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Mr Tumnal has an eclectic taste in music. His music collection is entirely vinyl and (mostly) cassette, with some recent additions on CD, thus, Kathryn buys him an iPod which she has engraved for him: For your music collection and…
Continue readingFrom the very first page of Mr Tumnal, you know that music is very important to Lewis/Louis and to his lives. How important you will have to wait to fully discover. With such importance you might expect me to know…
Continue readingStories can come to the writer through deep consideration or through random chance. Mr Tumnal came to existence from the latter. As the acknowledgements in the front of the first edition, to be be published in just over two days time,…
Continue readingSo, I’m back to work tomorrow after a nice, if tiring, seven days off. Tiring maybe, but its been a good mid-term break between Summer and Christmas. And productive too! Emma and I are now living in a transformed house,…
Continue readingIn a little over three week’s time my curious little tale of Mr Tumnal will be published. It’s been quite a journey for me over the years and as I write this I am filled with a mixture of excitement…
Continue reading300 days ago in the dark days of winter, Eleanor at work pointed me towards this fun looking challenge to post a picture of something that makes me happy every day for 100 days. Apparently 71% of people fail this…
Continue readingLast Saturday we visited the brilliant 26 Characters exhibition at Oxford’s Story Museum. This morning I was reading some of the accompanying book, and by chance I got to the bit where children’s author Frances Hardinge talks about why she…
Continue readingToday I have had the best afternoon out in Oxford, ever! Emma and I headed into the city this afternoon to go to the excellent and inspiring home of The Story Museum – I think that maybe this place, the…
Continue readingSo tonight sees me finding the first of a regular series of evenings which I can devote squarely to my writing. Thursdays have been, for the last 14 years(!!) band night, and since I’ve been with Emma Thursday’s have thus…
Continue readingThere is something quite special about being back in the writing zone. I’ve missed it. On the 27 July 2013 I finished my last novel, and since then I’ve been keeping my creativity going with editing Mr Tumnal, along with…
Continue readingI’m a high-user of social networking. I admit it. I have been for over a decade now, having started my Livejournal early in 2003 partly as a response to being bullied at work. Since then, I have met friends, networked…
Continue readingThis evening I find myself tired. In my day job, it has been Open Day, and the October one is one of our biggest and most important for next year’s recruitment. I always feel a bit of a fraud for…
Continue readingI am creative. I am an author. I got these wise words from Joanna Penn and her latest blog post about Lessons Learned From 3 Years As An Author-Entrepreneur. It’s weird to say this considering how much I love books, always…
Continue readingEmma and I have just got back from a very nice day at Cogges Manor Farm, celebrating the wedding of two very good friends, Lucy and Luke. From the detailed, hand-illustrated, invitations we always knew that the day was going…
Continue readingThis evening, instead of making for my mad dash to a sweat-inducing bus, I met up with a couple of old schoolfriends – Ricki and Natasha – who I haven’t seen in just about 20 years (Rachel and Joe’s wedding…
Continue readingTwo years ago it seemed like just about the entire country was in the thrall of the London 2012 Olympics; we were all still talking about that Opening Ceremony; and the music that featured in it was still ringing in…
Continue readingI’m between books. I’m not completely done with Mr Tumnal, but I’ve not started something new. I think I want to write my In Your Own Words story I have brewing (which is every bit as weird and wonky as…
Continue readingWhenever I start a new notebook to jot down my writing notes there comes first a period where I have to transcribe bits and pieces across from the old to the new. I have quite a collection of truly interesting story…
Continue readingThis morning, on my journey into work I saw something – or someone – that I was least expecting to see. From the upstairs window of the bus, I could see a pirate cycling up Headington Hill. Now, some might…
Continue readingI woke this morning, as usual with Radio 4 and Farming Today with every intention of getting up. In fact, I thought – I dreamed – that I did get up and unbelievably, showered, dressed, fed the puss cats, had breakfast…
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