Tag: writing

‘Life-hacks’ is yet another example of itself, a way of pretending to understand a more complex explanation of the process by which human understanding of a problem and its solution is reached and implemented. It is also perhaps a ‘democratisation’ of that understanding, – creating a term more clearly understood by more people in a rising generation.

September 17, 2026

Did I have to look up that idiomatic term ‘life-hacks‘ because of my age and slow adaptation to computer technology? Perhaps that is the case but it soon dawned upon me that the term ‘Life-hacks’ is yet another example of itself, a way of pretending to understand a more complex explanation of the process by … More ‘Life-hacks’ is yet another example of itself, a way of pretending to understand a more complex explanation of the process by which human understanding of a problem and its solution is reached and implemented. It is also perhaps a ‘democratisation’ of that understanding, – creating a term more clearly understood by more people in a rising generation.

Do I write what people actually want to read? The issue here is not whether writing can be called writing only because it is read by someone, even if only by yourself, but whether writing appeals to what those people,or person, think that they want.

September 16, 2026

There is, of course, an important and inalienable link being writing and reading, for nothing that is written isn’t from its inception being read, even if only by its writer who assesses as they proceed that the writing is satisfactory to them or its intended audience. The standards of reading judgement vary of course and … More Do I write what people actually want to read? The issue here is not whether writing can be called writing only because it is read by someone, even if only by yourself, but whether writing appeals to what those people,or person, think that they want.

‘Making time to fill with self-care / Leaves no time still to stand and stare’: Help me W.H. Davies!

September 15, 2026

Making time to fill with self-care Leaves no time still to stand and stare: Help me W.H. Davies! I have no great love for W.H. Davies’ poem Leisure, but it feels relevant to this question, opening up the terrible gap in time that cultural ideologies create around words so that a question like our prompt … More ‘Making time to fill with self-care / Leaves no time still to stand and stare’: Help me W.H. Davies!

Back to the Booker longlist one week before shortlist announce. To be updated over the coming week.

September 14, 2026

Do Booker winners become so for a reason? The 2026 Longlist came out on 28 July. Update. Daily writing prompt Do you think everything happens for a reason? View all responses Do Booker winners become so for a reason? The 2026 Longlist came out on 28 July The question is open. Each year I set out … More Back to the Booker longlist one week before shortlist announce. To be updated over the coming week.

‘Don’t get me into some philosophical bullshit about lie versus fiction. Fiction is creation. Lie is distortion. One don’t have a fucking thing to do with the other’. Words from Marlon James ‘The Disappearers’ (2026).

September 13, 2026

Sometimes our prompts invite us to validate a proposition that, to say the lest, is questionable and is, at the most a deliberate untruth. Look at this question, for instance: ‘If you had to switch lives with a fictional character for a week, who would you choose?’. It starts with a conditional phrase, ‘If you … More ‘Don’t get me into some philosophical bullshit about lie versus fiction. Fiction is creation. Lie is distortion. One don’t have a fucking thing to do with the other’. Words from Marlon James ‘The Disappearers’ (2026).

Without Satan, Milton’s poetry would be bereft of the means of a story and even more bereft of the nuanced glance of life turned into a kind of song where contraries separate and come together in conflict and eternal bondage that poetry is, and is ever condemned and blessed to be at its best.

September 12, 2026

To like the ‘villain more than the hero’ is not an eccentric thing at all, neither is it a thing to be confessed, for without this trope of literature and literary readings it is doubtful story-telling or even the more numinous concept poetry as means of artistic and humane expression could exist at all. Usually … More Without Satan, Milton’s poetry would be bereft of the means of a story and even more bereft of the nuanced glance of life turned into a kind of song where contraries separate and come together in conflict and eternal bondage that poetry is, and is ever condemned and blessed to be at its best.

‘Be ready for the duplicity of adulthood and adults’ is my advice and it continues thus; ‘and if you can, learn how not to collude whilst you learn, as you must, to survive’. This blog is a reflection on the film ‘Bad Apples’ (2025) directed by Jonatan Etzler and starring the very wondrous Saoirse Ronan.

September 7, 2026

‘Be ready for the duplicity of adulthood and adults’ is my advice and it continues thus; ‘and if you can, learn how not to collude whilst you learn, as you must, to survive’. This blog is a reflection on the film ‘Bad Apples’ (2025) directed by Jonatan Etzler and starring the very wondrous Saoirse Ronan. … More ‘Be ready for the duplicity of adulthood and adults’ is my advice and it continues thus; ‘and if you can, learn how not to collude whilst you learn, as you must, to survive’. This blog is a reflection on the film ‘Bad Apples’ (2025) directed by Jonatan Etzler and starring the very wondrous Saoirse Ronan.

In Dean Atta’s first novel intended for adults, ‘Big Man’, the protagonist, Big, explains to new entrants to his profession of Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion (DEI) workers and consultants why he is doing the ‘job he is doing right now and why’, without mentioning salary: ‘Big told the twenty somethings he enjoyed being freelance because he was neither a boss nor an employee’. This blog is really about Dean Atta (2026) ‘Big Man’ London, Cipher Press.

September 5, 2026

If the salary was the same, what job would you be doing right now and why? In Dean Atta’s first novel intended for adults, ‘Big Man’, the protagonist, Big, explains to new entrants to his profession of Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion (DEI) workers and consultants why he is doing the ‘job he is doing right … More In Dean Atta’s first novel intended for adults, ‘Big Man’, the protagonist, Big, explains to new entrants to his profession of Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion (DEI) workers and consultants why he is doing the ‘job he is doing right now and why’, without mentioning salary: ‘Big told the twenty somethings he enjoyed being freelance because he was neither a boss nor an employee’. This blog is really about Dean Atta (2026) ‘Big Man’ London, Cipher Press.

Let’s concentrate on the word ‘raised’ and its rather frightening semantic history, to unpack the assumptions behind answering about how any actions of mine or their mode of occurrence differ from those I was supposedly ‘raised’ to do or not do them.

September 3, 2026

I am turning to the Online Etymological Dictionary today again for this prompt question, although the issues behind any use of the verb ‘raise’ are largely about its implication that the subject of a the transitive verb (see below) ‘raise’ is always in all the examples I can think of (but I’d love to be … More Let’s concentrate on the word ‘raised’ and its rather frightening semantic history, to unpack the assumptions behind answering about how any actions of mine or their mode of occurrence differ from those I was supposedly ‘raised’ to do or not do them.

Mainly, the only regret I find when I have read a book is that I can’t read it again ‘for the first time’, but it passes! A last day at Edinburgh Book Festival 30th August 2026.

August 31, 2026

Mainly, the only regret I find when I have read a book is that I can’t read it again ‘for the first time’, but it passes! A last day at Edinburgh Book Festival 30th August 2026. I must have been somewhere near Dunbar when I took the photograph from the train that was fast moving … More Mainly, the only regret I find when I have read a book is that I can’t read it again ‘for the first time’, but it passes! A last day at Edinburgh Book Festival 30th August 2026.

‘Stop saying words, my sister whispered back. I want to hear the story’. This is a blog  on Ali Smith (2024) ‘Gliff ‘.

August 28, 2026

‘Stop saying words, my sister whispered back. I want to hear the story’.[1] The paradox may be that we express our identity in words and names not in the process of telling and hearing our stories. I think Ali Smith thinks that may be true of the configuration of sex/gender too. This is a blog  … More ‘Stop saying words, my sister whispered back. I want to hear the story’. This is a blog  on Ali Smith (2024) ‘Gliff ‘.

Apparently the word ‘coincidence’ was possibly used earliest by Sir Thomas Browne, and thus is better left to rest in his Baroque prose as another supposed certainty in a world that is more uncertain than that.

August 24, 2026

Apparently the word ‘coincidence’ was possibly used earliest by Sir Thomas Browne, and thus is better left to rest in his Baroque prose as another supposed certainty in a world that is more uncertain than that. Statue of Browne in Norwich by ell brown – https://www.flickr.com/photos/ell-r-brown/4582394924/sizes/o/in/photostream/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25718189 The Online Etymological Website tells … More Apparently the word ‘coincidence’ was possibly used earliest by Sir Thomas Browne, and thus is better left to rest in his Baroque prose as another supposed certainty in a world that is more uncertain than that.