Somebody in Clifton loves me, and an Aussie abroad
I´d never heard of Clifton until I kept seeing the place as a permanent fixture in my analytics. Clifton, New Jersey, USA: a sleepy town whose only claim to fame seems… more
Demise of the Dinosaurs
Don´t call it America. America consists of two land masses. North America is not just the United States of America, which has recently morphed into the Ugly States of Arumpasaurus.… more
C’est la rentrée
It´s been a while since I blogged. A lot´s been happening. There was the great inaugural Flash Fiction Festival in Bath at the end of June which, apart from some super… more
Getting unblocked
I´ve been blocked. Not the arteries, at least not since I quit smoking a whole year ago. Not the page. I´ve been coming up with ideas for ways to improve… more
Acquiring a Taste for George Saunders
I did not pursue the non-fiction post-election analysis at the US Embassy´s Amerika Haus as planned, but instead, with some trepidation, turned to a fictional pulse-taking of what I now call… more
Lonely are the Brave
A tiny article in this morning´s KURIER noted that the US Embassy´s “NSA-Villa” which apparently kept tabs on all telecommunications in Vienna and beyond will close down in 2017 and… more
Friendship in Time(s) of Trump*
* trump (v.2) “fabricate, devise,” 1690s, from trump “deceive, cheat” (1510s), from Middle English trumpen (late 14c.), from Old French tromper “to deceive,” of uncertain origin. Apparently from se tromper… more
A G.U.T. reaction to history
Recently I was sharing thoughts with a young doctoral student on the importance of narratives and narration. To know what real people did when and where, and how it affected… more
This need to never give up
Last September at the Festival of Writing in York I was seated at a table with participants from my online self-editing course and with course leader Debi Alper. Also at… more