I was at Gordon Abraham’s funeral yesterday. He was born in 1948. I’ll let you do the maths. Gordon was an old guy, but despite having seven kids he never really grew up. He still liked a drink and a carry on. It was good to see so many people there. All age groups. And so many familiar faces. Dalmuir faces. None of us getting any younger. I’m sure Gordon would have got a kick out of the reason I never got allowed into his funeral. The funeral...

Took a walk to clear my writer’s thoughts and found myself lost in them anyway…The crooked, broken sidewalk stretched before me and led me past store fronts and open air restaurants. Sounds of music drifted out and I found myself humming along. Conversations flowed around me from passersby and patrons sitting at outdoor tables...I strung odd words together with birdsongs and car horns to flesh out the scene forming in my mind…My imagination took...

I've just finished the final edits for the launch May 15th with Blue Hour Publishing. Get Lenin was started in 2006 and took 5 years to write, rework, pitch and get published. Tim Roux took it as a Night Publishing titile then closed Night Publishing down to form Taylor Street based in San Francisco. In 2013, I was released, and Get Lenin remained state-side, picked up by Master Koda Select Publishing. With my contract expring, I have left MKSP...

I was vaguely aware of Karl Ove Knausgaard, having read some reviews of his work. So I knew that the life that he lived was the material he used to build the narrative of his life and tell a story of how he became who he is. Some of my favourite reading material comes from Harpie. Thanks for the Vodka 2004, for example, tells the reader through a diary format what happens to her day to day. Her life is a shipwreck and as she goes under she tells...

Two brilliant picks for you this week, both of which have stayed with me since I first read them. Congratulations to Jane Hyphen for 'The Call Centre' - a study in claustrophobia and futility with one small gleam of hope, and to Yvonne Anderson for 'It Was Our Home' - a finely crafted piece of life writing. If you enjoy them too, please let the authors know - it's always nice to get a comment! http://www.abctales.com/story/yvonne-anderson/it-was...

Prose-poetry went off like a box of premium fireworks this month. Some gorgeous work from all. Here’s three crackers LondonCalling’s hike explored the fickle circularities of love: http://www.abctales.com/story/londoncalling79/horizons-just-circle-poetry-monthly Bear’s inspirational dialect combined wit with birds, knickers and ‘oles: http://www.abctales.com/story/bear/truckles-owls-poetry-monthly-%E2%80%93-sort BJD did extraordinary things with...

April's Story and Poem of the Month have been chosen for us by the lovely Philip Sidney aka Helen Richardson. Here are her picks: Thank you so much for the privilege of selecting the poem and the story of the month for April! Such a difficult thing to do, so I went for gut feelings. There were so many fantastic poems. Silver Spun’s warm as honey, ‘Where the Bee Sucks’, works on so many levels: http://www.abctales.com/story/silver-spun-sand/where...

I can only sympathise with Lily Allen. We too had somebody invade our house on Friday night. Bit of a kerfuffle and the front door banging open and shut. I thought it was Alan, (not Lily Allen) Mary’s son, playing funny buggers. He does that sometimes and thinks he’s funny. He’s got a beard now, so it’s perhaps not the best time to tell him it isnae. And he’s off work, probably suffering from low self-esteem, which makes a wee change from...

If it makes you happy, do it. What makes you happy now will make you sad later. You may as well squeeze the juice of happiness as you may. So the darling buds of May. If it makes you happy, do it. Although it makes everyone else sad. While you live, live for today. While nature withers away. If it makes you happy, get a sex change? What's sex but a change of clothes. Like Caitlyn Jenner, get the sex change and then turn the sky to gray. Then...

This week I've chosen two pieces steeped in history, time and place. I'm sure you'll find them a rich, transporting read. Story of the Week goes to Markle for his stunning travel autobiography 'Wild Venice', full of detail and historical insight. Poem of the Week goes to Philip Sidney for 'Not a Shakespearian Sonnet' a delicate, beautifully written tribute to the great man himself. Congratulations to both. http://www.abctales.com/story/markle/...