Soaring like a bird…

Sometimes the stars align. Certainly this week, circumstances conspired for us Hollands. Harry’s short film completed and it appears, very successfully. Tom’s birthday. Being allowed to fly and visit Scotland. The British weather finally breaking and providing some much needed sunshine. Gleneagles is a rather special place anyway. Voted the best hotel in the UK,…

New material…

Having completed the retakes on the audio version of Eclipsed – and based on this, now revising the print edition for stray typos and making some edits also, I am adding a few further anecdotes which are appropriate and in-keeping with the story. This is a good example…   I have since returned to New…

we need another relauch…

There are any number of new professions that we might be dubious of or at least wary of their exponents. I would say anyone who works in the wellness industry? Doctors and nurses take care of our health and have a long track record of success. And yet somehow a whole raft of new health…

Writers probably need to be a little bit nuts…

With the explosion of streaming providers clamouring for our attention, it is all too easy to waste endless evenings on sub-standard films. How many of us have shuffled off to bed ruing another precious evening wasted? So when a recommendation comes along I tend to listen and so it was with The Mauritanian. I tend…

Check mate…

It has happened before with badminton, table tennis and now chess. In my youth I played all three sports to a very high level. By this, I mean I thought I was very good. It seems the delusions that have shaped my adult career were forged and set from a young age. At Tom’s 16th…

The camera NEVER lies…

In the news this week is Kloe Kardashian – a ‘celebrity’ who grates on me alone for the spelling of her name and before I even learn of why she is making headlines. The Kardashians are in my mind of late because having just read and recorded Eclipsed as an audio book, there is a…

A tale of two cities…

This week the planets really did align… On Monday in England, we were finally allowed by our masters to play sports again – the clocks went forward, thereby extending our evenings and daylight hours – and then the sun (which thankfully is not controlled by our masters and politicians) decided to play ball also by…

Who Knew?

There might be many millions of writers out there but only a tiny minority who make a living at it. And for the large remainder, perhaps the romantic notion of just writing is enough? As ‘writing’ goes there is an obvious hierarchy; headed up by the professionals…. Those who write screenplays which become movies. Then,…

A close call…

Continuing on with my spate of writing of a more personal nature, during lockdown, like me, many of you will have completed very cathartic house clear outs of clutter and accumulated stuff. Stuff we have no use for and are better off without. For this, cupboards/drawers need to be cleared and ordered. One of my…

This is all true…

Growing up it never occurred to me why the shop might be called Cherry Pye. A shop close to my home and selling all things erotic. Its large window festooned with mainly lingerie, saucy adult outfits and a range of adult toys like fluffy handcuffs and whips. No doubt, inside the store were more practical…