‘You knew how to live in those days’ Peter Sansom Sometime in the early Nineties my friend … More
Tag: Being a Writer
The Year of Living Deeply 14: Which artists do you admire most?
I have been reading Twyla Tharp’s The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It For Life recently. In it she asks … More
The Year of Living Deeply 16: I have carried it with me each day
I have carried it with me each day, that sense of shame about the fact that I write, that it … More
The Year of Living Deeply 15: You don’t have that kind of time
About a month before my friend Pammy died, she said something that may have permanently changed me. We had … More
Grandmaman
A few words about the piece below. I wrote the first draft of it in 1989, a year after the … More
The Year of Living Deeply 19: Open letter _ A week with Mark Hollis
Dear Mark I am sorry it has taken so long to getting round to writing to you, not least because … More
In memory of Les Murray
I was saddened to hear of the death of the Australian poet Les Murray yesterday. In the autumn of 1997, … More
The Year of Living Deeply 11: In the taxi with Twyla Tharp
I have been thinking a lot about habits recently. The unconscious, unthinking ones which, as Sylvia Plath said about words, … More
The Year of Living Deeply 10: A week without –
I have just started reading Twyla Tharp’s The Creative Habit: Learn it and use it for life. Like those other classics … More
Open letter to Alicia Stubbersfield (LentBlog31)
Dear Alicia I can’t believe it is three years since I got to hang out with you at Totleigh … More
Writing prompts (blog post ending with a line by Shawna Lemay) (LentBlog29)
after Shawna Lemay Write a poem about the rain. Or the wind. Write about what you learned at university. … More
Meditation on an envelope (LentBlog24)
Anne Lamott suggests an index card, and I have used these, but they suggest something pre-planned, organised. The envelope, especially … More
Meditation on a line by Joli Jensen (LentBlog21)
It isn’t often that you read something that you know as soon as you read it has the capacity to … More
Meditation on a line by Sherwood Anderson (LentBlog20)
‘I’m trying again. A man has to begin over and over – to try to think and feel only in … More
Staying in touch with my failure rate (LentBlog11)
I always think of myself as working at a rock face. Ninety days out of ninety five, it’s just a … More
The new notebook (LentBlog9)
After Charles Wright Strives for perfection-Thursday Is begun day after votings Old envelope from the hospital) Will … More
The blogs I don’t read (LentBlog8)
When I began blogging almost ten years ago, I felt as though I had been let into the shiny, sugar-scented … More
Interiority (LentBlog3)
‘You good?’ says the book. ‘Yup,’ I say. ‘Good, thanks. All good.’ ‘You’re good. So you’re good,’ the book says. … More