People sometimes ask me what characteristic is most important for a writer to possess. I expect they’re waiting for me to say that you need a felicitous turn of phrase, an outrageous imagination, an overweening ego, or something similar. Now, perhaps all of those things might help, in some shape or form, but if I had to choose the one …
Old Spice, Monster-Style
Amazing thing, the interweb. Just because I posted a parody of the Old Spice advert and confessed my delight at a new ring tone, people have begun to send me all sorts of fun stuff related to the original idea. This one arrived via facebook this morning from my friend, Mrs. McPea. This may be my favorite yet. I think …
The Simpsons, Naked
Gratuitous headlines designed to get your attention? You betcha. This is another post about singing. I know there are some people out there who maybe don’t (yet) appreciate these little nuggets of barbershop glory, but you know what? Needs must, people. There’s a whole lot of it in the book, so cowboy up, cupcakes. Where was I? Oh yes. So, …
Thin End of the Labrador
We always had pets growing up. My childhood can be divided up into a succession of eras defined by the canine presence in my parents’ home. First there was Sam, who was around before I was. Then came Benji. Then Sophy, and now Purdy. All labradors. All wonderful, affectionate, loyal and fabulous creatures. My wife, on the other hand, never …
Title Talk
Still no closer to a title for the book, although I am thinking about it an awful lot – whenever I have a spare moment, in fact. Often I forget that not everyone is as fixated about the subject as I am. This can throw up some interesting discussions, when only one party to the conversation is particpating with the …
Gonnections (with apologies to Meyer Wolfscheim)
It’s busy work being a writer these days. As I’ve observed before, it’s no longer enough just to, you know, write books. You need a blog, a website, a twitter account, facebook… the list goes on and on. Anyway, I’ve been a good boy and done all (or most) of these things, and I wanted to give anyone interested a …
Word Clouds!
I recently discovered this great site that creates beautiful word clouds from texts that users can submit. (Thanks to Emily St. John Mandel for the idea – she has a cloud of her most recent novel on her site.) It’s pretty cool. The size of the various words depends on the frequency with which they appear. Here’s a cloud I …
Monday Morning Novelist
Been there, done that.
My Wife’s Affair
This isn’t a book review, not really. I just want to tell you about a novel I enjoyed a lot. Besides, I think you’re supposed to be icily impartial when it comes to reviews, and I’m not, not this time. The author, Nancy Woodruff, is a friend of mine. We were in a writers’ group together in London, and I actually …
Blue Note Lives!
Haven’t had any jazz on here for a while, so here’s something I’ve been saving up for you. When most jazz enthusiasts talk about “Miles”, the chances are they’ll be referring to one, Davis, M. But there’s another Miles whose influence, while perhaps not so far-reaching, still had a profound effect on jazz and its iconography. I’m speaking of Reid …