As you know, I periodically take time out to catch up on the literary journals. Keeps me on my toes. So I thought I’d share a few more discovered gems with you this week. Save you the hassle of ploughing through all those how-to articles and lists of writerly-survival-tactics for days on end – as [...]
Wow! It’s not every day your home is on TV described as having the capacity to become ‘an international treasure’. But mine was last Thursday. I grew up in Cornwall on the Pentillie Estate with a grandstand view of the Tamar valley from the back of our house. At the time, a largish chunk of [...]
Jack is five years old. He lives in a tiny single room measuring 11 feet square with a locked door, Bath, Toilet, Wardrobe, Bed, Table, Freezer, Cabinet, Rocker and TV. And Ma. Their only contact with the outside world is a skylight and the night-time visits of ‘Old Nick.’ For Jack, ‘real’ is their room [...]
I’ve done far less than usual in the Festival this year because I’ve been committed to raising money for Africa and had visitors to look after. But I thought I’d share a few gems from the Book Festival – just so you know I DID go when I could! Audrey Niffenegger (Author and graphic artist [...]
At this time of year I have a sort of love-hate relationship with the city. Edinburgh, I mean. Because the festivals – no, THE FESTIVALS – are in full swing. The city itself is a crazy hugely over-populated maze splattered with lost motorists who don’t understand British road markings, suicidal tourists who find the only [...]
Just over forty years ago I damaged my back in an accident at work. Suffice to say, it involved a difficult delivery of a baby, a retained placenta, a slippery operating room floor, and a heavy anaesthetic trolley. I was pregnant at the time so declined X-rays to establish a precise diagnosis. I’ve had problems [...]
Continue reading about Back or books? Which takes precedence?
Has anyone out there got my signed copy of … No, I won’t embarrass you. As Voltaire said in the early eighteen century: What we find in books is like the fire in our hearths. We fetch it from our neighbours, we kindle it at home, we communicate it to others, and it becomes the [...]
I have a row of folders beside my desk containing ideas for future novels. Twenty-plus at the last count. (20 more novels? Who am I kidding?) They’re the accumulation of more than ten years’ collecting, started back in the days when I fondly imagined publishers would keep up with manuscripts! Plots, issues, twists and facts, [...]
Sigh … another sigh – king-size this time … groan … gnash of teeth. It’s official. On Amazon even. My next book, Saving Sebastian, will not now be out until January 2012. And yes, I’ve been both frustrated and cross. At each stage I completed my side of things on time – if not early. [...]