Starting Something: January

It’s January – we all want to start something! Fires are permissible, especially of preconceptions, shame, etc., although let’s guard against loss of life. Reading for pleasure: yes, of course, I have started three books in the last two days alone but there’s not as much glory in starting a book as in getting to…

Love is the Shaping Axe

For years I have had a post-it note stuck to my office computer monitor. A phrase jumped out from a book proof in my postbag one day and the idea seemed important enough to keep by my side as a reminder, so:   LOVE IS THE SHAPING AXE I wrote in caps.   My personal life at…

The Gap Between Things: Not Writing

If I write this, before I know it I won’t be not-writing any more: I’ll be writing again.  It’s been so long since I put words together into sentences and those sentences into something that isn’t a business email, I’ve become nervous of it – but right now it’s easy to be nervous of everything…

2017: Year of the Storytellers

As book people shall we recognise that last year was an important year for storytelling? For personal storytelling, because 2017 was a year in which many people’s stories were spoken out loud or written down for the first time. I am referring of course to the accounts given by those who have suffered sexual harassment…