My thoughts about books, writing, life and so many other things….Judy Leigh/ Elena Collins.
On a recent Radio 4 programme, Marlon James was asked if he'd listened to reggae as he wrote A Brief History of Seven Killings. He suggested that reggae was the last music he'd have listened to: the novel was set mostly in Jamaica around the 'Bob Marley era' and of course he didn't listen to reggae: …
I've been busy writing. My third novel is finished and I'm editing it, making a lot of changes, before I step away for a while, go back, later and decide if it still feels fresh and readable. Then I'll edit some more. I'm becoming better at editing. I have an incredible two-book deal and a …
Today we remember. April 8th is a day designated to think about the largest ethnic minority- some ten million Roma live in Europe and six million within the EU- and we should remember that Romani people are still subject to discrimination and social exclusion. I've heard the same argument all my life, words which come from …
After the EU vote went the way of the Leave Campaign, many people have said, 'The country has made a choice and we must stick with it.' Others suggest, 'You can't keep having another vote until you get the result you want.' The British people are, essentially, stoics, especially the English with our stiff upper …
Continue reading If the EU vote had been a second hand bike…
My third novel is almost finished and editing it is my next focus. What could be better? It's time to see if I would choose to read my own novel and, if so, how I can make it more readable. I am learning all the time. My first novel is out there with a really experienced …
I know I shouldn't, but I have a soft spot for the clichéd phrase 'You couldn't write it!' or 'You couldn't make it up!' If you prefer, as sports commentators say, 'You couldn't write a script like it!' As a writer, it gives me a warm feeling that, sometimes, life can imitate ludicrous coincidence found …
Have you ever experienced the phenomenon of a book you should have read, but somehow it has slipped your attention? For me, John Williams' Stoner was one such novel. Worse still, when it came to my attention, I thought it was probably about drugs and bought it expecting something similar to Hunter S Thompson's Fear …
Sometimes I think the world has always been crazy. If I go back to the time of my parents, their parents, I find story after countless story about those who are on the inside and those who are on the outside. It doesn't always matter who the insiders are - they often have different faces …
Lots of people have asked me to blog about this year's Christmas dinner. I intended this year's Christmas feast to be a celebration of vegan food, with imaginative and delicious differences in each dish.But you know what happens, by half three you have had four gins and a couple of ports plus some dodgy homemade …
Continue reading Christmas vegan dinner… or eat your roux with a difference
It doesn't matter what you call it: flu, man flu, fever, viral infection - it's not serious, there's not much you can do about it, but it feels miserable. Symptoms include a high temperature, fatigue, headache, sneezing, coughing, diarrhea, abdominal pain, sore throat. I have all of these symptoms, plus aching joints, aching ears, swollen …
Continue reading I got those viral infection blues. Thank goodness for cats.
That quintessence of dust 