Writing
Forty years of The Great Outdoors
An important milestone for the most authoritative voice in British hillwalking and backpacking Today, the 40th anniversary issue of The Great Outdoors went on sale. Here’s what TGO means to me, and why I think it’s a vital force in outdoors media, as strong and relevant now as
Things I wish I’d known as a new writer
A few things you won’t learn on that creative writing course Of all the emails I receive each week, a small but growing number are from new writers – often young, and sometimes a bit bewildered, seeking advice on writing. They don’t know where to find ideas, or they
A roundup of my published outdoor writing in November 2017
It’s been a busy month for outdoor writing. I’ve written a number of features for The Great Outdoors – skills pieces, interviews and more – an interview for Sidetracked, and a one-minute mountain for UKHillwalking. I’ve included a couple of notable pieces I’ve posted on this site too.
NaNoWriMo week three: capitulation
After just over 25,000 words, I’m calling it quits on NaNoWriMo 2017. It was always going to be a tall order, if I’m honest – I noted before I began1 that I don’t have anywhere near as much spare time as I did last time I completed
A standing desk experiment
I spend far too much time sitting down. My work day is normally 10.00-18.00, and most of that time is spent sitting in a chair, immobile. Time to try something new. In 2017 I made a big improvement to my daily routine by committing to a five-mile walk
NaNoWriMo – mid-month progress report
After the near-effortless progress of the first week, I expected the second week to go just as easily. But my progress is slowing and I’m finding it more difficult to hit my daily goal. The mathematics of NaNoWriMo are pretty simple: you have to average a shade over 1,
NaNoWriMo – week one progress report
It’s been seven days of crazed literary abandon so far – except that it hasn’t. My memories of National Novel Writing Month involve late-night typing marathons, commiserating over lack of inspiration or poor word counts online, and vast amounts of coffee. The same has usually been true of fiction
I’m taking a break from social media in November
It’s almost November, which means National Novel Writing Month is upon me. I’m going dark on my personal social channels until December the 1st. I won’t overcomplicate this, because it’s pretty simple: in order to give myself a fighting chance of writing 50,000 words of
Why I’ll be attempting NaNoWriMo this year
For the fourth time in fifteen years, I’ll be attempting to write 50,000 words of fiction this November. Here’s why, and what I hope to achieve. Cast your mind back to the 1st of November 2002. Chances are, your life was very different then; I know mine