During those years, every attempt to curb my obsession failed, and even now, although my accounts have gone untended and my email updates have been…
Here’s Anita Brookner, one of my favourite writers, talking about romance novels: “The true romantic novel is about delayed happiness; the pilgrimage you go through…
Sometimes one of those idle Google searches sends you down a brief rabbit hole that’s worthy of being written down. Looking up a misremembered quotation…
When we say that love is ineffable, as Beckett knew, what we mean is that, when we love, we don’t know what the hell we…
This letter from F Scott Fitzgerald was featured on Brain Pickings recently, and stuck in my mind: Dear Frances: I’ve read the story carefully and,…
“Write two rough and shabby drafts of a novel in 100 weeks” doesn’t have the ring of “write a novel in 30 days“, does it?…
I read Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen this week. Mistake. I decided a while back not to take any notice of the advice not to…