The Lost Art of Ski Pole Walking (Updated)

Added on 25 March 2010

We live in a quiet wee place in the west country, overlooking the town recreation ground. As you can imagine with a town recreation ground, all human life is there. (Except when it's raining a lot.) People walk dogs, play frisbee, sit around and chat, play football, kids get their first cricket less...

a grim, bleak day in the south west

Added on 23 March 2010

A grim, bleak day in the south west. Perfect novel writing weather. A Room With No Natural Light progresses nicely. Well, progresses at any rate. I suppose there's a method of novel writing where your write a bit, then make yourself a cup of tea and re-read what you've written, and perfect it as be...

Diminishing Returns (or The Very Final End of Barney Thomson)

Added on 19 March 2010

In October I made one of my sporadic attempts to find a regular publisher for the Barney Thomson series. I was thinking that The Final Cut would really be the end of Barney, but that I'd have one last go at dragging a mainstream publisher on board, and if I was successful, then more than likely Barn...

Dead Birds

Added on 17 March 2010

The short list has been announced for the CrimeFest Last Laugh Award, the prize for the best humorous crime novel published in Britain in 2009. As one reads down the list, one can't help but notice the bizarre omission of the seventh Barney Thomson novel, The Final Cut, widely regarded as the funnie...

A Fresh Start to the Day

Added on 16 March 2010

Mock the Week superstar Russell Howard bases much of his comedy on the fact that we're all too miserable, and that life is made up of a million small things that we ought to take pleasure in, but which generally we take for granted or allow to pass us by. For example, he mentions the small pleasure ...