“I learned that you should feel when writing, not like Lord Byron on a mountain top, but like a child stringing beads in kindergarten – happy, absorbed and quietly putting one bead on after another.” Brenda Ueland
Archive | July, 2009

And the winner is…
After much reading and re-reading and writing of lists, I awarded the London Fringe Short Fiction Award to Alex Burger for his story London: Through a Glass Darkly. The theme of the contest was ‘London: Glamour and Grime’, and I thought Alex’s story explored the theme in a very innovative way. The story is narrated [...]

Google Me Stupid
Just read a great article by Rita Carter in the Spring edition of The Author. It’s not available online, but it makes reference to, and explores many of the same issues as, this Atlantic article by Nicholas Carr. The basic issue, hinted at in the title: reading on the internet is different from reading a [...]
Monday Morning Inspiration
“Close the door. Write with no one looking over your shoulder. Don’t try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It’s the one and only thing you have to offer.” Barbara Kingsolver
Monday Morning Inspiration #13
“If you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything.” — Malcolm X
Monday Morning Inspiration #12
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

“A Million Little Pieces” by James Frey
I read this book before it was exposed as containing significant doses of fiction. I was blown away by the raw power of the story and the spare, hard-hitting writing. It’s hard for me to say how much of that was because I thought it was true. Certainly that added something. When you believe the [...]
-
The 20 best Caribbean book blogs
1 October 2012
-
Liebster Award reloaded
1 November 2012
-
The cafe killer
29 October 2012
-
The Kindle Report: does it beat paper?
4 December 2012
-
The next big thing…
4 January 2013
-
We could take a train, be miles away by morning…
6 May 2013
-
Ten years ago: Voluntary poverty in New York City
30 April 2013
-
Some interviews
22 April 2013
-
Giveaway: Granta Best of Young British Novelists 2003
18 April 2013
-
How to Improve your Foreign Language Immediately
15 April 2013
-
Jenni: Very descriptive blog, I loved that bit. Will the...
-
Leslie Finkel: Andrew, I appreciated your review and the comme...
-
Geo Marquez: week*...
-
Geo Marquez: I read for 9 hours a day of pure science fiction a...
-
Evan: What I'm starting to think here is that the refer...
