Online searches provide much detailed information about a place: layout, history, buildings and objects of interest, entertainments; and in the case of a university town or city, data about university life and organisation. There are maps, there are photographs, there…

Durham, a small city in the north-east of England, is home to a magnificent castle and the world’s first-ever Romanesque cathedral, commonly considered the finest piece of Norman architecture in the world and one of Britain’s most treasured World Heritage…

I’ve heard authors say that when they’ve hit a sticky patch in their work-in-progress, a good long walk enables them to find a solution. The awkward scene, the optimal sequencing of events, the need for a character to behave in…

Back on track; computer working – for the time being at least – and novel progressing according to the detailed plan (of course the characters keep thinking and doing things one hadn’t intended them to think and do, but if…

I think that’s a literal translation of  ‘catastrophe’, isn’t it? In the event, things have looked up again (otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this blog). Random thought: why don’t we have the word ‘anastrophe’ in English? Is it because all…