A while back I wrote about the usefulness of writing to those who inspire us to ask for advice and guidance. Instead of sending the letter, we then write in the voice of that guide to give ourselves a response. Earlier today I wrote a pair of letters in this form to tackle problems I … Read more
A new poem today – from a forthcoming publication without a title as yet. It’s the fourth sequence of poems about a character called Blue. The first one was written way back in 1985. You could say this character has not let me go: —– “Alone is the only way to be” thinks Blue Misanthropic in … Read more
Yes, it’s a sister post to yesterday’s post about “Accidental Creativity”. A couple of weeks ago I wrote about Chris Guillebeau’s book “The Happiness of Pursuit”. At the time I was looking at what I could focus on to push and deliver something awesome. Writing is something that I have spent years working on, and … Read more
This morning I was listening to a podcast by Todd Henry called ‘The Accidental Creative‘. I’ve been subscribe for a while. His podcasts are incredibly useful, full of tips and ideas to boost creativity. He also interviews people from time to time. This episode was about the importance of a morning ritual and some of … Read more
If I said to you that a performance comprising a string quartet plus a folk band with two sisters singing and clog dancing brought the audience to its feet with a massive cheer at the end of a ten minute song just before the interval – you might not believe me. Read on. It’s always … Read more
There’s a plane that can be seen in the sky near where I live every few weeks. It belongs to Airbus and is used to fly aircraft wings from one of its factories near Preston to another in North Wales. The first time I saw this plane I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The … Read more
A guest post today from June Angela. It’s been a while since we had a post from the Tyke in Exile – another in the series on seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary: When Madonna fell off the stage at The Brit Awards Wednesday gone, the whole nation gasped in disbelief and the real beauty … Read more
Over the last few days I have been reading the wonderful book by Chris Guillebeau called “The Happiness of Pursuit”. Yes, it’s a fantastic title for a book, and the contents live up to the title. Chris set out on a quest to visit all 193 countries in the world before his 35th birthday. Although … Read more
I never really thought about this until this last weekend when I was lucky enough to get the latest album by Eberhard Weber. It’s the second album which he has produced solo since he had a stroke a few years ago. Before that he had a long career as a jazz musician playing double bass … Read more
This week I have been recovering from an operation which has given me plenty of down time for reading. In just a couple of days I devoured a new biography of Robert Wyatt by Marcus O’Dair called “Different Every Time”. It’s a wonderful book – full of well researched insight into Robert Wyatt informed by … Read more