Soar with me, gentle reader, to the heightsOf Mount Olympus, seat of heavenly bliss,Where bright-eyed Paeon is apprenticed toAsclepius the wizened herbalist.When Heracles’s arrow finds its homeAmong the raging veins of Hades’ neck,Young Paeon plucks th’intruder from its nestAnd stems the blood with ginger turmeric.If artful Diomedes’ singing swordShould pierce the golden abdomen of MarsTis…
~ 1 ~ The sun burns orange in the western sky,It dips and disappears, and way up thereOn old Yakuuba’s toothbrush tree you sighA sweetly sorrowful pre-migration prayer.You launch into the void in search of spring,Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you strong.A vulture shrugs a valedictory wing:Au revoir, mon beau phragmite des joncs! ~ 2…
Writing comes easily to some, less so to others. I have heard the two species of writers described as ‘gushers’ or ‘bleeders’. I am definitely among the bleeders – a daily target of 1000 words is like a daily Everest to climb. But I have been encouraged this week by reading Haruki Murakami’s book What…
Writing, like chess, is a famously sedentary activity. Authors spend their days sitting hunched over a keyboard, and the only exercise they get is wriggling the fingers, wrinkling the brow and reaching for Rich Tea biscuits. As the deadline nears, the hapless keyboard-basher begins to ignore her body’s needs for sleep, social interaction and physical…
Whether you are an aspiring writer or a serial Newbery medal winner, the chances are that you are no stranger to the ‘How to Write’ manuals at your local library. ‘How to Write Fantastic Fiction’, ‘The Writer’s Life’, ‘The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing’, ‘How to Write a Thriller’, ‘How to Write for Children’, ‘Writing…