Filming has begun… Exciting stuff. I’m not sure her hair is as out of control as I’ve imagined it when I’ve been reading but perhaps I have visualised her as a bit of a cartoon character… Regardless, I think the Heigl is perfect for this role – I can’t think of another actress (apart from [...]

For various reasons that I shall explain tomorrow I just re-watched this clip from Jon Pinnock. Since I seem to be in the mood for laughing today, I thought I would share it with you. It remains one of the funniest things I’ve seen in ages. (WARNING: You need to be able to understand spoken [...]

Late last year I heard about a project being put together where a different writer each day would put together 350 words and a photo. I applied to be involved, choosing last Wednesday, June 2nd, my birthday as my contribution date. You can read my submission HERE.

Last Thursday was our Bookswap event and by all accounts tonight I should be writing about that. But why do today what you can put off until tomorrow? Instead, a short post on this website from Yann Martel, a man I have adored since reading the prize winning ‘Life of Pi’ I think six years [...]

A friend of mine told me a story at the weekend that he’d read about Harper Lee, author of ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’. He told me that he’d read in the Paris Review that Lee had been given an envelope on a Christmas Tree containing a year’s salary and the instructions just to write whatever [...]

Novelist Arnold Bennett is reputed to have written his book ‘Imperial Palace’ whilst staying at The Savoy where the chefs perfected their recipe of this haddock and cheese omelette for him and put it on the menu. He apparently demanded it from hotels and restaurants all over the world. It will be interesting to see [...]

Cryptomnesia, or inadvertent plagiarism, is a memory bias whereby a person falsely recalls generating a thought, an idea, a song, or a joke, when the thought was actually generated by someone else.[1] In these cases, the person is not deliberately engaging in plagiarism, but is rather experiencing a memory as if it were a new [...]

So, you’re in a shoe shop, second in the queue for the same till. Behind the shop assistant on the till is a pair of shoes that you have seen and you must have them. The female shopper in front of you has seen them and is also eyeing them up with desire. Both of [...]

This is stolen from the wonderful Bookmunch site which I highly recommend you visit. My picks are in bold/italics. The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udal The Stars in the Bright Sky by Alan Warner Even the Dogs by Jon MacGregor The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ by Philip Pullman Naming the Bones by [...]

For REAL. Now that the sun has set on today, know that the future is bright.

My debut novel ‘Thirty Seconds Before Midnight’ is a romantic tragedy set in Sussex and  in London over a few weeks in the summer of 2007. It tells the story of what happens when the old aristo’s move out of  a mansion house to be replaced by rock royalty – Dave Palmer and his family. [...]

I have been very much enjoying this book despite the fact that the plot has degenerated into a series of short stories. Coupland often forgoes actual action for ideas, more about that in the full review, but here’s a short story I really liked. “Beef Rock By Ms. Diana Beaton The gourmet scout party from [...]

A gentleman called Adam Heller told her this joke and I haven’t finished the book yet but I enjoyed this so much I am posting it anyway. Full review in the next few days… “Jim and Tom are best friends. They play gin rummy together every night for twenty years. One terrible day, Tom confesses [...]

Do things always come in threes? My mother says so and she’s very rarely, if ever, wrong. In any case, here’s my third post of the evening on the marvel of the t’interweb. The first, ‘Free Books’, the second ‘Creative Writing Group‘ and now the 3six5 project, discovered via @jonpinnock on Twitter. Much admiration for [...]

Three, One, Four, One, Five, and On The numbers recount their endless tale. Three – Barefoot green, a silent voice. White as hunger, One is twice Bright like babies’ eyes. Four is timid, envious of E. Five, Punctuation or a pregnant sigh Precedes proud Nine, colour of falling night. Two, an unfastened knot, A wayward [...]

Marke but this flea, and marke in this, How little that which thou deny’st me is; Me it suck’d first, and now sucks thee, And in this flea our two bloods mingled bee; Confesse it, this cannot be said A sinne, or shame, or losse of maidenhead, Yet this enjoyes before it wooe, And pamper’d [...]

Lifted from Neil Gaiman’s brilliant biography (I’m about halfway through, full review shortly). Originally published in Eagle and Boys’ World, 27th February 1965. ” ‘London Transport Lost Property Office’ – this is it,” said Mr Smith, looking in at the window. As he went in he tripped over the little step and almost crashed through [...]

My all time heroes in no particular order: Gerald Durrell, Douglas Adams, Helen Fisher, David Attenborough. So. In a kind of literary relay race, Eoin Colfer is picking up Adams’ baton. It’s not a new idea, but it’s not happened before to someone’s writing I have loved so much. I discovered Douglas Adams when I [...]