Journey into the Unknown! There are many unexpected consequences of being published. For the twelve years it took me to write A Time for Peace and the months after Cinnamon Press offered to publish it, my goal, which I didn't always think was achievable, was to see my...

Prior to becoming a writer I wasn't aware of self-doubt. As a teacher and probation officer I faced many situations which caused me anxiety or in which I lacked confidence. For example, facing a class of secondary school children four years younger than I was;...

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,...

  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 a terraced garden...

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 view that 'the world is...

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 return to rhythm...