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A pause over Palmyra
OF COURSE people matter more, but that fact that IS are in charge of Palmyra is something that makes me hold my breath today, waiting to hear what will happen to it. We were lucky enough to go there in...
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Joyful play and Don’t try this at home…
Perhaps the title is a give away about how much joy this book is going to bring… I’ve been an enthusiastic ‘supporter’ of & Other Stories Publishing ever since I heard about their model of relying...
View ArticleOn NOT taking photographs…
Perhaps it was the woman at the next table who was explaining her holiday photographs one by one to her friend. Sometimes she couldn’t even remember where they were taken but that didn’t stop her going...
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What can you buy for 99p these days?
ME! Or GETTING THE PICTURE at least. I’m delighted that my novel is in the Amazon Kindle deal this month, currently edging up the bestselling charts for Ageing (No 6) and Personal Health (No 34)....
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A Quiet Inquisition
Death’s on my mind at the moment, not least because of a funeral later this week. It’ll be a joyful celebration of a funeral (hopefully) for a life well-lived and well-loved where we’ve been instructed...
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I cannot write a novel today because….
I cannot write a novel today because… my friend is writing poetry for gerbils and I need to watch the letter box for the manuscript, small and brown… the towels in my airing cupboard cry out to be...
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What every writer wants….
Please excuse the brief boasting, but I’ve been so happy to see the reviews for my novel, Getting the Picture on Amazon. Such as this one: This book was not the cosy love-in-an-old-people’s-home tale i...
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Growing your writing….
I couldn’t resist how very very beautiful these words looked on the Tradescant tomb at the Garden Museum!!
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More armchair exploring…
1. OMAN: Earth Weeps, Saturn Laughs by Abdulaziz Al Farsi. Translated by Nancy Roberts. Well, this is a bit of one-upmanship, reading a book about Oman IN Oman. And look how beautiful the background,...
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Where can maps take us….
To a beautiful piece of art, for one thing… … and like many maps, this one keeps changing and growing as more people contribute to it. This is the work of artist, Susie Leiper and I was lucky enough to...
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Getting the Picture finally comes home
‘Getting The Picture astutely probes the quotidian eeriness of that other planet that is old age and a life recollected. Marvelous.’ WILLIAM GIBSON ‘The best novels seduce the reader, so allow the...
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Armchair Exploring 4 – Japan
My love for The Pillow Book has been well-documented, and when I started to count how many Japanese writers I have on my ‘loved books’ shelf, I must admit I was surprised. Latest addition are the...
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Writing in your swimsuit
As an ex-fashion student, I’m already convinced that the clothes we wear have an impact on how we feel. It’s an interesting dilemma these days when I write mostly from home and don’t need to make any...
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Shake Up Your Writing – one-day workshop
STOP PRESS: HAVE JUST HEARD THAT THIS COURSE IS NOW FULLY BOOKED (IN LESS THAN A WEEK!!) BECAUSE OF DEMAND, WE WILL BE RUNNING A DUPLICATE THOUGH LATER SO PLEASE CONTACT tonbridgeadmin@kent.ac.uk IF...
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Armchair exploring, part 2 – Czech Republic and Norway
Who on earth arranged this travel itinerary??? Geez, you could almost believe I didn’t do very well at geography in school. 1. First stop on this whizz-bang tour is The Czech Republic. HOW I CAME TO...
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Armchair Exploring – 1st stop EGYPT
(Read about my armchair exploring project here) And we’re off… And in fine style too. Naguib Mahfouz is one of Egypt’s best known authors and Nobel Prize winner, but this is the first book of his I’ve...
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Reading My Way Around the World in 2015
It’s like a New Year quiz. How many countries in the world are there?? Well, here’s a thing. No one is quite sure. But I’m going to go round the world in 2015. Not really of course. Better than that....
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Sharing confidences like this is our last night alive….
There has been something special about nearly every writing group I’ve been part of, or indeed led. Often I won’t even know the ‘normal’ facts about the other writers – whether they are married, what...
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Sharing ideas and stepping outside your comfort zone…
The subject line of this post is a quote from the application of Francesca Stocker, the new Poet Laureate of Bendenden School. Here she is with Abegail Morley. I was lucky enough to judge the...
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