The Creative Identity

Try This

In reality, killing time is only the name for another of the multifarious ways by which time kills us. –Osbert Sitwell– I've said many times already that I can get in The Writing Zone really quickly. Very often, and perhaps, it may seem, unkindly, I've harped on that those who whine about not having time to write are amateurs. But, really dear reader, deep down I do know that what does not do anything for me does not need to be written off for everyone else too. Hence today I would like to bring The Pomodoro Technique to your attention. Did you know about it? It operates on the principle that we work more productively in small chunks of time, especially when we know that these units are broken off by specks of distraction. This doesn't mean that you can use this technique only when you're writing in the evening, as many fans use it in the workplace too. I've read the book, but I don't care much for it for reasons you know. It may well help you if you're seeking ways to improve your concentration. Try it this weekend. Read more →

Writing Right Now

I am currently working on a little assignment which, if I am lucky, will last for however long it suits me and which, also if I am lucky, will finish soon (only joking...). More on this and other developments when the time is right. Every time I'm on a project, no matter how small or insignificant in the grand scheme of business-related things, I'm always afflicted by hair-raising panic as I am suddenly aware that the day's hours are extremely precious, even if only yesterday I was whiling them away by staring into space or by sitting in a café or by nurturing my farm. The second my life becomes regimented, I am alwas fearful that I will lose my writing mojo. I've always been a compliant child. As dad needed to get off to work early, I would get up at 6.30 am for primary school, so that he could give me a lift and drop me off to pre-school, where I would hang around for two hours or so before the beginning of the lessons. Throughout college and then later, I never once complained about having to be up in the dark, although that became almost unheard of at university, for only once in three years did I have an 'early' lecture at 9 am. But when I started my job, an occupation that required me to be in London (or Dublin or elsewhere) before 10 am on a Monday morning whilst living in Manchester or Lancaster before... Read more →

Caryl Phillips – Manchester Lit Festival 2010

If you're doing the eCourse or read my tweets, these few lines won't surprise you. I've been going on and on for four weeks about Caryl Phillips at the Manchester Literature Festival and when the day finally dawned, last Friday, I could barely contain my excitement. It so just happened that, not only did I manage not to make a fool out of myself with the man when I did speak to him (which surprised me, quite frankly), I also came away with my own signed copy of In The Falling Snow and ended up in such prime sitting spot that I filmed the whole thing on the iP. And that's where you come in dear reader. Lucky, lucky reader! Please find below the entire recording which, while far from acoustically perfect, is my gift to you. I extracted the audio from the video (which took many curses, much stress, several hours and one entire operating system re-install) for your benefit. Click below to listen to this fantastic author talk about inspiration, the state of the arts, labels and pigeonholing and the only advice a prospective writer needs. Caryl Phillips at Manchester Lit Fest 2010 Read more →

Try This

I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotion. –James Michener– It's weird to have your own writing quoted back at you. I think that we are all well-used to famous quotations and never quite think about our efforts surging to the level of unforgettable, snappy prose that shall grace mugs, screensavers and the covers of spiral notebooks (I surely hope mine won't, I can't stand spiral notebooks). But it happened to me once, as I was browsing on Twitter, and someone liked one of my posts on here so much as to sending it out into the ether as a tiny extract. Weird, I thought, sounds familiar. We're never gonna know about outstanding writing when looking at our own. I once gave an essay to someone who said he found it extremely amusing which shocked me because 'to amuse' surely was not one of my intentions (but... I wasn't displeased to hear of another's reaction, mind you). So today let's try something odd for a change. Write a snappy one-liner fit for a bookshop's marketing paraphernalia and then write a story or an article around it. Read more →

How To Draw

Of course both you and I know that no book about drawing will ever replace Danny's book in my heart, for the multitude of reasons I talked about in the past. This doesn't mean, however, that I do not cherish other books about drawing, especially the ones that are not airy-fairy about it. As you must have realised by now, I dislike airy-fairy, for it is a philosophy that discounts the sweat-aspect related to drawing (and writing if we're talking about writing). More and more people (self-fashioned 'experts', usually) proclaim that there are no rules and that the only rule worth following is that no rule should be followed. But this is likely to build false expectations. Imagine that! Someone tells you that YES of course YOU CAN and that YES of course YOU WILL because YES I did it just by sitting at the kitchen table, two evenings a week and LOOK AT ME NOW I got the publishing deal/the exhibit in the gallery/the sales through Etsy and so on and so forth. But what happens when you try the same and it doesn't work for you? Hurts, doesn't it? That's because these 'experts' I am telling you about never ever talk about the Hard Work involved in hitting one's goals. They paint everything with this rainbow brush that gives you a picture filled with unicorns and fairies that never ever tells you a thing about the fear, the problems, the worries, the difficulties, the re-writes, the corrections and... Read more →