Years ago, I ran a WordPress blog called Retrospective Rewriting. In it, I would analyse a film from a screenwriting perspective and explore how the story could have been stronger. It was a chance to flex my creative muscles—to indulge that obsessive storyteller part of my brain that can’t resist trying to fix a broken […]
Retrospective Rewriting – Supergirl Read More »
These last few months have been a struggle. Recovery from my accident in January has been slow, tedious, and tiring. Endless hospital appointments. Painful physiotherapy sessions. Lawyers letters. Police visits. Return to work. Anxiety. And yet, resilience. Persistence. The want to live, not to merely exist but to really live, to travel, to enjoy long
A love letter to Clair Obscur Read More »
I had hoped my first blog post of the year would be more positive. I’ve recorded and edited the first episode of my podcast. Work on the third and final book in the Spirits of Vengeance saga is coming along well. I was looking forward to getting back to my YouTube channel, Kickstart This! But
I Get Knocked Down (But I Get Up Again) Read More »
T’was the eve before Christmas Eve,And all through the house,Not a creature was stirring,Because we were all bed-ridden with flu. It seems apt that I am going to end 2024 on a low note, coughing and wheezing to the finish line, feeling my age in my weary bones. It was a year of dismay, trudging
Ending the year on a low Read More »
Seeing as this is my first blog post in four months, I thought procrastination might be a good subject to touch upon, and why it’s actually a good thing. There’s an old joke that 90% of writing books is procrastinating about them. That’s because you can procrastinate anywhere. I usually procrastinate on my long dog
The Art of Procrastination Read More »
I often think of myself as a screenwriter who stumbled into writing books when a fantasy word grew beyond the confines of a screenplay. If someone asks me what I’m working on, my mind naturally gravitates to the backlog of scripts and treatments languishing in a folder on my computer. I am somewhat envious of
I should talk about my books more Read More »
It’s 11:30 p.m. and I’m listening to the storm outside threaten to tear the roof off of my house. My wife would say I am being melodramatic, but I pause with every creak and groan I hear from the attic. But I made a list of things to do this weekend, and the last item
Saviour of our Streets Read More »
Happy New Year, everyone, and as we say in Scotland, “Lang May Your Lum Reek,” which means ‘long may your chimney smoke’, In other words, may you have a long and healthy life. I like to start the year with a long walk. Over the last few years, it has been with my dog, Amber
Starting the year as I mean to go on Read More »
We all do it. I thought the first cover I did of my first novel, Spirits of Vengeance: The Stone of Spirits, was amazing. When a small publisher picked it up, they insisted on redesigning the cover. It was so hideous that I battled with them to exit the contract that I had only just
Judging a book by its cover Read More »
I am primarily a writer. That is how I define myself first and foremost. But I am also a filmmaker. It’s like an itch that needs to be scratched every few years, so here is a brief update of some of the projects I’ve been quietly working on in the filmmaking arena. Saviour of our
Flirting with filmmaking Read More »
