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Ignite your Fiction Fire: 5 Tips for Aspiring Writers

Sometimes, trying to write and get our work out there can feel like flailing around in the dark. It can be a fraught journey, littered with the skeletons of defeated writers: I'm not good enough. I don't have time. I need to stop living in my…
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What makes writers write?

Why do writers write? Why do we plunge ourselves into the often icy waters where we can face loneliness, voices in our head that can be both liberating and disconcerting, and even exposure to ridicule? Do we chose to write, or does writing…
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Interview with Scott Mullins from This Is Writing

An interview I did with Scott Mullins from This Is Writing is now live! Click here to read it. There were some really interesting questions which I had to think hard about, for example how I would define creativity, and what's my greatest fear…
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What are the implications of buying 'art'?

Every artist amongst us, no matter the medium, pours love, time, hard work and hope into our creations. Last weekend, whilst staying at the magical Kitengela Glass in Nairobi, I came across this sign (sorry about the wonkiness of the photo): This…
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Five Top Quotes about Creativity & Writing to Motivate and Inspire

Time and again, we all need inspiring words to help us to write or simply live creatively, without fear or inhibitions. Stick one or more of these quotes above your desk, keep them in your bag, write them in the sand. Or just read them as often…
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How do we create a new narrative of hope?

'It's important to say what hope is not: it is not the belief that everything was, is, or will be fine. The evidence is all around us of tremendous suffering and tremendous destruction. The hope I'm interested in is about broad perspectives…
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The curious truth about book covers

So here's a curious thing I've learnt about the covers of novels since becoming a published author: They don't have to (and often don't) have anything to do with the book's contents. Seems peculiar, doesn't it? Counter-intuitive? Downright…
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Carving a path for our children through written & oral landscapes

Illustration by Thomas James Words are like water. They ebb and flow, transforming as the years pass to camouflage themselves in their surroundings. Language shapes and moulds our identities, providing a emotional anchor for our pasts and…
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Confessions of a Writer and / or Parent

You think that you are ‘there’ with your novel. You have worked on it tirelessly, stretching out plot, characterisation, setting etc for everything it’s worth. You send it to your editor, crack open a drink and breathe out a huge, deep…
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The Power of Public Space Poetry

Have you ever been walking through a public space when you’re stopped, suddenly, in your tracks by the most uplifting, unexpected sight? Public Poetry. Perhaps humanity needs this more than ever. Words to make us stop and think. Words to…