When you think of a writer’s group, how do you picture it? I’d always assumed it would be a bunch of lonely old women wanting to be Catherine Cookson or something resembling table nine from The Wedding Singer. With this in mind, when I stepped through the door of Holmeside Coffee, home of Holmeside Writers, … More Happy 4th birthday to Holmeside Writers.
It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t follow my A-Z of 2017 (The Highlights) with my A-Z of 2017 (The Lowlights) A – Austerity Al. I’m still surviving but I need to start earning decent money soon or I’ll be eating gruel. B – Books. Surprisingly found very few that I’ve enjoyed this year. Certainly … More My A-Z of 2017 (The lowlights)
Finding time to blog. It feels like a long time since I’ve written a blog so I thought I’d pop in to let my readers know what I’ve been up to and that I haven’t abandoned them. Editing I’ve done a lot more editing on Troll Life and I will post about that separately. I … More Writing, editing and my celebrity lifestyle.
Editing workshop. Last week I was asked to do a last-minute editing workshop for Year Nines (13-14). With little time to prepare and not much information on what they wanted or expected from me, I had to come up with something quick and adaptable. I’m currently eighty hours into the editing process of my latest … More My top ten editing tips.
As you may have gathered from previous blogs, I am a big supporter of Sunderland’s bid to be UK City of Culture 2021. I believe that we have the most to offer and the most to gain from winning and I was proud to be selected as one of the 21 community champions adding our … More Sunderland 2021 City of Culture bid (Community champion)
As I’ve mentioned in many of my blogs, I am passionate about my home city Sunderland. My novels are all set there and I believe that it is a hidden gem waiting to be uncovered by the rest of the world. I was recently asked my views on why Sunderland shoud win the UK City … More Local author supports Sunderland City of Culture 2021 bid.
I’ve recently done a guest blog for the Sunderland City of Culture bid 2021. Feel free to have a read on the below link. The time is right.
I’ve already covered my highlights of 2016 but I’m a miserable bugger so you couldn’t expect me to let such a year pass by without commenting on those things that weren’t quite so good. My A-Z lowlights of 2016 A – Austerity Al. A necessary evil to sustain my career as a writer but I’ve … More My A-Z of 2016 (The lowlights)
As cliched as it may be, 2016 has been an eventful year so it would be remiss of me not to outline my highlights. It would be easy to focus on the negatives in such a turbulent year but this A-Z shows off the many great things that happened. My A-Z highlights of 2016 A … More My A-Z of 2016 (The highlights)
I first bought my sleeping bag twenty years ago, I was going on an adventure. I was heading off to Australia for a year backpacking with a little trip to Bali on the way. Not bad for a lad from Southwick. I laughed at the salesman in the shop as he told me the sleeping … More What’s in your bag?
Alan Parkinson 