Mar 25, 2025 | The Main Blog
Last time I published a blog online, it was reflecting on my first full year as an unpaid carer. Since then, I’ve let the virtual cobwebs gather, which for someone who writes because they need to is a problem. But, as I noted last December, I am incredibly busy these...
Dec 31, 2024 | The Main Blog
At about 5:45am on New Year’s Eve, it occurred to me that 2024 has been the first year since I became of ‘working age’ in which I haven’t done any paid work. There are, of course, numerous reasons for this. My own health is fragile, but my wife and son’s support needs...
Dec 28, 2024 | The Main Blog
As I did last year, I want to share the list of books I have finished during 2024. Last year, I had read 55 books by New Year’s Eve. This year’s total of 47 is lower but is still pretty good, considering the amount of writing I had to do to complete my MA in Creative...
Dec 22, 2024 | The Main Blog
One of the great joys of reading is that, occasionally, you discover a book that has a profound effect on you, the reader. I’ve recently finished such a book, specifically Nine Minds by Daniel Tammet. The minds in question all belong to autistic people; some have...
Dec 17, 2024 | The Main Blog
For the last two years, I have been working towards an MA in Creative Writing with the Open University, as I discussed in this space in October 2024. That post was written shortly after I submitted my End of Module Assessment (EMA), a 15,000 word project which in my...
Dec 8, 2024 | The Main Blog
I am not what you would call a ‘people person’. I struggle in various social situations; I have lost count of the number of times I said ‘the wrong thing’, talked over others or interrupted because a contribution to the conversation popped into my head and needed to...
Nov 27, 2024 | The Main Blog
In December 2023, I wrote a blog entitled In a SpIn, which was an exploration of my oldest and deepest Special Interest (or SpIn for short). Yet over the summer, I decided that I had completely fallen out of love with football, ending an involvement with the sport...
Nov 20, 2024 | Family Matters, The Main Blog
I’m not usually a fan of I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! but I’m making an exception at the moment. My wife and eldest daughter enjoy the show, so it was thanks to them that I saw the extraordinary footage of Barry McGuigan talking to his campmates about the loss...
Nov 10, 2024 | Family Matters
Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day are annual national moments of reflection, during which those who gave their lives while serving in the United Kingdom’s Armed Forces are honoured. Virtually every family has a ‘war story’. My maternal family has at least two, one...
Oct 22, 2024 | The Main Blog
I was a bit embarrassed to work out that 100 days had passed without me writing anything in this space. After all, if you’re not making your work available, are you even a writer at all? It has to be said, though, that I have been busy since sharing my thoughts on the...
