Time to retreat?

In war a retreat can be a strategy of failure, an indication that the army and its country has over reached itself, but not always. During World War One, the Serbian government, its army, its cadets and some of its people withdrew to the island of Corfu. There,...

A conversation in Words and Music

  For a number of years, I’ve been attending poetry writing workshops, led by Angela France, held in Cordula Kempe’s home. On Waterside, close to Stratford upon Avon’s theatres, Cordula makes us welcome. We write in a sitting room that overlooks...

More on Journal/Diary writing

Quite a few writers I know, begin each day by writing. Roselle Angwin suggests 100 words. I like that idea because it’s not over-ambitious. There aren’t many mornings when I can’t manage that. If I’m stuck, I can write a list of gripes, the...

Writer’s block?

There are times when I can’t write, so I go for a walk. Here are photos taken on a walk round Batsford Arboretum one Sunday in November. They’re interspersed with quotations I like. ‘When you regain a sense of your life as a journey of discovery, you...

Meet the Author?

One of the responsibilities of a writer is marketing the novel. Because I am unknown in the published world, I need to talk to strangers – not initially about A Time for Peace, perhaps never- but to open up a conversation which allows the possibility that...