A lesson in impermanence that took me almost 20 years to understand — The smell of freshly brewed coffee and warm pastries greets me as I step inside the cafe. It’s a Tuesday afternoon but every table is occupied, and a cloud of dialogue floats in the air, punctuated by the clink of cutlery. …

I’ll be speaking at 1.30 pm ET on 12th August — I’m delighted to announce that I’m going to be a featured speaker on Medium Day on 12th August. And I’d love it if you can join me. I’ll be leading a live online 30-minute tutorial on how to write fiction. Everything I’ll teach in this session is based on what…

A musical love story of varying tempos — Winter (L’Inverno) 2017–2018 I step over bags and boots as I make my way along the row of tightly packed seats in the concert hall. The air reverberates with a discordant twang as the Piccadilly Sinfonietta adjusts the tension of their strings in preparation for their performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. I reach…

Europe, Asia, and beyond. — I left the UK, my home country, in September 2021, which means I’ve been traveling for almost 2 years now. During this time I’ve visited bustling metropolises, tranquil coastal towns, and rural resorts across Europe, Asia, and Australia. I’ve recently returned to my homeland — well, kind of — I’m…

Baklava, market life, and learning to do things slowly, slowly — I wake to the sound of church bells ringing; it’s my first clue as to where I am. I blink several times and the room comes into focus. My second and third clues present themselves in the form of high ceilings and a glass of water on the nightstand. …

Fiction and non-fiction. These are the ones you must pick up and the ones you should definitely avoid. — Many years ago, it was typical for me to read 200+ books per year. These days, it’s rare I read more than 35 books in a year because I’ve come to learn that slow and curated reading is a more meaningful way to read. Essentially, I think we should pick…

In our final lesson, we’ll focus on publishing your work, and the different markets that will pay you for your fiction because no one wants to be a starving writer. — This is the eighth and last lesson in an 8-part series on writing fiction. It has been designed to take you through the process of writing a short story from start to finish. For more information, including the content covered in each lesson, check out my introductory post here.

The unique productivity hack you’ve never heard of that will help you read 10x more books — I see a lot of advice on how to read more books. But as someone who has read over 1500 books in my life, I have never seen anyone recommend this unique productivity hack that I’m about to share with you. It all starts with your TBR — that’s your…

This week we’ll cover structural and line editing, to ensure your short story is perfectly polished for publication. — This is the seventh lesson in an 8-part series on writing fiction. It has been designed to take you through the process of writing a short story from start to finish. For more information, including the content covered in each lesson, check out my introductory post here. “There is no…