Countries I have slept in…

As part of my ongoing thinking about "Near Enough", I came up with this list. Not too shabby is it? Australia Belgium China Denmark England Finland France Germany Greece Grenada Guernsey Hong Kong (pre- and post-China acquisition) India Indonesia Ireland Italy Japan Kenya The Netherlands Northern Ireland Scotland Sierra Leone Singapore Spain Sweden Switzerland USA … Continue reading Countries I have slept in…

1966 and all that..!

Yesterday I visited the resplendent Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle. 'Only in England’ is a temporary exhibition of black-and-white photographs by Tony Ray-Jones and Martin Parr. In the case of the former, the images were predominately set between 1966 and 1968, many captured on the beaches of southern England. This was my era and my … Continue reading 1966 and all that..!

Forwards or Backwards?

Question. If you set yourself the task of writing a single blog entry / post every day and had these two options, which would you choose? You could only write forwards, in anticipation, at the end of previous day / very early on the day in question - and only cover what you were expecting to … Continue reading Forwards or Backwards?

Updated ‘Home’ page…

I have just updated the Writeral 'Home' page. Some additional words, and the insertion of links to the individual pages to make navigation easier / faster. That's it. Writeral Home

“Near Enough” – a snippet

Taken from first scribblings, and the putative second 'chapter' called "Ancient History"... Of my mother’s five siblings, I knew her sisters - my aunts - best of all. My recollections of Ernie are sketchy and probably limited to imperfect recollections of the Isle of Wight (place again!). Cyril I never met thanks to the intervention … Continue reading “Near Enough” – a snippet

“Near Enough”

"The approximate biography of a man who still hasn’t given up on literary glory..." Fact or fiction? It's an idea... “Near Enough” – a snippet

Making a start…

Because this was too good not to get down... Let's see where it goes. “Life,” she said, “is a bit like peeling brussels sprouts.” He had been sitting at the dining table worrying at a jigsaw puzzle that had too much sky. Increasingly blurry, uniform blue shapes stared back at him defiantly. The space he … Continue reading Making a start…

March ’17 – Quick Review

Occasionally - at various and irregular points in time - I like to stand back and review where I am with my writing. This normally happens either a) when nothing has been going on for a while(!), or b) after something significant has actually happened! So, with the completion of my submission yesterday to the PS … Continue reading March ’17 – Quick Review

Instant Inspiration

At Ripon Writers' Group (28th February) there was an 'Instant Inspiration" exercise. The idea was that from a number of objects / props / photographs you selected one thing, wrote about it, and then read to the whole group the end result. Once you had chosen your item, writing time was about 25-30 minutes. I picked … Continue reading Instant Inspiration

Competition time!

I have just submitted a 53-page manuscript for the Prairie Schooner 2017 Book Prize. Prairie Schooner is a long-established magazine based out of the Nebraska in the US. Part of the first prize is to have the winning entries published - hence them needing to be 'book sized'. And - hey! - if I don't … Continue reading Competition time!