Six weeks ago today, 7:15am, I checked into the Wimpole Clinic on Harley Street. It was time for the transplant. Of the hair variety. Why write about it on my writer newsletter? Because of stories. Particularly the ones we tell ourselves. Ones that can be faulty. I've written this off-the-cuff this morning though, so bear with me. No-Brainers So, there are some decisions in life that are straightforward. You don’t question them. What you might call no-brainers. This wasn’t one of them....
14 days ago • 5 min read
It has been a wet & windy Jan down in the West Country, I'm currently up in Yorkshire, and I've recently had a hair transplant (more on that next time). The combination of factors has forced a mini 'hibernation' to kick off my 2026. An unexpected perk has been some extra time for consuming stories. Liv & I just finished Slow Horses, Silo and Pluribus. Two good. One bad. Can you guess which is which? Answers at the end. Bingeing versus savouring a series Some people watch TV like they're...
28 days ago • 2 min read
Claude officially turns one today. It’s his pichu birthday. Or moonday, if you prefer. I’m really grateful you've been along for most, some, or all of the ride so far. So how’s it gone? Low lights “Having” to do self-promo and put myself out there on social media Not knowing where to sign a print copy for a friend. I still don’t know for sure The long stretch of newsletter inertia. I was focused on finishing the damn beasty Trying to encourage reviews while knowing Amazon prohibits...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Friend of the newsletter and work/life guru, Tom Grundy, recently recommended a book to me by Scott Adams, the brains (and pen) behind Dilbert. I couldn't find How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big for my trusty Kindle, so I asked for it as a Christmas gift instead. Dad delivered and I've been happily picking away at the paperback since. Adams comes across as a polymath and lots of bits have LEAPT off the page already. One yesterday was where Adams argues that the art of...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
I watched La La Land for the first time over Christmas, sitting down with some of my family post-roast. Musicals aren't really my jam and the opening scene dancing on cars did little to allay those fears. But once Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling properly come into play, I found myself immersed. Written and directed by Damien Chazelle, it explores the quiet obsession of two people trying to work out what it really means to “make it” with Hollywood as the perfect backdrop. It also shines a lens on...
2 months ago • 1 min read
Liv & I have been working our way through a handful of festive films this December, and one of them was Red One. I wasn’t expecting much. Big-budget action (and Christmas) films can have a habit of deploying deeply unoriginal storytelling. Instantly forgettable. But this one surprised me. It turned out to be a little Christmas cracker. Part of that comes down to the casting. Dwayne Johnson stars as Callum Drift, Santa’s head of security, with a sharp sincerity that helps ground the sillier...
2 months ago • 1 min read
I put several things on hold to get the last book over the line. One of them was this newsletter. But over the line it now is.Blood in the Green is available to buy 🎉The aim was always to publish the whole trilogy in 2025. And by hook or by crook, with a lot of big thank yous, we made it.I did a little post on social media on Monday but I know a percentage of you don't frequent it much (if at all) these days, so I wanted to share here too. On the evening of the release, I was hit by a nasty...
2 months ago • 1 min read
That's how many more books I've sold in the last 7 days compared to the past 7 months The Monkey State has been out in the wild.Now, 'sold' is a misnomer as around 95% were free copies as part of the promo I've been rabbiting on about recently. It's taken the total tally for both books to 3,019 - with a heavy ebook and US reader skew now. Maths isn't my strong point. There's a reason I write. What I can see clearly though is it's 2,350 more people with a copy of the monkeys in their hands (or...
6 months ago • 2 min read
Evening,I hope you're having a good week so far. I'm fresh back from the Romanian mountains and, as promised, I wanted to let you know that The Monkey State and In Search of Maya ebooks are currently available for free and 99p respectively until around midnight on Saturday.You can pick them up by clicking on the banana below.>>> Now, as a special offer for subscribing to these rambles—If you send me a screenshot of both books next to each other on the Kindle app, along with your address, I'll...
6 months ago • 1 min read