Flash fiction Their adult lives were so enticing. Foreign words, words behind hands, behind doors. How could you not listen and learn far more than you were ever told? You needed to know about lies and truth. You soon learned that the truth came from listening behind the door. In…

It seems obvious but most people don’t do any of these things — I have never met a novelist, either in person or online, who doesn’t want to get their novel/s published. They might not come right out and say it, but you can tell. And it’s a valid dream. Why the hell not? I was like that, too. …

This little museum in Lyon is a gem — part 2 — In my previous article, featuring the Museum of Cinema and Miniatures, I showed you the amazing variety of costumes and props from a range of movies and TV shows, all in many rooms that you wind your way through from floor to floor. But at the top is a whole…

This gem is easily missed if you are not looking for it —

When several of my favorite writers say goodbye, I wonder Today I read an article by Umair Haque, one of the writers whom I read very regularly. Umair is looking at moving away from Medium. I went … WTF?? What will I do now? Well, I guess I will follow…

There are lots of reasons why you might be — and here’s why — Nobody wants to write one book and then disappear from the world of books and publishing. But it can happen a lot more easily than you think. There are some obvious reasons, and some not so obvious. …

“Being Mortal” tells it like it is — and it empowered me — You may not be old yet, but it’s pretty well guaranteed that you’re going to be, sooner or later. Most people don’t want to think about that, but if you don’t — well in advance — your old age is likely to be pretty darned miserable. I worry about this…

You can do it in school or with your kids at home — I do lots of writing workshops in schools. Mostly I’m asked to work with kids on writing stories, but what I really want to do is poetry! There are lots of reasons for this. Firstly, I’m often only given an hour. An hour is not long enough for anyone to…

When you can’t write what is deep inside your heart, how does that affect your stories? — Writing classes and workshops can be scary places for writers. In most of them, at some point, you will be asked to present a piece of your writing to the group for feedback. …