It is tempting at low moments to look back and read old blog posts. I don’t know whether it’s a need for comfort, a search for validation or perhaps a sense that I need a reminder of how this world is supposed to be shaping up. Whatever the reason it is clearly not working, as…

There is, I guess, an inevitability about this post and its likely successors. I will make a commitment to doing better with my writing. I will bestow it with good intentions and publish it for all the world to see. I will almost certainly fail. A few weeks down the line I will produce yet…

They are ganging up on me, these tests of willpower and resolve. About a year ago, a friend gently enquired how retirement was going and in particular my writing. While informing me that my efforts were comparable to his in terms of their paucity, I had no real excuses. Time, he correctly asserted, was an…

I have a friend, several in fact. One of these friends is also a budding writer and she has inadvertently dragged me back in front of the laptop. Away for a weekend’s camping with friends from our amateur dramatic group, I was settled in by the campfire with a beer when Nat sidled up and…

Well I have to say that my first official foray into the exciting world of sound engineering was a great success. The audience loved our show and I learned a great deal along the way. Less successful was the bolt-on opportunity to get involved with the lighting (LX). A cast member had access to some…

That’s what they say, whoever they are… I happen to think they are right. Every day offers new opportunities to learn and contribute. Here’s a “for instance”….. I am a member of another drama group locally. We put on new works, generally by one of the two founders, along with adaptations of lesser known classics.…

Guilt is a strange thing It can vary from a fairly low grade, “could have done better” type of guilt to a nuclear grade that can quickly become an addiction. Self flagellation is, it appears, a severe risk if you let yourself drift along that particular road. I sincerely do not intend for that to…

I ran into a neighbour this morning. Not literally, obviously. It has become clear to me recently that this particular neighbour and I have much in common. For a start we share the same name. We are possibly around the same age and appear to have a similar rhythm to our lives. Tim #2 as…

OK it’s time to climb down from the perch of pontification and make a start. I will write a murder mystery. It will rival the timeless works of Agatha and sell millions. Obviously. What, you may ask, has caused this sudden spark of enthusiasm? Simple really. Last night I did what I never imagined I…

My experience so far is that the pathway to successful writing is littered with the carcasses of false starts. It is a desolate boneyard of abandoned great ideas, haunted by the ghosts of good intentions. My writing career seems to be in terminal decline before it has even started and I have little idea how…