On April 30th this year I was a nervous wreck. My debut novel, ‘Forgotten’ was due to be released the following day. I’d spent most of the previous three or four weeks fluctuating between excitement and anxiety. I was worried that nobody would read it, that people would read it and hate it and that friends and family would read it and feel embarrassed to talk to me about it because they thought it was so bad. But I was excited that it was going to be ‘out there’ and that

When I moved to Carlisle, more than twenty years ago, I was surprised to find that it was lacking some of the cultural venues that might be expected of a city. The cinema dated from the 1930s and, while charming, offered a diet of mainstream Hollywood blockbusters; theatre was limited to amateur productions; and the few bands who ventured here had to perform in the sports centre with its seriously dodgy acoustics. But, there was (and still is) an excellent museum and a wonde

There’s a huge difference between writing creatively and writing for a practical purpose. I can sit at my computer faced with a blank page and make up characters and events fairly easily. I’m not saying that I can write amazing characters and fantastic prose without even thinking about it (I wish) but creative writing comes quite naturally to me. It’s what writing is. But, this weekend, I’ve been faced with a different sort of writing – the dreaded job application. Of cou