Retreat – Day 2

A good day yesterday. Most of the creative effort went into editing "Reunion" plus some sonnet-dabbling. Had a snooze after lunch to try and catch-up on Tuesday's poor night's sleep, and another short walk before dinner for cobweb-blowing. The highlight was the 'open mic' though. I read my short story "Downsizing", two sonnets - "Pilgrimage" … Continue reading Retreat – Day 2 →

How important is tomorrow?

~ a question centred on the concrete yet wrapped up to sound philosophical and therefore more meaningful. It's one of those questions where we all instinctively think we know the answer - of course! - yet I suspect consistently fail to act on that basis. The 'concrete' is the beginning of a five-day writers' retreat … Continue reading How important is tomorrow? →

Allotment Project update: it’s amazing what you can achieve in 6 months or so!

Please check-out the latest update on our allotment project.

Whatever you measure, make sure it’s the right thing…

Three months ago I wrote a post describing how I used a tracker to measure my artistic endeavours - and how I used the log as a way to justify that I was working hard, making progress, being productive. All the numbers looked good. Clever me. The metrics were based on the number of projects … Continue reading Whatever you measure, make sure it’s the right thing… →

The Allotment Project

Our first update of the year is here.

A walk around my writing space…

I thought I'd take you on a brief tour of my writing space: https://videopress.com/v/Qpde066u?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true And in case you wondered where all the novels are - or some of them anyway...

The perils of sitting down

I have hurt my back. Yesterday, while stretching before going for a run, I managed to tweak it a little - and today I'm in agony. Ever since I damaged it a few years ago, my back has always been my weak spot. I suspect we all have them, somewhere that fails first and fastest … Continue reading The perils of sitting down →

Weighing up adventures

I feel inclined towards an adventure. Having now thrown myself wholeheartedly into my writing and publishing, 2022 seems destined to be a 'big' year. Make or break. And the elements that will define the year are already queuing up: at least three 'writing retreats' either as mentor or participant;four new works of my own - … Continue reading Weighing up adventures →

Elizabeth Barraclough

Elizabeth Barraclough was my wife's aunt. 24 hours ago that 'was' would have been an 'is'. Elizabeth was one of the most remarkable people I think I have ever met. For example, in the late fifties and early sixties she was a leading light in the computer department at Newcastle University - I know, a … Continue reading Elizabeth Barraclough →

Sound body, sound mind – another update

Since my original post (appended below) I have now completed 30 stages (from a revised 60) of my journey since 'leaving' Land's End, cycling some 747km. Progress was a little slower in December than previously, but I hope to ramp it up again during Q1'22. In a virtual sense, therefore, I am now just about … Continue reading Sound body, sound mind – another update →