The Blog
Regular posts on how I write, what I write about, and why. Plus a few insights into my history as a writer, and some of the lessons I’ve learned down the years about the art and science of telling unforgettable stories.
Category
Case Studies
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Portrait of the Artist
Writing about art raises an age-old challenge. It is of course far harder to write concisely than to drone on for page after page. Because it requires a certain tightness of structure and language, a clear road map and an equally clear purpose.
Process
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Spiral Staircase
The piece is nowhere near finished after that first draft. And this is where the spiralling process comes in. It needs revisiting on several occasions before it can move on, and just like you can’t jump from step 1 to step 5 on a staircase, you can’t move from stage 1 to stage 5 in the writing. Sometimes you realise you’re both moving on up and going round in circles.
Category
Autobiography
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CHRISTMAS GREETINGS
My aim has always been to use the power of words (coupled with the power of listening of course) to help you advance your cause, your service or your product, and it’s a highly rewarding experience to see you emerge from the process with greater clarity, fresh energy, and even commitment to what it is you want to do in the world.
All categories
Completing the Circle
Remember – my aim is for you to share what you’ve got as widely as possible. And for that, you need to be 100% happy with it. Only then will I also be 100% satisfied.
Spiral Staircase
The piece is nowhere near finished after that first draft. And this is where the spiralling process comes in. It needs revisiting on several occasions before it can move on, and just like you can’t jump from step 1 to step 5 on a staircase, you can’t move from stage 1 to stage 5 in the writing. Sometimes you realise you’re both moving on up and going round in circles.
Private Eyes
As a fan of detective series, I’ve always been fascinated by what are known as “evidence boards” – the panels covered in pictures, clippings, maps, and words which sleuths use to display all the clues they’ve amassed. But how does that apply to writing?
Magic Memory
We’ve come a long way in terms of technology. Interviewers before my time had to be excellent note takers, perhaps in shorthand. And of course interviews had to be conducted face to face in the same room, or perhaps down the telephone.
Face to Face
My first step is then to research your field. All that enables me to write better questions to find out more about who you are and what you do, leading up to our extended interview.
Those Deadly Sins
What your About page has to do with pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony and sloth. Marketing gurus tell us that behind all great advertising is an appeal to one of the deadly sevensome.
3 in the Morning
Once initial contact has been made, my job is to start crafting questions that delve a bit more into who you are, what you do, or what you make, and more importantly perhaps, why.
Making Contact
Getting in touch is easy enough these days — here on the site you can see a WhatsApp button on every page for a start. On several pages you can also see an option to book an initial 15-minute consultation, completely free of charge.
Picking Up the Pen
The moment I boarded the Emirates flight to Paris out of Dhaka, and settled into my spacious business class seat (“Complimentary glass of champagne, you say? Don’t mind if I do!”), all thoughts of being a writer seemed to dwindle.
A Writer is Born
Years, nay decades, passed in which a life gallivanting around the world, from Asia to Africa to Europe, kept me so busy I barely had time, energy or the inclination to write. It just wasn’t my go-to mode of expression.
Young, Gifted(?) and Pompous
After an undistinguished school career, at least on the writing front – I was of course decent enough at languages – I headed up to Oxford, where I instantly found myself surrounded by bright young things.
An Inauspicious Start
The day I launch this site also happens to be my 56th birthday. And in this, my latest incarnation, I have morphed into “a writer”.
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