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My Writing Day

What follows was intended as a competition entry, but they wanted 1000 words and there  wasn’t any more to say. I like to practise ’emotional economy’. The master of that is Colm Toibin, by the way. ‘My Writing Day’ or ‘What I did yesterday’ I lived other people’s lives, mainly. The lives of my imagined ... Read More
 

Turning true stories into fiction

I’ve just read a news story about a personal shopper who, in a fit of jealousy, destroyed her boyfriend’s (ex-boyfriend’s, surely?) expensive clothes. The female protagonist in my second novel is a personal shopper and I know better than to have her behave like that – personal shoppers have too much respect for expensive clothes ... Read More
 

‘Looking on the bright side’ or ‘Carpal Tunnel Syndrome’

Advice and sympathy are pouring – or rather, trickling – in. When I last blogged I was waiting for inspiration for my third novel while waiting for the verdict of The Oxford Editors on my second. The verdict was very encouraging and I have done a little revising and now wonder where to send it. ... Read More
 

You can’t win if you don’t enter

After a run of three small successes with my (unpublished and unagented) novel, whose title Timed Out seems to be becoming ever more resonant, I have done a fair bit of showing off to  friends and  creative writing classmates. The latter often seem over-impressed, and having read or heard their work, I can’t understand why ... Read More
 

What have I learned from a first class creative writing course?

Mourning the end of University of East Anglia/Guardian six months course on the novel, I want to record what I think I have learned. Please send me comments or additions from your own experience. Have had to unlearn some bad habits – I think attributable to my academic background and my forays into short story ... Read More