Lots going on at the moment, so I thought I would give you all a very brief overview of recent developments. It’s hard to believe that it’s now less than two months until A GOOD AMERICAN is published. And there was me thinking this time would drag. It has rushed by. The goodreads galley giveaway that I talked about a …
To Read, or Not To Read?
In my earlier post about my trip to the Midwest Booksellers’ Association in Minneapolis, I mentioned that at the dinner hosted by Penguin on the Thursday night, there had been some spirited discussion between booksellers about what made for the best author events. Certain booksellers felt that, as a general rule, authors should never read from their books at book …
Unplugging
I’ve just come back from a few days away from Missouri. The children were not with me over Thanksgiving this year, and of course my family all live thousands of miles away, so there didn’t seem to be much point hanging around. Turkey for one, sir? So I took off, for a quick visit to Philadelphia – somewhere I’d never …
Where Are All the Boys?
Recently the site Reading Group Guides very kindly did a giveaway of 100 copies of the galley of A GOOD AMERICAN. They published the list of winners, and this list gave me real pause for thought. Of the 100 winners, two were men. Put another way (showing off my maths skillz here), 98% of the winners were women (unless there …
Only Connect
Very early one morning a few weeks ago, as I was sitting down for my daily writing session, I saw a tweet from one of my closest friends, with a link to a YouTube video. Now, this friend and I, we go back a long way. And because I love this friend, and because he has probably the most refined …
English Accents
One of the reasons why I never contemplated a career as a litigator when I re-qualified as a lawyer in the United States was that I had visions of my delivering elegantly-crafted closing arguments only to have the jury look at each other and ask each other quietly what the guy with the funny accent had been talking about. And …
A Sort of Homecoming (with apologies to U2)
Tomorrow is a big day for Columbia and the University of Missouri. It is the 100th Annual Homecoming. Not being from round these parts, I’m not entirely sure what homecoming means or what its purpose is. There is a parade – I know this, because my children will be in it. And, naturally, there is a big football game involved. …
Get Snappy, Get Happy
My recent trip to Maine has got me thinking a lot about lobsters. You can’t go for more than about two minutes up there without encountering a lobster somewhere – either on a roadside sign, a tea towel, a postcard, or – if you’re lucky – in a restaurant. I ate a lot of lobster while I was there. Once …
Maine
Earlier this week I arrived back in Missouri after a blissful week in Maine. From ME to MO. What a difference a letter makes. I wrote a lot, read a lot, climbed a few mountains, and ate an awful lot of delicious fresh seafood. My cottage was on a secluded cove near Acadia National Park. It was a one-room wooden …
Friends in Funny Places
My name is Alex, and I am a lawyer. I began my first legal job in a large firm in London almost exactly nineteen years ago, and I’ve practiced law in England, France, and the United States. It’s not something that I talk about much on this blog, because (a) this is a blog about writing, mainly, (b) I want …