A little while ago, I mentioned a new literary journal from Northern Ireland which was planning to launch online in June and aimed to champion the short story. Well, it is June 1 today and I am pleased to say that after a lot of hard work from The Incubator team, the first journal has gone live. […]

Morning and evening Maids heard the goblins cry: “Come buy our orchard fruits: Come buy, come buy:” In 1859, Christina Rossetti wrote her epic poem, Goblin Market – a fantastical fairytale which has compelled critics and fans of the work to pick it apart; to study it; to mould it into whatever suits their purpose… Rossetti […]

“Leonard Cohen said he felt one of his strengths as a writer was that he’s a vacuum – he has no ideas, but draws them inside.” How does a writer address the dreaded blank page – the (whisper it) writer’s block phenomenon? Well, no matter how talented that writer, everyone at some point in their […]

‘Seven is a magic number. The spells of fairy tales last for seven years… and it is around the age of seven that children are ready for the great adventures into the unknown…’ Not my words, but words which no doubt had a great impact upon my seven-year-old self. Although, something tells me I could […]

The secrets to happy living (as suggested by a magazine article I read this week): – Give more – Care less – Get a dog Apply these to writing and… well, the same applies, don’t you think? Give more…. thought/time/effort over to writing Care less…. about what people think/expect of your writing Get a dog….. […]

This week I read a funny book. That’s great, I hear you say. But no, wait – it was a really funny book. It was the sort of book that made me laugh out loud and believe me – that doesn’t happen a lot. That’s a gift. To make someone who is, admittedly quite cynical and […]

Leisure (W H Davies) What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare?— No time to stand beneath the boughs, And stare as long as sheep and cows: No time to see, when woods we pass, Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass: No time to see, in […]

I recently read an interview with an author/creative writing tutor where the journalist asked The Question That Must Not Be Asked – ‘Surely you can’t teach people how to write?’ The author was rightly (in my opinion) a little prickly in his answer, giving a curt, ‘of course you can’, response. Writing is just like […]

‘The art of losing isn’t hard to master; so many things seem filled with the intent to be lost that their loss is no disaster’               – ‘One Art’ by Elizabeth Bishop Following my last post, I have been determined to set aside those things which prevent me from being creative – to ‘lose’ them, if […]

Do you make time to be creative? Do you read books, watch films, listen to music….? Well, I made the time (one week on) to read an article on creativity yesterday, which pointed out the benefits to us all of finding time to tap into our creative sides – whatever that may look like. For me […]