At my urging, loyal blog reader, Qwerty Queen, has dared to step up to the podium and ask a question. As you may recall, as part of the A Clash of Innocents blog tour, I offered myself up to you all, daring you to ask me a question that I'd then answer here on my own...

A new Ipad, a new camera. If I only had a new brain to work them all.  Oh well, I'm slowly getting there, so now I have two photos taken at the British Science Festival "There's Science in My Fiction/Poetry" event we just ran. First, the amazing venue, Birmingham' Old...

I haven't been to Birmingham for over 15 years. What a beautiful downtown area. Victoria Square is lovely with great old monuments and imposing buildings. I met up with Tania Hershman and Brian Clegg for a bite to eat before our session began. I've known Tania for a...

    There used to be a time when I couldn't bring myself to make long-range plans because I couldn't trust that I or any of my loved ones would be around to see them happen.  It was a sad and difficult time of my life, but now I find myself planning away, months and...

Today is the Jewish New Year.  Happy Rosh Hashanah to all my Jewish friends, and to me and my family.  This time of year has always felt like the beginning of a new year to me, much more so than, say, January, which usually feels like the middle of a long winter...

I should be sleeping now, especially since I'm due to run in the Hyde Park 5k Challenge tomorrow, but instead I'm writing this blog. And why? Because I'm writing this on my new Ipad! I've convinced myself that I needed one because of all the travel I do. This way, I...

The new publishing venture, Ward Wood, is off to a running start -- and not only because they'll be publishing my own new novel, A Clash of Innocents, as their first book!  And also not because they have two new wonderful poetry collections lined up for October and...

Seamlessly, from flight to flight, from continent to continent and back again.  When it works, it works.  So I traveled from Martha's Vineyard to Boston to London to Edinburgh to London to Boston to Martha's Vineyard all in four days.  Crazy, but worth it.  Number 1...

I am very excited to say that this week I completed the final edits of A Clash of Innocents.  I read it through one last time, word for word, but this time it was in the typeface and format of the final product. What a difference that makes! Suddenly it felt like I...

I haven't talked much about yoga here.  Maybe I haven't mentioned it at all but that's probably because once I start talking about it, I get all proselytize-y about it.  I know doing yoga has changed me and greatly enhanced my life.  It hasn't hurt my marriage either...

It's our anniversary today.  Mr. D and I have been married 28 years. Rather amazing, I must admit.  And every anniversary we do the same thing -- spend the day together here in our own little corner of paradise:This is the view we drive past on the way to the beach....

Yes, you read that right -- I wonder if I will now have a HUGE surge in followers?This is actually a novel which a writer-friend asked me to read for a cover quote.  To be honest, if it wasn't for the friendship I may never have picked up this book, and what a shame...

July here on Martha's Vineyard has been bliss. Beautiful weather for all of us here, and for me, a much-needed sense of balance between work and play, solitude and company. I feel better-rested and less-stressed than I have for a while, and that's good because August...

 Do you know about TED?  "Riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world."  Every year, this organization runs a series of conferences bringing together some of the world's most interesting people for a sharing of ideas.  Some of these are held in Oxford, and...

Welcome to the official yes-it's-really-happening blog post about my newest novel, A Clash of Innocents.  The picture on the left is the first draft of the cover.  It will be tweaked some more, but I'm thrilled with the image which was taken by a young...

Yesterday morning, instead of settling into a few good hours of research, I found myself lost in the latest hub bub coming out of the poetry world.  It started with the announcement of the Forward Prize shortlist and the fact that Derek Walcott's latest collection was...

So the votes are in.  Although there was a surprisingly wide range of opinions, the majority believed that the best new head shot was the one referred to as 'C', but in a cropped version.  And here it is:So that's the me you'll get used to seeing in various places...

As many of my beloved readers may have realized, I post new blogs on Thursdays and Sundays.  But today, Saturday, 17 July at exactly 3 pm London time, I am posting this special announcement.Salt, the independent press that has been publishing beautiful cutting edge...

I did a fun (or is it funny) thing this week.  I had new head shots taken.  Yes, the new book needs a new head shot.  Plus, I'm sporting a new haircut these days so I need to look a bit more like my present day self.  Though I did, of course, keep my signature denim...

One of the great joys of writing a blog is that you get to "know" people you never would have come across in your normal life.  Some of these people have become friends in the flesh.  Clare Dudman is not one of these.  I've never met her, although I have been...

It somehow feels appropriate that the work I'm doing first off this summer is poetry.  My writing life really began with poetry, and that poetry found it's first home here on Martha's Vineyard.  "Martha's Vineyard Magazine" was one of the first to publish my work, and...

Greetings from Martha's Vineyard.  I've arrived and begun to get into the rhythm of my island life, despite the busyness of the last few months and the difficulty of extricating myself from it.  As I've mentioned before, this schizophrenic aspect of my life can be...

As you read this, I'll be winging my way to the States, to my summer home, to my favourite island in the world.  It's hard to believe it's that time again.  My life still seems to run along an academic schedule, so this time of year also marks the end of a year and a...

The run is now finished.  It's been a very tiring, but very exciting and satisfying three weeks.  It's hard to believe it's over.  This last week saw sell-out houses and enthusiastic audiences.  There lies one part of this last lesson, and this is a part I often...

I have been a huge fan of Jane Smiley since "A Thousand Acres," her novel based on King Lear published in 1991.  That novel stayed in my mind as one of my favourites for a long time, although I didn't read much of her other work, until I stumbled upon "Moo," in the...

Given all the craziness of the last few weeks, with both a play being produced and a new novel to get published, you would think the last thing I would need would be an orchestra concert thrown into the mix.  But tonight  (7.30 pm, Chelsea Town Hall, King's Road...

In the middle of all the theatricality this week, I managed to check out a possible venue for September's launch of my new novel, A Clash of Innocents.  I usually am too superstitious to talk about things before they are set in stone, but I have a very good feeling...

My oh my, what a week!Monday we did the tech for the show which went all day and into the night.Tuesday we had a dress rehearsal, and the Opening Night.  Even though it was a preview, the house was nearly full and the performance was completely assured.  Actors are...

There are many reasons why I'm thrilled to be presenting Nik Perring here today.  He's a lovely, generous writer who I've gotten to know through his blog, here.  He makes me laugh and I believe he has an interesting and rather quirky take on life.  But mostly, he's a...

We have now finished our rehearsals.  It's hard to believe the three weeks are already over.  Here are some photos from the rehearsal room: Stefan D'Bart and Polly Whybrow rehearsing Michael Hart's "No More, Salvator." And here's our Director, Ellie Joseph, with her...