I had forgotten that writing a novel is an endurance sport mixed in with monastic solitude. But, here we are at the end of National Novel...

We’re approaching November which is National Novel Writing Month. The idea of writing a novel in those 30 days is upon us. The concept is...

I wish there was a way to wave a magic wand and the beginning of a novel would suddenly appear. It doesn’t work like that, as any author...

I've been thinking of some of the (many) mistakes I made when I was starting out as a writer, and thought it would be worth gathering...

Nearly 30 years ago, my first boss, Tony Klinger, gave me a hardback copy of Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum for my birthday – at the...

There were stories about what’s happened. It’s true. All of it. The Dark Side. The Jedi. They’re real. I was seven when Star Wars came...

Planning a PhD Nearly two decades ago, I started thinking about what it would be like to do a PhD. I think I was attracted by the title...

November is the “National Novel Writing month” (NaNoWriMo). It’s a time for aspiring writers to forget all those chores that they do to...

In 1980, the cliffhanger of the third season of Dallas was "Who shot J.R.?" The world went into frenzy, trying to find out who had tried...

I’ve been working hard on a new project over the last couple of months – typical that the muse mugged me and demanded my attention around...