Blogs

We all know how this works. BP is on the slide. Share price dropping like a cascade of dominos. It’s not a good time to be in fossil fuels. China no longer buying; America fracking and the Middle Eastern countries pumping out more oil than you can shake a Sheik at. Even Saudi Arabia is feeling the pinch and trying to sell shares in its monopoly. The best thing a company that BP can do is sack worker [tick] and lower existing workers’ pay [tick]...

......been thinking about coming back since Christmas, though truth to tell in the six months before that I barely thought of ABC, was unwell, mentally. Knew I could recover and then I did and wondered - what happened to writing? Mental illness does things to you - not all totally bad, but let's face it life would be better without it. Anyway, I have been jotting a few words down here and there; started feeling awkward about returning to the...

So much good stuff to choose from this week - particularly prose - but I hope you like the two I finally settled on. Story of the week goes to The Baby In The Well by Jewel Serpent. A beautiful voice with a very necessary message. Our Poem of the Week is Silver Spun Sand's Where The Bee Sucks. It's Earth Day today, and what better way to celebrate than with this stunning hymn to nature. http://www.abctales.com/story/jewel-serpent/baby-well-0...

I knew the secret of this book before I read it. Joss Moody, jazz trumpeter, extraordinaire is really a woman. So what, I thought. I also thought it would be set in some seedy jazz country called New York. But it’s not, it’s set in London, Glasgow and Torr and spans about sixty years from the early fifties. And I’d guess, from reading Red Dust Road , it’s the kind of quiet place and space that Jackie Kay’s parents John and Ellen, who live in...

For everyone who's been following this, please read my update: http://www.abctales.com/story/insertponceyfrenchnamehere/bees-journey

Ronny Delia will be the loneliest man in Scotland this morning. In case you didn’t notice Rangers are back. They beat Celtic in a Scottish Cup semi-final, in a penalty shoot-out, after drawing 2-2, after extra time. Triumphalism from the Huns, and rightly so. Over the piece they had more possession of the ball and were the better team. That tells you everything you need to know about Celtic. Out fought and out manoeuvred by a team made up of...

The journey is long. You will be thirsty, you will be hungry and you will be weary. So, when you feel like quitting, just say to yourself, "I haven't heard NO enough to be someone else."

Hard to believe but Walter Smith has been talking sense. The real fear for Rangers should be ten-in-a-row. That’s five in the bag. Five to go. Obviously, Walter would play Goram in goal and Laudrup up front and use the other nine players as defenders. That worked for him, time after time. But Mark Warburton favours a more expansive game. Well, at least I hope he does. Because Walter Smith’s game plan is perfect for derailing the current Celtic...

'An agent needs to see you have done a creative writing course.' I was recently advised. So I spotted on Facebook a posoting about Future learn Open Univeristy course - Start Creative Writing. Now, with 4 novels written, this sounds like a step back, but its not. The great drummer Neil Peart decided to learn jazz drumming and went back to the start and this is how I've approached it. Its a well laid out course, and I have gleaned a few nuggets...

I didn’t watch this film all the way through. I got to the bit where Detective Sergeant, Bruce Robertson, (James McAvoy) of Lothian Police force looks in the mirror and sees the image of a pig. Pig, filth, black comedy. Gettit? I turned the telly over and watched the end of the Liverpool game. That was exciting. The truth is I don’t know what truth is. But I don’t really need to see the end of the film to know what happens. Writers have a...