The old, the bad, and the moderate: what gets written on the way to the good stuff

There is a reason why I keep every single thing I write. Whether it's on a little piece of scrap paper, in a notebook, or on my hard drive, I hang onto everything I write because it shows me where I've been as a writer, my progress, and it reminds me (in moments of frustration) …

Honesty in performance, the bullsh*t metre, and Bob Dylan

I enjoy performing. I'm not sure why I don't do it more, or why I feel as though I'm terrible at it (particularly since most of the evidence has been to the contrary). I'm beginning to change my approach to it, and my confidence level is changing, but it's a process. I'm a work in …

Forget thyself, you silly bastard: fear and the inner critic

I've just been for another one of my long, contemplative walks and I've come back thinking about what merit there is in forgetting one's critics. And how, a lot of the time, that means forgetting oneself. Anyone who has ever embarked on an important task in their life has known criticism of some sort. You …