You can call me a little sad if you want to, but I have established a routine when - exactly as now - I'm having my breakfast: check my Author dashboard on Goodreads.com to see if there are any new reviews / scores for my books, and, when appropriate, update what I'm reading, like yesterday; … Continue reading Is it wrong to want to know who’s buying your books?
Having recently finished the first draft of my new novel - "At Maunston Quay" - and having drawn a line under what may well prove to be my next collection of poetry - I am in editing mode again. It's a strange time in many ways. I like it because it's a period filled with promise, … Continue reading Some kind of biorhythm: writing, revising, publishing…
If you are going to be even remotely honest, you have to eschew reputation - and reputation as a poet is something Andrew McMillan is gaining in the UK. For my part, however, his collection "playtime" left me remarkably cold. So cold, in fact, that I have just given up reading it, unable to see … Continue reading “playtime”
Not me personally, you understand. Just in terms of what I'm reading. I have two books on the go - one fiction, one poetry - and when it comes to writing my short reviews here, I can already see they will pose a problem. I'm not naive or vain enough to think what I say … Continue reading Having a bad week…
I have just read Ted Hughes' poem "Chaucer" from the volume 'Birthday Letters', a vast collection of pieces written for / about Sylvia Plath. The thing that struck me about "Chaucer" - indeed as it has about many of the poems I have thus far read in the book - is that they read like … Continue reading Would this be acceptable – or theft?
Changing Trains An express lances through a verdant cutting. Insistent, a tell-tale whistle of air compressed against an aerodynamic shell; air forced aside as the train has somewhere more important to be. The tuning-fork wheel hum on unending miles of extruded track robs us of a heartbeat, like grieving for that throat-clearing cough from the … Continue reading Changing Trains
Five days ago I made an offer of a free book to WordPress readers. A number of people liked the post and checked-out the link, but no-one signed up for either of the books. This bothered me somewhat as my audience is largely driven by fellow writers and readers, people who search for things tagged as 'writing', … Continue reading Something for nothing – really?!
The Cut-out I try and imagine the irregular space he will leave, the awkwardness of it. Will it have boundaries, soft-boiled edges to compromise if you’re not too careful, like stranger-bumping in a Tesco’s chiller aisle? Stolen from unconcerned history and devoid of value, I could take this abstract replica in all its coarse … Continue reading The Cut-out
In order to say 'Thank you' to those of you who have read and followed Writeral.com and my blog over the past two years or so, I would like to offer you a free copy of one of my books in ebook format. The choices are either my collection of short stories, "Secrets & Wisdom", … Continue reading FREE BOOK to say ‘Thank you’
a few precious words are released unprotected into the maelstrom living on their wits and the genius to melt into an image the mind’s eye trick to trace pattern myth and ghosts in the never-there when we caress them our crass manipulation falls so often short yet there they remain imperious … Continue reading Untitled
Ian Gouge - Writer 