Train, planes and … Well, just trains, really.
I am not good with trains. A few months ago I went visit some excellent friends near Windsor, and then on to stay at the house of some other friends. I had a great evening. Too great, really. Spike drove me into the station the next morning, and the rush hour was not good. When … Continue reading
Toronto – Bloody Words 2014
I really have been inordinately lucky this year. One thing I always wanted to do, when I was young, was to take every opportunity to travel. I was hugely fortunate because my father took us to Austria, Italy and even Kenya. I saw a lot of the world when I was a teenager. Later I … Continue reading
Immigration and Customs – Help!
OK, a brief diversion. I mentioned to a friend on Twitter yesterday that I had a chequered history entering Canada. There was the time I was picked up by the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police to you) and driven off in the back of their cruiser, or the time when I was refused entry … … Continue reading
The End of an Era
And so we come to the last day of the contract with the Royal Literary Fund. To be fair, it’s not quite the last day, but it’s my last day in the RLF office in Exeter University. The rest of my time will be at home, collating all the data for the RLF for their … Continue reading
Making Movies
It’s been an interesting time just recently, which is why you may have noticed that I’ve been noticeable by my absence. Now that my daughter is a well-established teenager, naturally she has realised that her father is a doddery old twit without the brains he was born with. And he needs controlling and managing.It took … Continue reading
Let’s Get Inky
A short while ago, the very nice people at Cult Pens suggested I’d like to have some new inks to play with. Who am I to refuse an offer like that? A year ago I started to use Cult Pens’ own Deep Dark Blue ink. This was a colour they designed to match their own logo, … Continue reading
YouTube If You Want To
There are times when it seems like there’s no time to sit at the desk and write, and this has been one of those weeks. University was – well, mayhem is a little too polite, I guess. From nine in the morning to four thirty, Monday and Tuesday, I had no time for even a … Continue reading
Itinerary US trip 12th – 21st February
I have had a few people asking when and where I’ll be when I go to America this week, so here’s a short summary. I fly in to New Orleans on Wednesday 12th in the evening. I’m honoured to have been invited to be the Grand Marshal of the parade of the Krewe of Little … Continue reading
Giving Talks
Ok, this is a slight digression. Today I’ve been writing a speech. Only a little one, but it’s one that has to be good, so I’ve been playing around with words, rereading old speeches and trying out new anecdotes. I enjoy giving talks. Which author wouldn’t? We get an audience, we get a fee, we … Continue reading
Planning Not To Plan!
I was talking this morning to my old friend Phillip Gooden, and he mentioned that he was writing a variation to his latest story. ‘You know how it is,’ he said, ‘so often you don’t know how the story will pan out until you actually start it.’ It’s very true. So often aspiring writers will … Continue reading
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