New York City

The New York part of this trip has been great. I have managed to get to the NY Public Library to start reading through the new novel. What a strange process that is. I’m finding some small changes I want to make. Nothing major. But the hard part is trying to...

Writing Rituals

I have always believed in the importance of rituals. I don’t necessarily mean the religious kind, though they have their function as well, of course. I mean rituals that we ourselves create to mark our own, specific lives. I’ve found the how’s and...

Diana McCaulay and "Dog-Heart"

One of the great pleasures of this writing life of mine has been meeting writers from all over the world who I would never have met before. Often, this happens via the blog. But recently,  I met a very talented actor in London, Jonathan Chambers, and he told me about...

Writing the Last Word

As my handy-dandy Word Count Meter on the right shows, I have now written the last word of the first draft of the new novel. I posted as much on Facebook and I received all sorts of lovely messages of congratulations. But how did it really feel?Not as expected. When I...

Dancing Across Borders

Of personal and, increasingly, professional interest to me is the way the arts can be used to promote change, both on an individual and societal basis. One of the wonderful aspects of my involvement with Cambodia is that is seems to attract artists and people...