I’m thrilled to discover that Kill-Grief has been selected as one of the ten titles to feature in the Exclusively Independent initiative for April.

Read Full Post

I love physics. You say "physics" to me and I get a thrill. It's not that I want to do physics - I tried that, it didn't work. But I think the endeavour of physicists is magical, they are asking the biggest "What if...?" questions in the universe, of the universe: "What if 90% of the universe was made of stuff we can't see?" (dark matter). "What if fundamentally we are all made of tiny vibrating strings?" (string theory). Physicists are creative, imaginative, seeing the world in ways no-one else has seen it before, and dreaming up experiments to test their theories. Thrilling!

So when I heard that someone called Sue Guiney was writing a novel with a main character who was a physicist (and who might just resemble John Cusack), I couldn't wait to read it. Novels I'd read with scientists in the title role had generally been written by scientists, who are not necessarily writers. Let's leave it at that. The ultimate book of "science-inspired fiction" for me is Einstein's Dreams, by Alan Lightman, who is a scientist, a collection of beautiful and moving fictions imagining what Einstein might have dreamed about while coming up with his theory of relativity.

Sue Guiney, an American poet, playwright and novelist living in London now for almost twenty years, has done what I've been waiting for , combining science and fiction, integrate physics into her writing smoothly and effortless, so that it is a part of the plot and not a "gimmick" in any way.

John, the 40-something single physicist, tells half the story, alternating with his late mother, Grace. The two stories, the two people, are entangled in a similar way to the idea of "quantum entanglement", which, very simplistically, says that a pair of particles are split apart are still related, can still have an effect on each other over a distance. And, in John and Grace's case, over time as well as space. Tangled Roots (published by Bluechrome and now out in paperback) is a very fitting title. This wonderful book, which reveals more layers with each reading, deals with so many themes and topics: parenthood, childhood, tragedy, disappointment, depression, infidelity, the question of happiness, and the nature of reality itself.

I'm delighted to be the Middle East stop on Sue's Space-Time Virtual Book Tour. Welcome, Sue!


Read Full Post

It could be that our Frith Street 'Lao Shi' sees us chewing our pencils and decides we're wondering how to spend our holiday free time. Or maybe he thinks we'll forget everything if we don't attend a twice-weekly Mandarin class for a whole month.

Read Full Post

I was first alerted to the WriteInvite site by the ever-first-off-the-starting-block Womag, at http://womagwriter.blogspot.com/ who, following on from a very informative post about the opportunities for writers to try their luck in the fillers’ market, described the weekly online competition as one more opportunity to make money from your writing. Intrigued, I followed her link to http://www.write-invite.com/

Read Full Post

So my husband had to travel to London today. However he could not wear his usual suit and tie but had to don jeans and a jumper. Why? Because he was advised this would be best due to the protesting that would be taking place. Apparently, and I do not mean the peaceful protesters who just want to air their views but more the 'thugs' who travel from all over Europe just for the opportunity to cause trouble. Apparently they were going to attack the 'suits' in London.

At 9.30am I get a text from my worse half informing me he had arrived safely. Just after lunchtime I hear he has had a wander to see what the rioters were getting up to.

Is it me or were men at the back of the queue when brains were distributed?

My very short story, The Angel in the Car Park is now live over at Rainy City Stories. This makes me happy because Rainy City Stories is a project I think is really cool (and has an editor who has been a dream to work with).

And I have a confession. I stole the title. There's a story in Tania Hershman's exceptionally wonderful collection called the Angel in the Car Park (which is also exceptionally wonderful) and it inspired me. So thanks to Tania for that (who, again, for the record, is exceptionally wonderful also).

(This act of theft has actually given birth to a very cool and top secret project of my own. If you're lucky, and if you're good, then maybe, one day, I shall tell you more about it.)

*

And now a question.

I was with friends a couple of evenings ago, both of whom are considerable movie buffs. They know their stuff.

They'd been to see a film and had been disappointed with it. This led to a discussion during which one of them critisised the ending for being depressing. He said, when we go to the cinema we don't want to be depressed. And then he said, 'Or do we?' - and reeled off a list of great films which were not joyous in theme.

The following day I read something I'd recently written to my writing group. It's a short piece and it starts of being quite funny. And then it plummets in mood and the ending is, well, not one to leave you grinning - and I think it left the group collectively feeling sad. It's also an ending which I absolutely believe is right for the piece.

Read Full Post

One of the things that helps me when I am feeling anxious*, as I seem to be a lot these days, is reading. Reading fiction, or non-fiction, immersing myself in someone else's world. And the effect lasts after I stop reading, it is most definitely a calmative, so I thought I would bring you a couple of things I have been enjoying reading lately.

National Poetry Month begins today in the US and I've been thinking a lot about poetry lately - reading it and writing it so I'll start with some of that:

A Brief History of Time is Shaindel Beers' new collection (published by Salt), and this woman is a poet after my own heart, combining science with the human condition in original, surprising, wryly amusing and exquisitely painful ways. From the title poem:

Read Full Post

So what Is a Writer in residence?
If I had a pound for every time I’ve been asked that question I’d have enough money to fund such a post in every UK prison.
But as it stands there are just 20 of us scattered across the UK.
And less than 100 across the globe.
So what DO we do?
The short answer is we raise self esteem through writing.
From poets to playwrights and dramatists to journalists we share one thing - a passion for the written word.
We know its power to communicate, to be heard, to record, to inspire – both ourselves and others.
But if all this sounds a bit arty let me invite you to share a typical day.

It’s 8am I make my way to my office to finish the feedback I am preparing on a prisoner’s novel.
“When I write it takes me to a different world,” he says.
Next, the library where I lead the first of two weekly writing groups.
By 9.15am nine of my regular writers and a new member are here.
Today I bring in a copy of Saturday's Guradian and direct them to the Playlist section where readers send in their memories attached to song lyrics.
I encourage the group to try it out.
We carry out several writing exercises which are read out to the group.
It takes generosity and confidence to appraise another’s work honestly but the group have refined their skills in this area.
After a fair bit of laughing and singing we settle down to some serious work and Jenn, the librarian joins us.
I use lines from the song New York New York and include my memories of running the New York Marathon.
T writes about the last night at home with his wife before he was jailed linking it to a song by Genesis, Follow Me Follow You.
Jenn writes about her late grandfather who used to sing Lady In Red to her grandma when he came home late from the pub.
S arrives a little late but tells us about the song Crazy For You and a mad one night stand.
K surprises everyone with an atmospheric account of a late night drive home with a beautiful girl and the next time he hears the song he is in a sweatbox on his way to jail.
P has us all choked reciting one line from a Coldplay song played at his little brother’s funeral - "Lights go out - can't be saved."
All too soon the session is over and my new member tells me:
“I didn’t realize I had that in me.”
After the session I contact an author who is due to visit the prison soon.
Every month I invite a writer to talk about their work and past visits include poet, Jean Sprackland, novelist, Joolz Denby and childrens’ writer Joseph Delaney, who published his first book, The Spooks Apprentice, at the age of 58.
Last year Neil Caple, a former member of The Royal Shakespeare Company helped out with a four-week Drama course.
One of the prisoners on the course went on to win first prize in the Writing For Stage section of The 2008 Koestler Awards.
This man has never worked in his life and came to jail with no qualifications. Although he has since left this jail I have heard he recently started a BA (Hons) in Scriptwriting.
I spend lunchtime with the librarian and we discuss my plan to introduce “Stories Connect” into the prison.
The librarian helps me collate a carefully selected list of texts which examine a range of issues from violence to family life and drugs.
The fictional characters will help provide a vehicle for discussing choices and actions.
After lunch I visit the Therapeutic Community where I mentor prisoners working on The Link magazine, a publication produced here and distributed to every prison in the country.
The latest issue is almost finished and after making a few suggestions I leave to visit the Induction wing.
A young man has just arrived from a Young Offender's unit where he began working on his life story with the writer in residence there.
It is a harrowing story told with brutal honesty.
“Writing everything down helps me make sense of what’s in my head,” he says.
On the way back to my office I check how the multimedia unit is progressing.
A team of staff and prisoners will work together to produce a range of material from posters and books to short films and documentaries.
Finally, back at my office and on my desk is a letter sent by an ex-prisoner who worked with me some months ago.
So what does a writer in residence do? – I’ll let him have the last word.
“Your writing class was the best thing I have ever done in all my time in prison.
”I’ve noticed when I write I can address so many different things in so many different ways.
"I find the more I read and write the better I become.
" Thank You.”


Read Full Post

Besides, one glass of wine and three thin triangles is hardly gluttony. Oh, and a lovely sausage roll that was more like a tiny cushion than a bolster.


Read Full Post

When I was little I drew a lot. I drew, I didn't write stories. Only, at some point, the two combined and I started writing and drawing comic strips. And I wonder whether it was at that point where It all began.

But until yesterday, when I found the above, I hadn't seen any of my creations in almost twenty years, I'd assumed they'd been thrown out. Until yesterday, when I found the above, which, oddly enough, is the one I can clearly, vividly, remember drawing. I drew it on my bedroom floor on a Saturday afternoon. I was somewhere between 8 and 10 years old. It was spring. I drew it with a silver Parker propelling pencil I'd been bought for my birthday and I seem to remember that I mispelled 'pirates' intentionally. (Yes folks, I was An Individual even then!)

Read Full Post