I’ve been busy. First there was the opera When The Flame Dies, which was performed brilliantly and to an enthusiastic reception on Wednesday night in Canterbury. As the librettist, I’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who was involved in the performance. I thought it came across tremendously well. So well done …
A glimpse of the stunning visual design that Will Reynolds has created for the opera, When The Flame Dies:
Photo credit: Katie Vandycke. When Ed Hughes first asked me to collaborate with him on a full length opera, I have to say I was both amazed and flattered. Secretly, I suspected he had grossly over-estimated my capabilities. I knew practically nothing about opera, and certainly nothing about writing the libretto for one. But I …
Piqued by my litany of failure, Elaine Aldred has interviewed me for her blog. It was actually quite painful being made to dwell more deeply on the years of humiliation that my file of rejection letters represents. But I hope something useful comes out of it for other writers. And maybe now I can put …
The other day I was doing some sorting out. I found a file full of old rejection letters. I was tweeting some quotes from the letters and they seemed to go down well, particularly with other writers. One friend described it as “literary self-harming”, which is maybe what it is, but there is a certain …