Thoughts and words

Inspiration - war and remembrance

War, peace and remembrance have inspired, and still inspire, artists and writers. I have personal experience of many people who served in WW2 and when I think of these meetings now, the words "national purpose" and "community" and "common goals" still ring in my head. It seems that the war... Read more →

Inspiration from other cultures - Russia -1992

In 1992, I was working at Manchester Business School and grabbed at the opportunity to become part of a project in St Petersburg. At the time, Perestroika - a policy of limited economic reform - was in full swing. Perestroika was designed to restructure the Soviet economy and turn it... Read more →

Inspiration from History - patterns of destruction

I don't usually write about politics on this blog but I am so depressed about what is going on in Syria at the moment that I felt I had to do something. I ended up putting a post on Facebook. Here it is in full: "I saw a Muslim woman... Read more →

Inspiration from nostalgia

There is little doubt that nostalgia can be a useful spark for writing a book. Evidence is the market for memoirs and books that deal with the twenties or with WW2. But if readers are looking for a better place than the present, they need to watch out! Was the... Read more →

Inspiration from the one that got away

Most writers will have experienced the one that got away; that is, the story that appears at some random moment and disappears just as quickly. They swear they will remember it but when the time comes to write the idea down, they find it is gone forever. Thomas Hardy apparently... Read more →

Inspiration from separation. Old friends just fade away

In 1992, I was back in England after many years abroad. I met an old friend from the 1960s and was struck by how far we had grown apart. It inspired me to write this story - published later that year. The story is entitled, "Dick." God knew what had... Read more →

Inspiration - the art of darkness

Memories of childhood affect most of us. Perhaps we see these flashbacks as more genuine than adult memories, but they certainly have a poetic quality about them and a mysterious force. One of my memories is of watching Film Noir on BBC TV's Sunday afternoon Film Matinee in the early... Read more →

Inspiration from other cultures - Macedonia 1994

The following article was written by me in 1994 after a 3-week assignment in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The article was published in a local newspaper. I include the article on this blog because it demonstrates how far aspects of other culture can inspire us - even if... Read more →

Inspiration from casual conversation - the stories of others

Every year in the 1990s I would spend a "white week" skiing in the Dolomites. Every year, same people from the same German ski club and the same ski resort. I noticed Klaus because he would often stand still and appear to contemplate the terrain. He would half-close his eyes... Read more →

Don't mention the war... Inspiration from silence.

Every German knows about the Holocaust. They have grown up with it and have been told about it in schools. Many have also been asked, as adolescents, how they intend to deal with their own guilt. "What guilt?" you may ask. We are talking children of the 1960s here. What... Read more →