The Looking Glass House, this time a novel told by Alice’s great granddaughter Vanessa, which draws onContinue reading “Book Review: The Looking Glass House by Vanessa Tait”
Writing Stories That Grow Legs and Run Away From You
In my creative writing class at Lancaster University years ago, our tutor said to us: Once written and completed, your work is A Thing on the Table. The world can make what it likes of it. It doesn’t belong to you any more.” More recently, novelist Susan Hill, speaking at a local author event,Continue reading “Writing Stories That Grow Legs and Run Away From You”
New Book About Writing, For Aspiring Writers
I’m currently working on a new book about writing, which has the working title of Perilous Path: a Writer’s Journey. The book contains 30 short pieces I’ve published online over the past 6 years, both on ezine articles and on this blog, all on the subject of writing a novel. Here’s a taster from theContinue reading “New Book About Writing, For Aspiring Writers”
Reflections on Crime, Wickedness, and Redemption from the Crime Museum Uncovered, Museum of London
On Thursday 31st March 2016 I read many stories at the Crime Museum Uncovered, an enthralling exhibition currently showing at the Museum of London, London Wall. Crime cases from Victorian times to 1975, solved by the Metropolitan Police. Most of the criminals were hanged; some were miscarriages of justice; vulnerable people, who today would haveContinue reading “Reflections on Crime, Wickedness, and Redemption from the Crime Museum Uncovered, Museum of London”
A Passionate Spirit in Lancaster Alumni Magazine
A Passionate Spirit is featured in the latest edition of “STEPS” the Lancaster University alumni magazine online. The picture below was taken on Box Hill, in Surrey, on a recent visit. I have happy memories of Box Hill from my childhood, as I was born and brought up in Kent. This is a landscape whichContinue reading “A Passionate Spirit in Lancaster Alumni Magazine”
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