It becomes obvious if you write, but perhaps not if you don’t: ideas are not stories. Before I wrote or, at least, before I finished a novel, I didn’t grasp this fundamental fact because ideas, when they come (and I’ve no idea where they come from) are so exciting. They’re the fuel; the energy; the surge; the … Read More
Things I’d Love to Have Made
Men and Embroidery, and a belated apology
Inspired by this post about John Craske and his delicate life and delicate embroidery in a new book by Julia Blackburn, at dovegreyreader earlier this week, I’ve begun thinking about men and embroidery. My grandfather sewed: tapestry, I think, for chair and cushion covers, but I thought, horrible child that I was, that it was an unmanly … Read More
Electoral Reform in the UK. And Inspiration.
On 5 May 2011 a referendum on electoral reform was held in the UK: 68% of us voted No; 32% (including me) voted Yes; the turnout was 42%. We weren’t collectively brave enough, or we were too frightened of change to vote Yes conclusively (or to vote at all). Last Thursday, 7 May 2015, a Conservative government was … Read More
The Brain in Love; and Jim Burge’s Burgeoning Promotional Videos for writers and artists
Dr Helen Fisher, a biological anthropologist at Rutgers University, studies the brain, in love. She gave a glorious TED talk about it, here. I particularly loved Walt Whitman: Oh, I would stake all for you. and Emily Dickinson: Parting is all we need to know of Hell. and Dr Fisher herself: Anthropologists have never found a society that did not have love. And, … Read More
Fog Island Mountains and Dr Atal Gawande, this year’s BBC Reith Lecturer
Michelle Bailat-Jones has written a beautiful novel called Fog Island Mountains. I’ve just posted a review of it here. The novel won the 2013 Christopher Doheny Award and I hope it goes on to sell, and so to affect, many many readers. It deserves to because it deals with the most serious event in our lives with eloquence, compassion, honesty … Read More
Sequels, Literary Festivals and Natasha O’Farrell’s heavenly handbag
There have been some heart-warming reactions to The Dance of Love and several people have suggested I write a sequel, possibly set in the Depression and the lead-up to the Second World War because, they said, it would be fascinating to find out what happens next in the characters’ lives and how they do or don’t live … Read More
Haworth Parsonage, Richard Flanagan and Anselm Keifer
In September we holidayed in England: we travelled north-west to Stratford (and saw a wonderful production of The Roaring Girl, a play about Mary Frith, an astonishing sixteenth-century woman who lived and dressed as a man, partly in defiance of her times to give herself freedom, partly so she could act as pimp, procurer and … Read More
The Launch of The Dance of Love, History of the Rain, and Emily Young’s Kew Gardens angel video
The DANCE of LOVE was launched at the wonderful Barnes Bookshop last Thursday: I wrote about on Robert Hale’s blog – the book’s publishers – here. It was a happy family affair: my whole family was there: my two younger sisters smuggled my American sister into the country for it which was a wonderful; the family of … Read More
THE DANCE of LOVE PUBLISHED SOON; GOODREADS GIVEAWAY; FIRST TWO REVIEWS and … StuckinaBooks’ letters and Letters to an Unknown Soldier
Happy news, THE DANCE of LOVE will be published on 31 July by Buried River Press. You can pre-order copies here and here and here with free worldwide delivery, and, of course, here. There’s also a Goodreads Giveaway running from today until early on 17 July for four free copies. Enter here, if you’d like … Read More
THE DANCE of LOVE : goodreads giveaway. And Bill Viola at St Paul’s, London
In a few days’ time, 17 June to be exact, for a couple of days until midnight on 19 June, two uncorrected paperback pre-publication proofs of THE DANCE of LOVE will be available free in a goodreads giveaway. If you’d like to enter the draw – it’s limited to people living in the UK and … Read More
Writing a novel is just like life …
… it’s only in the doing of it that I discover what works and what doesn’t. I can plan and plan and plan and I do, but when I do I tend, at least some of the time, to let myself get away with vague descriptions, half-formed theories or, sometimes, whole ideas that don’t hold … Read More
The Titanic: the 102nd anniversary of the tragic sinking, and, on a happier note, the launch of SHINY NEW BOOKS
On this day, 102 years ago, many many people drowned, or froze to death, in the icy waters of the north Atlantic after RMS Titanic collided with an iceberg. My great-grandmother, Noël Rothes, was one of the lucky survivors. I wrote about her experience on the 100th anniversary of the sinking, here. But I’m sure there are … Read More
Failure is the Mother of Success; and Paula Meehan
失败是成功之母 Shībài shì chénggōng zhī mǔ Failure is the Mother of Success (a Chinese Proverb) Last week Anne Enright, Booker Prize-winning wonderful writer, gave one of BBC Radio 4’s The Value of Failure programmes. Sadly they’re no longer available to listen to again, but I’ll do my best to convey the essence of what she … Read More
Scared to Say I Love You this Valentine’s Day? Fabularium and Random Acts of Kindness Week
If the very idea of saying I love you this Valentine’s Day scares you to death, may I suggest a remedy: ask yourself why you’re with (or want to be with) the one you love and then make a list of your reasons. I know, it sounds far too practical to be romantic (and probably … Read More
The Shock of the Fall : hurray for mental illness in FICTION
The subject matter of this year’s Costa first novel winner (and now overall 2013 winner), The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Fileris mental illness. Hurray! (Because publishers so often swerve when they see one of those coming.) And hurray for the Borough Press for not swerving. I hope this win will help, as Lionel Shriver’s We … Read More
The Bookbag’s Top Ten Self-Published Books of 2013, and Visitation, a haunting image by Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison
I’ve just heard that the Bookbag has included Speaking of Love in its Top Ten Self-Published Books for 2013. Very exciting. Thank you, Bookbag. And a couple of weeks ago, at ENO‘s miraculous Magic Flute, directed by the ever-inventive Simon McBurney I saw, inside the programme, some of the most haunting, poetic and beautiful images I’ve seen for a long time. … Read More
Free eBook : SPEAKING of LOVE : Friday 15 & Saturday 16 November
On Friday 15 November and Saturday 16 November the kindle edition of SPEAKING of LOVE will be available free. Go here for the UK and here for the US to download your free copy. And if you felt inspired, after you’ve read it, I’d love it if you wrote a review on either or both amazon sites, or … Read More
The Dance of Love will be published in 2014; and roses, FIRST WORLD WAR graves and Gertrude Jekyll
Wonderful news, my second novel, THE DANCE of LOVE, will be published by Robert Hale in July, 2014. It’s very exciting. But, for now, I must get back to work on my third. Just before I do, in a parallel life where all things are possible, I would love to have been as talented as Gertrude … Read More
For the Love of Life in COLLAGES, the Man Booker shortlist and a glorious goat gouda
In my post in July I wrote about the September publication of COLLAGES, a collection of new writing by students on Maggie Hamand’s wonderful CCWC courses. Maggie has kindly included an extract from my third novel, a work in progress called For the Love of Life, in the collection and now you can buy COLLAGES here, if … Read More
Voice, and Bill Viola
I have never really been able to explain to myself what voice means for an artist, and particularly for a writer, even though I know it exists. But when I read this: Voice is a set of ideas and concerns that becomes distinctively owned by the writer. in the summer edition of The Author, at last … Read More