MacNovel on Twitter- Isabel Costello Literary Sofa
- XX or XY? Do readers care about gender of author? June 17, 2013
- Guest Author – Susan Elliot Wright on Writing a Dual Narrative June 10, 2013
- Let’s all talk about GONE GIRL June 4, 2013
- This Itch of Writing
- Guardian Book Blog
- The best books on Egypt: start your reading here | Pushpinder Khaneka June 19, 2013 Pushpinder Khaneka
- A note on Neil Gaiman's politics June 18, 2013 Paul Owen
- Neil Gaiman in conversation June 17, 2013 Paul Owen
- The Forest for the Trees — Betsy Lerner
- I Love You Just the Way You Are June 16, 2013
- I’m Trying To Beat Life Cause I Can’t Cheat Death June 3, 2013
- Could It Be That It Was All So Simple Then May 30, 2013
- Kathy Greethurst’s Blog
- Untitled January 10, 2013 Kathy Greethurst
- Bloody Flies by Andrew J Keir - Review by Helena Frith Powell June 7, 2012 Kathy Greethurst
- A wonderful afternoon in Avebury February 22, 2012 Kathy Greethurst
- How Publishing Really Works
- Does The Self-Publishing Review Fall For Robert Duperre? March 29, 2012
- The Self-Publishing Review Goes In Search Of The Menopause Ranch March 22, 2012
- Travelling To The Self-Published Review March 15, 2012
- Female PTSD — A Blog By A Brave Female Victim of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Help I Need A Publisher
- I'm still here... December 31, 2012
- All my advice about publishing and writing September 4, 2012
- Two last questions for DEAR CRABBIT September 3, 2012
- The Elephant in the Writing Room
- Sunshine and Showers June 15, 2013
- Not a lot of writing but a whole load of reading... June 5, 2013
- Jon and the Pacemakers May 31, 2013
- Bren Gosling’s Blog (ex-City Novel coursemate)
- Short listed for the Harry Bowling Prize ! January 30, 2012 Bren Gosling
- About - Sweeping up the Village- by Bren Gosling January 16, 2012 Bren Gosling
- A taster... December 22, 2011 Bren Gosling
- Charlotte Haigh MacNeil’s Blog (ex-City Novel Coursemate and Journalist)
- The real reason insomniacs can’t sleep June 7, 2013
- The myth of delayed motherhood May 18, 2013
- The extreme female brain February 21, 2013
- Michael Braga Writes (ex-City Novel coursemate)
- THE SIGNS -A short story by Michael Braga Oct 2010 October 10, 2010
- Friday thoughts on a Monday afternoon September 6, 2010
- The pursuit of sadness August 25, 2010
- Sometimes I Lie A Little
- Some Things That
- Moira Garland’s Blog
- Partisan writing April 11, 2013
- Brain error? April 7, 2013
- Longing April 4, 2013
- Talli Roland
- Pavilion in the Park June 17, 2013
- Sex. On Tuesdays. Or Not. June 10, 2013
- Notting Hill Press Launches! June 3, 2013
- Charlie Mackle
Me on Facebook
Tag Archives: James
In-Out, In-Out, Shake It All About?
The Hokey Cokey seems to possess the same level of serious reasoning as did last week’s unconvincing and desperately tactical David Cameron speech on an ‘in-out’ referendum on British membership of the EU. His gambling with the country’s political relationship with … Continue reading
Posted in Frustrations
Tagged artists, Conservative Party, David Cameron, David Lidington, Degenerate Art, entartete Künst, EU, Europe, European culture, Eurosceptics, Germany, Hackney, James, Kim, London, Research, setting, Shoreditch, theme, UKIP, Winston Churchill, Working in Europe, World War I, World War II
Leave a comment
The Blog That Wouldn’t Crunch
This blog has been a bit quiet recently — and for a change it’s not down to my indolence or procrastination. Over Christmas I had a serious technical problem. When I tried to upload photos, processing (oddly called ‘crunching’) never … Continue reading
Posted in Frustrations
Tagged blog, blogging, day job, James, photography, secret nerd, technology, websites, wordpress
3 Comments
Apologies to Tamara Watts
The user name below, found on an office ‘multi-function device’ (i.e. printer), appealed to my puerile streak. I guess I shouldn’t laugh — maybe Mr Timothy or Ms Tamara Watts has had to deal with such sniggering throughout their lives — … Continue reading
What Happens in Vegas…
…ends up in my novel. This may be something of a surprise seeing as most of it is set in an English country pub which, apart from the copious amounts of booze drunk, is probably one of the places least … Continue reading
Posted in Influences
Tagged backstory, Beatles, contrasts, Emma, James, Kim, las vegas, psychology, Research, sex, theme
Leave a comment
Senseless
Having written a post about what a vibrant, international city London is — and having written a significant number of words for my novel that use London as a setting — I’ve been feeling physically sickened by the events over … Continue reading
Posted in Frustrations
Tagged criminality, Hackney, James, Kim, London, looting, motivation, Pembury Tavern, psychology, setting, thuggery
Leave a comment
Art for Art’s Sake?
I’m not sure about Kim’s personal taste in modern art but with her training she’d be sure to be able to hold forth about Cy Twombly, the American painter who died last week, and was the subject of some posts on … Continue reading
Posted in Research
Tagged art, collectors, criticism, Cy Twombly, finance, James, Kim, modern art, Picasso, Research, Shoreditch, Tate Gallery, The City, theme, wealth, World's Most Expensive Paintings
1 Comment
The Shard Rises
I was in London yesterday around Oxford Circus then went to St.Paul’s and Southwark to have a walk around the settings I’m using for the first few chapters of The Angel — including the Tate Modern again where it was … Continue reading
Posted in Research, Writing Process
Tagged Aegidienkirche, Christchurch Greyfriars, Germany, Hanover, James, Kim, London, Paternoster Square, Research, setting, St. Paul's Cathedral, symbolism, Tate Modern, The Shard
1 Comment
Linguaphone
I wrote the following in the middle of one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world – looking out into the sea as our ferry weaves between the courses of various huge container ships and tankers. (I’d actually typing … Continue reading
Posted in Research
Tagged culture, Europe, European culture, French, German, Germany, James, Kim, language, Masterchef, translation, vocabulary
3 Comments
Reviewing the Literature
There are two reasons why the blog has been a little quieter than usual recently. One is that an element of my ‘other life’ intruded – hopefully the side that will continue to pay the bills in future. I had … Continue reading
Posted in General Life
Tagged ambition, character, day job, Enterprise Architecture, IT industry, James, James' career, MSc, software development, time management, work, writers' income
Leave a comment
Addressing Deficiencies
Getting back to ideas for The Angel, I think I may have plugged a bit of a hole in the plot and balanced out the characters a bit by considering introducing a male admirer of Kim when she moves to … Continue reading
Posted in character, Plot, The Angel
Tagged character, Emma, James, Kim, motivation, new character, planning, Plot, sex
3 Comments
Top Bombing
A friend of mine sent me a YouTube link to the new John Smiths’ Peter Kay advert. His observation in sending it was that it picks up a subtle difference between the sexes in that often women try to guess … Continue reading
Posted in character
Tagged character, evolutionary psychology, James, John Smiths, log lines, Peter Kay, psychology, relationships, sex
1 Comment
Oxytocin
There’s another story on the BBC website about the benefits of the ‘cuddle hormone’ – oxytocin. I referred to James’ view that human attraction was based on a whole mix of chemicals in the reading I did before Easter — … Continue reading
Three Universities in Two Days
I seem to be visiting a lot of universities recently. On Monday I went up to the Open University, where I met my MSc. supervisor and my ‘specialist advisor’ — both are a married couple of academics who work on … Continue reading
Posted in Research
Tagged careers, Corinne Mills, dialogue, Emma, employment, human resources, James, Kim, MBA, Open University, Oxford
Leave a comment
The Eve of St. Agnes
I bought a copy of the latest Magma poetry magazine when I was in London last week. Its cover article was ‘Favourite Erotic Poetry’. I was interested to see how I poem I took along to the March meeting of … Continue reading
Posted in The Angel, Uncategorized, Writing Process
Tagged erotic poetry, Eve of St. Agnes, inspiration, James, Keats, Kim, Metroland Poets, sex, Sir Thomas Wyatt
Leave a comment
‘Sweat Me Garlicky’
We had to take along a published poem (by someone else) to Metroland Poets last night on the theme of ‘Poems to Read Aloud’. There was a very varied and entertaining selection ranging from ballads by Walter Scott to Edwin … Continue reading
Masterchef
It’s Masterchef final day and I watched it after Manchester United’s referee-induced ten man capitulation to Bayern Munich — which might bring a smile to Kim’s face but not mine (btw she supports Chelsea). I watch the programme occasionally with … Continue reading
Posted in General Life
Tagged ambition, Chelsea, dedication, football, insecurity, James, Kim, Manchester United, Masterchef, pubs
2 Comments
Looking for Inspiration
I wrote quite a bit in a short time up until the last Saturday workshop — around 7,000 words of the beginning of ‘The Angel — two sizeable chapters or perhaps three or four shorter ones. I tend to like … Continue reading
Opening the Novel?
Unlike the majority of my fellow students on the City course I’ve not approached the writing of either of my novels-in-progress in any kind of sequence — either chronologically or in anticipation of the eventual order in the book. I’m … Continue reading
Posted in Structure, The Angel
Tagged backstory, computer programming, fire, inciting action, James, Kim, non-linerar thinking, opening chapters, planning, Plot, plot points, real life, Structure, tutorials, Village Underground
Leave a comment
