5 Tips to Keeping New Year’s Resolutions
Do you make New Year’s resolutions? Have you tried in the past and succeeded? Or failed? Given up? Or even forgotten what they were? Here are my 5 tips to keeping New Year’s resolutions. And…
Apologies
Sorry to those who were sent my longer bio page by mistake. I uploaded it as a post rather than a page, so it automatically went out to all my subscribers. Apologies for the inconvenience.…
Three books for humans
It’s not easy to find an entertaining book about the way we live now, climate change and politics. Even the words seem so off-putting. But I’ve just discovered three that are great reads in totally…
Riots, politicians and tabloids
A little while ago, I told my (then) agent I was writing a satirical novel about tabloids and politicians who spark riots over knife crime. Guess what he said.
Can you help me with my research?
I believe good research is the backbone of a good novel. For previous and upcoming books, I’ve gone undercover in police stations, tabloid newsrooms, hospitals and arms manufacturers, among many other secretive places. What I’ve…
I’ve done a very silly Green thing
A very silly green thing. I’ve just done a very silly thing. A few years ago, BBC radio presenter John Humphries said in an interview that he’d “done a silly thing – voted Green!” Well,…
How to be confident
How do you gain confidence? From time to time, I answer readers’ questions in my blog. Today’s question comes from Australian author Anne Howell, whose memoir All That I Forgot came out last year. It’s…
How I managed to overcome overwhelm: The joy of lists
Things to do? Books to write, movies to watch, people to see, bills to pay, meetings to arrange, trains to catch, deadlines to meet… argh! One of the most challenging tasks in today’s world is…
Book Fuel fires up – Feb 25 – Mar 7
Facing scarily rising fuel bills, my fellow Bloodhound thriller author Vikki Patis has come up with a tremendous way to help families who can’t afford to heat their homes – an online auction for readers…
Oy veh! Jewface casting?
There was a massive fuss this autumn when a major Hollywood movie came out. A white actor played Martin Luther King in blackface. No, of course he didn’t. It would never happen. Blackface casting no…
Roll over Beethoven
My old amplifier blew up, and as a result I’ve been making some surprising discoveries. I turned it on one Sunday morning to use my record deck and smelled burning. Closer inspection discovered smoke drifting…
I love my clutter
Do you feel under pressure to declutter? Me too. Whether it’s my wife, or my younger son. They all seem to believe that my life would be better if I got rid of my clutter.…
Unique chance: Verbal Aikido Sept 1
Subscribers with a good memory will remember I’ve twice featured the inimitable Luke Archer, creator of Verbal Aikido. Well, the good news is that I’ve managed to persuade him to provide a very rare class…
Nine long years for Julian Assange
Watch now Eleven years ago, Julian Assange published the first of a series of leaks from American military intelligence, showing a US gunship killing civilians and journalists in Iraq. Nine years ago he took refuge…
The popularity of amnesia – talk and guest blog
Last time I mentioned I was talking at the Milim Leeds Literary Festival about why amnesia stories are so popular. There’s no doubt that writers have written about amnesia for thousands of years. What attracts…
Happy Holidays (if allowed)
HAPPY HOLIDAYS It’s a truth universally acknowledged that 2020 has been a funny old year. The world seems divided into two. Those who have been tragically affected by the coronavirus and those who got off…
Crime wave caught on camera
Today’s story is a crime story with everything a good crime story needs: An idyllic setting, a crime wave, missing bodies, mystery, violence in the dead of night, a criminal unmasked. To begin at the…
How do we give this story a happy ending?
I want to tell you a story that I was told by a wise teacher. It’s a sad story and true, though we can learn from it. And how it really ends is going to…