writingnotwriting

[writingnotwriting]

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Crosby Street Studio. 1983.

Sometimes you can’t write. Sometimes you have to wait, and see what happens. 

[writingnotwriting]

William Burroughs, 1959.

The news is concussive right now. Too many blows. But I’ve still got a book out in April and I’m excited about that. It’s about hearts. Our hearts, my heart, your heart, even, you know, their hearts. And a boy, and a man and a family whose hearts can only take so much.  

[writingnotwriting]

Books of they year so good I had to mention them. 

The list in random order.

1) Mother Tongue by Julie Mayhew (Hot Key Books) 2) Dying in the First Person by Nike Sulway (Transit Lounge) 3) Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien (W. W. Norton & Company) 4)Your Heart Is a Muscle the Size of a Fist by Sunil Yapa (Lee Boudreaux / Back Bay Books;) 5) The Vegetarian by Han Kang (Hogarth; Reprint edition) 6) One by Sarah Crossan (Bloomsbury Children's) 7) The Ghosts of Heaven by Marcus Sedgwick (Indigo) 8) The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge (Macmillan) 9) The Power by Naomi Alderman (Viking) 10) My Name is Leon by Kit De Waal (Viking) 11) Grief Is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter (Graywolf Press) 12) Iraq +100 Edited by Hassan Blasim (Comma Press) 13) The Many by Wyl Menmuir 14) Orangeboy by Patrice Lawrence (Hachette) 15) The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon (Delacorte Press) 16) The Angel of History by Rabih Almeddine (Atlantic Monthly Press) 17) The Bone Readers by Jacob Ross (Peepal Tree Press) 18) Look by Solmaz Sharif (Graywolf Press)

Buy, support, share and read more and widely. Thanks >IM 

[writingnotwriting]

At some point in 2016 I wrote these words as you see them below in my notebook. So they are and continue to be. But. 2017 is the year to turn these words from defence into attack. To all my fellow writers: Keep the pen close.

These words my defence against the dark. These words my defence against the dark. These words my defence against the dark. These words my defence against the dark. These words my defence against the dark. These words my defence against the dark. These words my defence against the dark. These words my defence against the dark. These words my defence against the dark. These words my defence against the dark. These words my defence against the dark. These words my defence against the dark. These words my defence against the dark. These words my defence against the dark. These words my defence against the dark.

Strength, resilience and power to you all in 2017. >IM

[writingnotwriting]

Horses Racing, Laytown Beach, Ireland, 1988 by Donovan Wylie

This year we’re on the horse and we’re riding hard. A writer’s life can be quiet sometimes, but I’m still here, and I’m still writing.