Oops! Haven’t posted in quite a while. Time flies when you’re in a pandemic. Ironically, it is lockdown that somehow seemed to stifle my creativity. Most people, facing being stuck at home with time on their hands, got on with learning new skills and taking up new hobbies. For me, Read more…
If you have read The Planet Baggers and are a fan of my style of humour then, whilst you patiently await The Space Hoppers, perhaps I could point you in the direction of a series of short humorous stories based on the fictional alter-ego of the singer, Katie Melua. Anyone Read more…
The Planet Baggers is one of the most amusing and entertaining books I have ever read. There’s nothing quite like getting a good review from another writer, and that is exactly what author Johan Bakker has kindly given The Planet Baggers. Johan is known for his insightful Eva Cassidy biography Read more…
Much has been said about the benefits of walking. There can be no doubt it is good for both physical and mental health but for a writer those are additional benefits. For walking does so much more. It stimulates and inspires the brain. Not only is the brain being fed Read more…
It seems a lot of writers have trouble coming up with names for their characters. Thankfully, I’ve never had any trouble doing that—it’s the story itself that gives me sleepless nights. Telling you that names just pop up in my head isn’t much use to you, so I thought I’d Read more…
Many people find writing poems and lyrics difficult. So here’s my tip—keyword brainstorming.Say you wanted to write a song about being dumped via a text message. Identify the keywords—in this case “text” and “dumped”. Then for each one make a synonym and rhymes list. First, write down any synonyms or Read more…
My search for the holy grail of text editors, the one app to rule them all, seems to be never-ending. The trouble is that I may be expecting too much from one piece of software—I want an attractive distraction-free editor with enough functionality to write blog posts and novels but Read more…
If you like to write in Editor-only full screen view in Ulysses you can have a very minimalist distraction-free writing environment. The trouble is you can have your flow regularly disrupted by having to reach for the mouse and hunt for things in menus. Thankfully, you can minimize that disruption Read more…
If you have read “The Picts and the Martyrs” by Arthur Ransome you will know what the Dog’s Home is. A little stone hut in the middle of a forest where Dick and Dorothea found themselves living for a while. Reading about it as a child made me verdant green Read more…
If you want to be good at anything in life it pays to use the best tools and equipment you can get. The words “budget” and “value” should not be on your radar when it comes to choosing the tools of your trade. That is why I bought a MacBook Read more…