About me
I grew up in North-west Kent in a village that has left me with an affection for plain places. From the moment I learnt to read I also wanted to write. I seized all opportunities - from poems and stories to school and university essays, anything that would keep a pen in my hand. Yet I was over forty when I first took the plunge into serious writing with a novel, This was followed by three more, which were all carefully stashed at the back of a cupboard. Poetry came later and with it publication in a wide range of magazines. 'Woman on the moon' was short-listed for the Forward best single poem 2004. I was a member of the Poetry Business Advanced writing School, one of the best bits of education of my life whose effects are still with me. I have now two collections of poetry and a novel working its way towards publication. |
As I've gone on writing I've discovered things to love:
textures absurdities -
hot-dogs made of marzipan in a confectioner's window in Nuremberg - I couldn't resist them. the out-of doors -
an ancient pine forest, places of many kinds, old houses, language, its texture and flow, its sound the way it can fill the mouth |
All of these are things not used directly but tending to rise as words get going.