Archive | October, 2009

Art at the Barbican

31 October 2009 · Living · Comments { 0 }

I went to the Barbican recently for two exhibitions – Radical Nature and the Free Art Fair. I liked the first more than the second. The Free Art Fair was a great idea: have am exhibition at the Barbican and give away the work at the end through a random draw. It was ruined, though, [...]

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Congratulations, Ruth Dugdall!

30 October 2009 · Literary events · Comments { 2 }

Last year I won the Luke Bitmead Writer’s Bursary, an event that changed my life and led to the publication of On the Holloway Road. This year it is the turn of Ruth Dugdall with her novel The Woman Before Me. The award ceremony last night was a wonderful experience for me personally. It was [...]

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Biological debt

29 October 2009 · The writing process · Comments { 3 }

Saw this interesting take on the body’s energy levels. At the moment I am working nights to supplement my writing income, so energy is something I always struggle with. I generally don’t drink caffeine, but sometimes when I’m desperate to make quick progress I do. When I wrote the first draft of On the Holloway [...]

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“The Death of Ivan Ilyich” by Leo Tolstoy

27 October 2009 · Reading · Comments { 2 }

A man dies slowly and in great agony. He ponders the meaning of life, and this increases his anguish: even worse than the physical pain of a slow, lingering death is the spiritual anguish of realising he has wasted his life. Tolstoy’s main target here is dishonesty and hypocrisy. This is established from the opening [...]

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Monday morning inspiration

26 October 2009 · Thinking · Comments { 1 }

“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot

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Media hoaxes and churnalism

25 October 2009 · Literary events · Comments { 1 }

Greg Watts just linked to an interesting article in the Financial Times about the recent spate of media hoaxes, like a boy supposedly trapped in a balloon and a fake US Chamber of Commerce press conference on climate change, and the wider questions of media credibility. For me, the hoaxes are definitely a symptom of [...]

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“The Iron Duke” by L. Ron Hubbard

20 October 2009 · Reading · Comments { 3 }

I don’t generally read this kind of thing, but it was given away free by a very nice lady on the L. Ron Hubbard stand at the London Book Fair earlier this year. I don’t like to write anything off without having read it first, so I thought I’d give it a try. The writing [...]

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Monday morning inspiration

19 October 2009 · Thinking · Comments { 0 }

“And in the end it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” – Abraham Lincoln

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Why the London Evening Standard is dying

17 October 2009 · Thinking · Comments { 1 }

A few weeks ago, I walked past an Evening Standard vendor, and glanced at the headline: “WORLD’S FIRST AIDS VACCINE”. This was big news – a massive scientific breakthrough that could save millions of lives. My response was to shake my head and keep walking. People think the Standard’s circulation is plummeting because of the [...]

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“In Dependence” by Sarah Ladipo Manyika

16 October 2009 · Reading · Comments { 1 }

I love the opening line of this book: One could begin with the dust, the heat and the purple bougainvillea. One might even begin with the smell of rotting mangos tossed by the side of the road where the flies hummed and green-bellied lizards bobbed their orange heads while loitering in the sun. But why [...]

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