I just had the worst week. The pain following my tooth extractions built every day till Thursday as the swelling got worse and my cheeks puffed out into full chipmunk mode. I had to write down in my diary all the painkillers I was taking so I didn't double up on different meds or overdose, and so I knew exactly when I could take the next … [Read more...]
Short story course at Arvon – places available
There are a couple of places available on a short story course I'm teaching with Jane Feaver in May. It's a 5-day residential course at Arvon Totleigh Barton in Devon. Our mid-week guest reader is Lucy Wood. All abilities welcome. Full details here. If you've not been on an Arvon week before, check out my blog post about my first experience of … [Read more...]
BBC Radio 4 Extra to broadcast five of my short stories
Every day next week, 17-21 March 2014, BBC Radio 4 Extra will be broadcasting my stories at 11am, 9pm and 4am. Here are the programme details. There'll be five stories in all, from both of my short story collections, Instruction Manual For Swallowing and The Stone Thrower: Fewer Things The 40-Litre Monkey Remember the Bride Who Got … [Read more...]
New short story on Visual Verse
I have a new short story online – The Factory Explosion - over at Visual Verse. They asked me to write a short story in response to the brilliant image below by Denise Nestor. It had to be 50-500 words and written in an hour. You can read the full story here. Visual Verse encourages other writers to submit stories and poems in response to their … [Read more...]
Stories and Supper event
On Wednesday 5 March 2014 I'm doing an event in Berkhamsted - Stories and Supper - where I'll be chatting with writer Julie Mayhew about my work. An actor will read one of my stories, and I'll read one, too. Tickets are £20 if you come for supper and wine, or £10 just for the stories. This is the first of a new format event from the guys that run … [Read more...]
Happy birthday Haruki Murakami, and the year so far…
Today is Haruki Murakami's 65th birthday. Happy birthday, sir. I discovered Murakami the same way I discovered Kafka - via MTV. There was an MTV spot called 'An A to Z of Japan', and the letter M was, 'Haruki Murakami, Japan's coolest writer', or something like that. I Googled him and read about his books, and the plots appealed to my love of the … [Read more...]
Happy National Short Story Day 2013
Today, the shortest day of the year, is National Short Story Day. Here are a few links for story fans: • The official National Short Story Day website includes a wonderful long list of classic and modern short story recommendations from authors, including their reasons for choosing them, as well as story readings and events news. This year … [Read more...]
A sketchnote: the evolution of an idea
I've always used doodles, drawings and diagrams as part of my note-taking process, but after discovering sketchnotes / visual note-taking through Sacha Chua's blog, I've started illustrating my notes much more deliberately, and legibly, with the intention of making them something I can share. Here's a sketchnote from this week, which I've tidied … [Read more...]
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