Writing Blog
Hemingway’s take on life’s not fair, get over it
“The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places.” -Ernest Hemingway I grew up reading Ernest Hemingway, and devoured most of his works in my younger years, but I couldn’t say he was ever a favorite author of mine. Yet, in this odd age of “Words are violence!” and a quest…
Read MoreBook Review: Grown Ups
Irish author Marian Keyes always delivers interesting characters, and her latest novel, Grown Ups, doesn’t disappoint. The novel unfolds in Dublin, and on various holiday locales around Ireland – and one further afield in Tuscany, Italy. We’re introduced rather quickly to a large cast of characters. The Casey brothers – Johnny, Ed and Liam –…
Read MoreBook review: All the Lonely People
I so enjoyed reading my first Mike Gayle novel, Half A World Away, earlier this year that I decided to also read his newest, All the Lonely People. It didn’t disappoint. This story opens as we observe a grumpy, old man, Hubert Bird, speaking from his London home with his daughter who works in Australia.…
Read MoreWriters take heart – even John Steinbeck was intimidated by the blank page
“After many years, to start a story still scares me to death.” —John Steinbeck If it can happen to John Steinbeck, it can happen to anyone. Who can believe that the famed American author (1902 – 1968) of such classics as The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, East of Eden and The Pearl…
Read MoreBook review: The Chalet
Full disclaimer : COVID has left me brutally ski-deprived. I spent this past January driving through mountains positively mocking me with their pistes fluffy with beautiful, virginal snow, yet with not one lone skier on them due to COVID restrictions. COVID killed the season last year, and it’s looking as if this year won’t be…
Read MoreBook review: The Heatwave
I read The Girl in the Photograph, an earlier novel by this author, and was underwhelmed, but I was intrigued by the premise of this novel and its setting. I’m glad to have picked it up, and found it a compelling read. This novel is largely set in southern France’s Provence region, in a small,…
Read MoreReviewing your own writing – except the bad bits
“I like reading my own work, and often do it. I go gently over the bits I think are bad.” —E. M. Forster I’m a big fan of E.M. Forster’s work. The British novelist ( 1879 – 1970) of masterpieces such as A Room with a View, Where Angels Fear to Tread, Passage to India…
Read MoreBook review : The Piano Teacher
This is the second novel by Janice Y.K. Lee that I’ve read. A few years ago, I enjoyed her excellent The Expatriates, so I was curious to read this novel set in Hong Kong in the lead-up to World War II and the time of the Japanese occupation. Lee is from Hong Kong and covered…
Read MoreUseful advice for writers – and for life
“There’s no end to what can be tried, is there? So better luck next time.” —Eudora Welty Yet more insightful advice from American novelist and short story writer (1909-2001). It must be difficult for writers to read bad reviews or feel they poured so much of their heart and soul into a literary work that…
Read MoreA good writer should be able to fool his readers
“What is important is to invent a story and to make the spectators believe it.” —Tahar Ben Jelloun I like this quote from contemporary Moroccan author Tahar Ben Jelloun. This is exactly how an author creates a successful novel – by creating characters, a story and an environment that draws us in immediately and has…
Read More