It’s a moment that never fails to thrill… when the nice UPS man leaves a box at your door with the freshly-minted galleys of your new novel in it. I’ve written before about the various iterations of a book that appear before the final hardcover is produced. This is one the sweetest moments, though – because this is the first …
I’m Not Crying
The other day I wrote a small screed on Twitter about the difficulties of choosing a passage from a novel to read at an event. It’s hard because novels are big, complicated things which can’t really be represented by a ten-minute reading (and heaven help you if you go on for much longer than that.) If one accepts the somewhat gloomy premise …
SETTING FREE THE KITES
Remember me? I don’t even want to think about how long it’s been since I last posted here. So much has happened since then. I’ve written another book and a half. I bought a house. I got married. I started a new literary festival. I’ve been busy, man. Anyway, here I am, back again, which can only mean one thing. …
New Beginnings
It’s been a busy time. In addition to completing rewrites for my next novel, my legal practice, being a dad, step-dad, and a husband, and the myriad challenges of turning the dream of the Unbound Book Festival into a reality, there’s been little time or space in my head to write anything new. I’ve been living with my new, as-yet-unwritten book for …
Chapter One
Columbia, MO is nearly a ghost town, which means one thing: term is over, and summer is here. Over the course of this last semester my wife and I have taught a course called “Chapter One” at the University of Missouri Honors College. It’s been great fun. We chose ten first chapters from across the canon, from Nabokov to Toni …
Books for Tupelo
In 2012 I was sent all over the place to promote A GOOD AMERICAN. I visited many fabulous bookshops and met multitudes of wonderful people. I went to many places that I never would have seen otherwise, and I had an absolute blast from start to finish. Perhaps improbably, my most memorable stop on that book tour was in Tupelo, Mississippi. If …
No Place Like Home
At the end of the week my children and I will be climbing on to a plane and flying back to England. It will be the first time the kids have been back in two years, and the trip has got me thinking about a lot of things. In particular, it reminded me of a small essay I wrote last …
Immersive Reading
Oh, it’s been a busy time, my friends. Following my editor’s remarks on the first draft of my new book, I’ve spent the last few months performing a massive rewrite (“performing” seems like the correct word, as it sometimes felt like a surgical procedure.) In addition my proverbial day job has kept me busy, and of course there are …
Thumb Twiddling
Ah, it’s a funny time, this. The manuscript of the new book is with my editor, and I am caught between two worlds. I am still (always) thinking about FLIGHT RISKS, wondering what I can change to make it better, what works, what doesn’t. There is still so much work to be done, and I know I am nowhere near …
Marathon Man.
Last October, I ran a marathon. It hurt, a lot. I spent most of the race in agony, telling myself that I would get a blog post out of the experience, at the very least. That, and one of those smug “26.2” stickers to put on the back of my car. I never did get one of those stickers (couldn’t …