Hedgehogs have the right idea. Just curl up in a warm pile of leaves somewhere and sleep till the daffodils are out. I should do the same thing, because every January is the same for me - a dearth of creative energy, and self-esteem hitting rock bottom. Like some reverse Midas-effect, it feels like everything I touch in this miserable month turns … [Read more...]
Guest editing the Afterword
All this week, I have been guest editor on the Canadian National Post's book blog, The Afterword. I wrote four posts for them about writing, reading, and the inspiration behind a few of the stories in Instruction Manual For Swallowing. Here are the links: How Paul McCartney taught me to stop worrying and love zombies: on killing zombies with … [Read more...]
Snowbound!
The first snow of the winter always makes me think of the track 'Snowbound' by Donald Fagen. My first job out of film school was working for Michel Gondry's production company, and in the two years I was there, I must have made a couple of thousand copies of his showreel, which included this video for Snowbound - but I could never get bored of it. … [Read more...]
The trouble with titles
I have a theory about titles: If the title is the first thing you write, then the story goes like a dream. If the title is the last thing you write, you are screwed. This is the problem I'm having at the moment. My second story collection is almost done, but I don't have a title. I have left it too late, and now I am struggling. If I had … [Read more...]
i LOVE this man…
...the amazing Maurice Sendak. That's why I was so happy yesterday to find this new TateShots episode of Sendak talking about his work. I just love his integrity. Right at the start of this clip, he talks about being asked to write a sequel to Where the wild things are. 'Go to hell,' he says, 'I'm not a whore.' Where the wild things are is … [Read more...]
The moment I fell in love with the short story
As it's National Short Story Day, I've been thinking about the moment I fell in love with the short story. And there was a specific moment. It happened when I was 17. I was watching MTV, and saw one of the spots in their 'Books: feed your head' campaign. The spot featured Aidan Quinn reading the opening lines of Kafka's Metamorphosis. I fell in … [Read more...]
Look what the postie brought me all the way from Toronto…
...the advance reading copy of the North American edition of Instruction Manual For Swallowing. I'm loving the little robot wasp on the cover. It comes out from ECW Press next April, and will be part of their BackLit series, which features bonus material - in this edition of IMFS there will be two new short stories and an interview (with me, I … [Read more...]
Kikinda Short Story Festival, Serbia
I just spent the most amazing week of literary hedonism in Serbia, at the Kikinda Short Story Festival. Along with 23 writers from 18 countries, I ate testicles, showered in sulphurous water, did a live interview on Serbian radio at 8am after 3 hours' sleep while hungover, then got to feel like royalty on a horse-and-carriage tour of … [Read more...]