I should be writing. Right now, I should be sitting down at my desk cranking out the words like a machine. I should not be looking at twitter, reading books, eating dinner, washing the dishes, brushing my teeth, scrolling through Netflix new releases, going out with friends or doing anything else that might be construed …
You Should Be Writing – or – On the Subject of Willpower, Motivation and Guilt Read More »
So NanoWriMo 2014 is now in full swing and I’ve managed to survive the first week. I’ve decided to keep a short diary of my experiences for the month and will be publishing them weekly here. I’ll try to be as honest as possible, chronicling my emotional state, my successes and my failures more than …
I’m a big fan of dystopian fiction and so when I came across The Circle in the library I snatched it up with the enthusiasm of a kid invading Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. The story is very much a dystopia for the digital age. The plot follows Mae, a 20 something woman eager to land …
In October I started a writing course in experimental fiction. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect but had heard some good things from good people about it so decided to take the plunge and find out what it was all about. Honestly, the experience so far has been something of a revelation. I feel like …
Would You Prefer Your Book to be Critically Acclaimed or Popular? Read More »
Recently, the excellent Laura from Boats Against the Current nominated me for the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award. Laura is a great new blogger and I recommend that you pay her site a visit. I was very flattered to be nominated by Laura as a fellow ‘newbie’ blogger. I was nominated for the Liebster Award a while back and …
In May 2014 the Baileys Women’s prize for fiction launched the #thisbook campaign to find out which books, written by women, had the largest impact on readers. The list below are the top twenty books. The books I’ve read are in bold. Where I have written about the book in the blog, you can click on the …
Hollywood’s mining of Le Carré novels for inspiration was always a mixed bag affair, from the excellent Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy to the underwhelming The Constant Gardener. I’m happy to report that A Most Wanted Man firmly takes it’s place in the upper end of the Le Carré adaptation spectrum. TV tropes argue that spy fiction tends …
If I were an animal I’d be a squirrel. When times are tough and winter starts closing in I’m expert at saving up and stashing away. Mr novel project chronicle experienced this first hand a few years ago when we were trying to get our deposit together for the apartment. I just stopped buying all the things …
Do we have the right to tell another person’s story? Who among us has the right to tell the stories of those who can no longer tell it themselves? Such is one of several themes in this multi-layered production by Back2Back Theatre. Ganesh Versus the Third Reich starts as a simple tale about a Hindu …
Ganesh Versus the Third Reich at the O’Reilly Theatre – Review Read More »
The other day I read about the top 15 depressing books as listed by the Telegraph. It surprised me how many of these novels featured in my own top tens. I started to worry that I was a natural born grumpy-locks – as comfortable with a “downer” book in my paw as Patsy Stone is …