Glad to report something nice, someone (not me) has made a quote page for The Lessons on Goodreads.

(Mum, it wasn't you was it?)

goodreads.com/work/quotes/93…

Why haven't more writers followed in Stella Gibbons footsteps and clearly marked the best bits of their novels with asterisks? The general reader and reviewers would certainly thank them as it can be devilishly difficult to know what is Literature and what is sheer flapdoodle.

I saw the best writers of my generation become ‘content strategists’

The difference between writing a blurb for your novel and writing a synopsis >

I’m running a novel writing course through the wonderful folk at Faber Writing Academy at Allen and Unwin in just a few weeks. If you want a refresher course, some help breaking through a tough section on your WIP, or want to gift a writer in your life, I’d love to have you. faberwritingacademy.com.au/course/start-t…

My current work in progress
🤍🖤 Jasper 🖤🤍

I read Kipps by H.G. Wells decades ago. I remember liking it a lot. In the novel Kipps is given an etiquette book called 'Don't'. I thought it was a joke. But years later a facsimile of the book turned up in my shop. It's a list of don'ts.

That's it. That's the tweet.

On the main, the advice industry types - agents, editors, publishers - give writers here on twitter makes me want to curl up and die. (And I'm a white bread writer, can't imagine how dispiriting it is for anyone pushing the boundaries in their work.)

'All modern books are bad,' said Cecil.

A Room with a View by E.M. Forster.

Pre-orders are really important for a newbie author. They contribute to week one sales and can get you on a best seller list. Throw your weight behind Dinuka’s second book, readers, and help out one of this genre’s rising stars!

Q: What's your new novel about?
Novelist: It's not my place to say.

Ten years after publication and these babies are still earning their keep. Erotic fiction certainly has staying power. The moral of the story? When they go high, you go low.

Available here: amazon.com.au/-/dp/B0B4WFNFWF

It's probably because I write that I like to know a novel's word count. In olden times I used to guesstimate counting words on a page then multiplying by the number of pages. Now I just check Kobo. So handy.

Rishi Sunak's wealth is so vast that it would take someone on the average UK salary over TWENTY-FOUR THOUSAND YEARS to earn that much.

Remember that when he's talking about 'difficult decisions'.

He doen't mean difficult for him. He means difficult for you.

Anyone want to publish my memoir of my time as a bookseller? I haven't written yet, but by God it's good. It has books, and book talk, and writers, and more books, and funny bookish anecdotes and a few saucy book takes, and publishers, and readers, and even more books. DM me.

Garth Nix Oliver Darkshire 🌈 I kept my bookshop going for almost ten lean years. Some people would come in, browse, tell me how much they loved the fact that my shop existed then leave without buying anything. Probably the same people who now bemoan the loss of quirky little bookshops like mine.

I wrote about Carmen Callil, my dear friend. I loved her so much theguardian.com/books/2022/oct…

I have been trapped in this mood ever since this photo was taken.