Like all great travellers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen. – Benjamin Disraeli Memory decides our journeys long before we do. It is the narrative drive of our travels and forms the organisation of our experience. Bill Colegrave has collected and been inspired by travel books for …
Lulu Allison: The Relevance of Art in Literature
“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” – Edgar Degas Lulu Allison is a Brighton-based artist and writer. Before she started writing she had already been an established artist. Twice the Speed of Dark is told from the viewpoint of Caitlin, killed by violent boyfriend Ryan. Ten years on, her mother …
DEBRIEF: Publishing Two Books!
This is a view of Bako National Park in Kuching, Borneo, home to millions of flora and fauna many of which are still undiscovered and unknown to humans. It seems the opposite of the Hong Kong in the photo below, yet both of these places are where Cry of the Flying Rhino was born. Publishing …
Editing, schmediting and COVER DESIGN!
I have been working on the cover design with the graphic designer who has designed bestsellers like The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith and Marina Lewycka’s A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian. As a designer myself, I find it both easy and hard to take the back seat and let someone do …
EXCLUSIVE: Heart of Glass structural edit AND Cry of the Flying Rhino publication date
Doctor: So what seems to be the problem? Dude, I am not allowed to complain because I was and am a writer therefore I am already a masochist. In fact I am hanging upside down now flogging myself. It took me more than a decade (I think 13 years and still counting) to write both these …
REVIEW: Secret retro gig on Saturday 10 June 2017 for Writers!
… celebrating for the first time with Unbound authors. It has been 12 or 13 years since I did my MA and listened to ‘readings’ from a writers’ group. I was touched that my new international writer friends had travelled from all over- Italy, Coventry, Winchester, Oxford and London of course, to my corner of SW London. It reminded …
EXCLUSIVE: L@@k inside Heart of Glass cutting room!
“Do not enter when light is on!” Structural edit: that means blasting, incision, internal tissue re-organisation and cosmetic surgery. But of course, I am not talking metaphorically at all. I am talking about the body of work. Words. I’ve created strict exam conditions in the attic AKA the cutting room. There’s no furniture. I sit …
100% in 100 days: Crowdfunding my book “Heart of Glass”
Crowdfunding. Is. Over. The three big little words. 100% in 100 days. And the last 3%? Was the longest, shortest journey in the world (I used to say that about giving birth: new person travelling down 62mm birth canal takes what? Anything from about 2 to 20 hours.) But what a push. What a journey. Made …
What has the 1980s Reagan era got to do with it?
Welcome to the Cinema. Make yourself comfy and watch my 1980s-inspired show. Go on! It’s only 1 minute 19 sec long, I swear. Join in the discussion. The 1980s Reagan era was a time of excess, greed and materialism. Do you agree? Which song or songs from the 80s do you identify with which reflect these values? …
L@@k inside settings of Chicago and Macau EXCLUSIVE! Original VINTAGE material!
If you have been wondering “why Chicago, why Macau?” why not take a look at the original, vintage settings? See inside the excitingly rare1964 book found in a wet market (Chowrasta) in Georgetown, Penang, which inspired the ideas and setting of Heart of Glass. Hope you are “stirred, not shaken.” (HINT) Welcome to everyone on board …