Blogs
Coleridge The Opium Eater
Coleridge: The Opium Eater
“I am fully convinced,” Coleridge wrote, “That to a person with such a stomach and bowels as mine, if any stimulus is needful, opium is incomparably better in every respect than any fermented liquor, nay, far less pernicious even than tea.”
In Coleridge’s time opium was the only painkiller available and there is no doubting Coleridge’s need for it: his illness was genuine. The swollen...
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Book Review: Those Who Are Loved by Victoria Hislop
Book Review: Those Who Are Loved by Victoria Hislop
What a disappointment this book was! I really enjoyed The Island by the same author and I know her books are highly thought of and well researched. The main problem with this one I think is that I couldn’t relate to the main character. I couldn’t see her in my mind or feel her thoughts and feelings. It’s the same with all the characters in this book: they lack depth and feeling. They’re almost caricatures. It’s as though she has wanted to tell a chunk of history...
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Coleridge in Love: The Two Saras
Coleridge in Love: The Two Saras
Samuel Taylor Coleridge had a theory on love
“Sympathy constitutes friendship; but in love there is a sort of antipathy, or opposing passion. Each strives to be the other, and both together make up one whole.”
Love, he felt, was generous. “I can neither retain my happiness nor my faculties unless I move, live and love in perfect freedom.”...
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Becoming a Writer
Becoming a Writer
Sometimes I wonder how I got here. Not here in the world, I mean, here as a bona fide accepted writer. If you had told me twenty years ago that I would have published seven novels, had two more accepted by a publisher and was writing a tenth, I would never have believed you.
I’ve always known that I can write. It’s just something I can do. But I never thought I would be a published...
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Looking for things to do
Looking for things to do
So here we all are during the Coronavirus outbreak, trying to find things to do to occupy our time. Facebook is full of photos of culinary creations but how much longer will they be able to buy the ingredients? I don’t want this to be a blog about Coronavirus because there is enough discussion about that already. So what have I been doing to occupy my time? Well, of course, unlike others I am used to working from home: I still have books to edit and prepare for publication, I still write, I still post on social media to publicise my work. But there...Read More
2019 and all that…
2019 and all that...
So, it’s that time of year again, the time where I look back on my achievements for the last twelve months. Well, to start with, I notice I haven’t written a blog post for six months and the reason for this pretty much sums up my year and indeed the year before. Regular visitors to my website and friends will know that I suffer from a condition called Lupus. Systemic Lupus Erythematosus is an auto-immune condition in which the body’s immune system attacks healthy tissue in many parts of the body. Symptoms vary between people and may be mild to severe....Read More
Did Coleridge have Lupus?
Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, SLE or Lupus is a chronic, inflammatory, variable autoimmune disease of connective tissue, typically characterised by skin rash, fatigue, joint and muscle pain and often by disorders of the blood, kidneys, heart, lungs, and brain. Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 –1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher and theologian who, with his friend William...
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Between Books
Between Books
Oh, it’s such a difficult thing being a writer. When you’re not actively involved in writing something, you miss it. There’s a lull between finishing one piece of work and starting another. Even if you have an idea for a new one, you can’t just rush into it. There’s a sort of mourning period where you have to get over your previous one. I’m sometimes asked when I know that a novel is finished. It’s pretty obvious that it’s not when you write the last word. There are many versions to follow: reads and re-reads, writes and re-writes. But there...Read More
Book Review: Catch Me When I Fall by Nicci French
Book Review: Catch Me When I Fall by Nicci French
This is one of those books that stays with you long after you’ve finished reading it. The description in the first chapter of the heroine’s drink and drug fuelled night out was just incredible. I’ve never had a night out like that (thank goodness!) but I really could feel what it must be like. It’s easy to look back and find holes in the plot, easy to see too that the characters are a bit too obvious: the crazy girl, the loyal husband, the even more loyal friend. It’s...Read More
Book Review Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson
Book Review Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson
I have to admit to being a bit late discovering Kate Atkinson. I remember friends raving about “Life after Life” and “A God in Ruins” years ago but when I read the blurb and the reviews they never seemed to appeal to me. Finally, however, I read “A God in Ruins” and was absolutely taken by the style of writing: so brave, so clever, so different. I went on to read “life after Life” (yes, I know that was the wrong way round but it didn’t seem to matter) and was equally enthralled. I’ve never really...Read More