Tag Archives | barbados

Test of stamina at Bim Literary Festival, day two

21 May 2012 · Literary events · Comments { 1 }

Wow. That was intense. Three hours on a hard bench listening to poetry readings with no break and no refreshments. That’s a real test. Luckily it was an open-air event, on the boardwalk at Hastings (the Barbados one, not the UK one). It was easy to get up and stretch your legs occasionally, and the [...]

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How writers generate ideas

7 May 2012 · The writing process · Comments { 14 }

One of the most common questions I’m asked whenever I give a talk is “How do you generate ideas?” The honest answer is: I don’t.
Oh, I’ve tried. Believe me, I have. I’ve sat at the computer all morning and willed myself to generate an idea. Sometimes, after a few hours of mental torture, if a deadline is looming, I’ve managed to squeeze out something, just one idea at least. The trouble is, I know even as I’m typing it out that it’s not very good.

The best ideas, you see, come in a completely different way.

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Finding some inspiration

15 February 2012 · Living · Comments { 19 }

Sometimes, as much as I like writing, I get tired of it. Towards the end of last year, it became difficult, and I started to dread it, and I wasn’t happy with what I was producing, and I let myself get too busy with other things. I needed a change of scene. I am fortunate [...]

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Reading 8 or 9 hours a day

13 February 2010 · Literary events · Comments { 3 }

George Lamming also said something quite amazing in his speech, and I forgot to mention it in my last post. He mentioned that he reads for 8 or 9 hours a day, and has done throughout his life. If he doesn’t read that much, he feels – I forget the word he used, but basically [...]

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George Lamming on “The politics of reading”

9 February 2010 · Reading · Comments { 2 }

While I was in Barbados over Christmas and New Year, I went to a literary event – the 12th annual award ceremony for the Frank Collymore Literary Endowment, on Saturday 9 January 2010. The keynote speaker was George Lamming, probably Barbados’s best-known writer. He gave a fascinating speech on the politics of reading, which I [...]

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