Leap before you look

The problem with having had the gleam is that for it to mean anything, work has to ensue. I hate … More

Another good week

Fourth Sunday in Advent This was another good week. Because it had rest in it. Because I re-read Anne Lamott’s … More

I am tired. Though I write from a place of privilege and of safety, I am tired. Tired of feeling … More

I want to congratulate you on passing this course and achieving QTS in this uniquely difficult and strange year. None … More

About a month before my friend Pammy died, she said something that may have permanently changed me. We had … More

There’s an old Mel Brooks routine where the psychiatrist tells his patient, “Listen to your broccoli, and your broccoli … More

Like a lot of things I am ashamed to admit discovering late in life -Audre Lorde, James Baldwin, Deborah Levy, … More

Anne Lamott suggests an index card, and I have used these, but they suggest something pre-planned, organised. The envelope, especially … More

It isn’t often that you read something that you know as soon as you read it has the capacity to … More

Towards the end of my treatment for cancer in 2006 I had one of the most profound conversations of … More

One of the more interesting paradoxes of analysing the interviews of professional writers during the Teachers as Writers (TaW) … More

‘Listening to the cricket again?’ says the book. ‘I think I’ll join you.’ ‘What do you mean, ‘again’?’ I say. … More

‘Hullo,’ says the book. ‘I thought you had gone away.’ ‘I lied,’ says the book. ‘What are you going to … More

When I write, I feel like an armless, legless many with a crayon in his mouth -Kurt Vonnegut A friend … More

My blog post yesterday about the stationery thing provoked more responses than I ever imagined it would. Among the … More

I’m grateful to you, you see. I wanted to tell you. –Raymond Carver (‘For Tess’) A kind, wise man once … More

I wrote recently about poets who disappear from view, specifically Susannah Amoore, from Faber’s Poetry Introduction 6. My point is far … More

The chances are, more of us are mortal than have multiple orgasms -Violet Weingarten, Intimations of Mortality When I was diagnosed … More