Category Archives: blog

I have always loved books even as a child. I used to rush to the bookshop to buy books whenever I got my pocket money, and I thought I would love to write a book someday, perhaps when I retire.  So, I wrote “Miracles”, a partly factual and fictional version of the gospel accounts of the miracles that […]

Locked down by Covid in the spring of 2020, I needed a major project to occupy my time. Long since freed from the need to write papers of the sort that would appeal to politically-correct editors of academic journals in the soi-disant social ‘sciences’, and anxious to attempt a rehabilitation of a much neglected field […]

I have always been a keen writer ever since first learning how to use a pen. Throughout childhood I wrote stories for friends in the format of Role Play Gaming, and as I matured I began writing science fiction and fantasy novels. The main barrier I faced as an aspirational author was courage. Being quite […]

My Poetry Journey Being a psychotherapist for many years and never being one to burden others with my own problems I soon realised that it was easier for me to express myself through poetry, making light of what is often serious, finding humour in difficult everyday situations and finding solutions within the words I write. […]

After more than thirty-six years as an elected councillor in the City of Westminster, at the heart of London, the establishment and political life,  I retired from politics having held some of the most important and influential jobs in local government.  These included my ten years as Deputy Leader, my seventeen years as political head of […]

I am something of an expert when it comes to not getting books published.  I wrote a book about the First World War which got beaten to the bookshops by a very similar volume. I wrote a novella that came back from an agent’s reader with a one line note: “This should never be published.” […]

Good Fortune at the Heart of a Heart Attack It turns out that we really are ‘the sum total of our experiences.’ Had I known then the impact of many of my decisions, I may have made changes earlier, but it turns out that we must live life to truly understand it. ‘That’ evening, the one […]

Covid has had many effects on different people with common things being putting on weight, over-eating and apathy. I experienced all these but towards the end (although at the time it was not apparent that this might be the end) decided that I really must collect together all the rough notes, newspaper cuttings et cetera […]

I was diagnosed with a brain tumour when my son was only six. I searched for a suitable book to help me explain things to him, but I couldn’t find anything. A few years later I decided to fill that gap and create a picture book for parents to read with their children to support […]

Where do I begin? What an experience it has been, to self-publish with SPP! At first, I was very daunted by the reality of the work involved with self-publishing. I wanted that elusive deal with a top literary agent – but it never happened. I just got loads of painful rejections instead. Fortunately, I didn’t […]