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Writing
DUST
Who is the best-dressed Beatle in the recent Get Back documentary? My personal choice would be George, but that’s only if we’re confining selection criteria to official members of the band itself. During the 468 minutes of footage, shot by Michael Lyndsay-Hogg in January 1969 and edited more
Writing
A Review Of Some Of The Contents Of My House By A Domesticated Moorland Pixie
LAMPS There are too many lamps here. Far, far too many. Of course, my highly developed night vision colours my opinion on this subject but I still think there are far too many lamps. Isn’t the whole point of having big lights to not require little ones as well?
Writing
Undercliff
I wake up and realise today is a day I want to: a) grab the ever more brief daylight firmly in my hands before it slips away, b) see somewhere new, c) thrash out some of my creative future in my head, d) feel salt spray on my face and
Writing
The Meadow Of The Rays Of The Sun
I have quite a lot of ivy on my house. I had quite a lot ivy on my house when I moved into it this time last year, too, but since then it’s been hard at work, behind my back. “Do not mind me,” says the ivy. “I will
Writing
Fiction: Six Tiny Stories About Sheep
The Stolen Bike It was after Jesse and I stole the bike that we saw the man and the sheep walking down the lane towards us. The man was extremely old, 42 at the very least, and was well known in the village for taking the sheep with him to
Writing
Late Summer, 2021: A Personal Compendium
I’m calling it summer because we had to wait a long time for it this year, and it seems, thankfully, to be still persevering with its business. Small winged creatures continue to feast on my flesh and I found a squirrel in the living room the other day, enjoying
Writing
Ramblecast: Maiden Castle
PART ONE: PART TWO: You can reserve a special first edition hardback of my novel Villager - which will be published next spring - and aid the funding of the book in the process here. My latest book is called Notebook. I recommend ordering from Blackwells, who are independent, and
Writing
Newton Abbot
It was a grey drizzly day so, for no pressing reason, I decided to go to Newton Abbot. Several people had warned me about Newton Abbot - whose many local nicknames include 'Mutant Rabbit' - when I first moved to Devon, at the beginning of 2014. “Just whatever
Writing
RALPH (2001-2021)
Last Thursday was a scorchingly hot day and I decided it would be the day I would chop down the wisteria on the front of my house. I like wisteria but this particular wisteria was failing to fulfil what could be argued to be its two central duties as wisteria:
Writing
Reading
Do I read to write, or write to read? I have asked myself this question numerous times over the last decade or two, and I don’t think the answer is ever going to be clear cut. What I can say is that nearly all my reading is in some
Writing
The Man On The Rocks (new fiction)
They say that when it comes to romance it’s only when you’re not looking for it that you’ll properly find it, and that’s kind of how it was with me and Dave. I wasn’t looking for a skinny, brooding man sitting on top of an