Dickens and a day at the races

A visit to Doughty Mews inspires a piece about Dickens for the 2020 Bloomsbury Festival. As part of a project for the Bloomsbury Festival with writers’ group 26, I was allocated a small square of the map in Bloomsbury, central London. “Go there, find a story and write about it,” they told me. I discovered […]

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Protecting the forests of Indonesia

Protecting the rainforests of Indonesia The Environmental Investigation Agency asked me to write a charity appeal to go to their supporters, highlighting an urgent situtation that was threatening the Indonesian rainforest. Using the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse, the Indonesian Ministry of Trade announced that it was going to water down its timber laws. Environmentally, […]

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Stringing Words Together: keeping creativity flowing

Keeping creativity flowing Say what you like about Zoom, but it does help you make things happen quickly. In May, Andy Hayes of the writers’ collective 26 organised a ‘creativity in lockdown’ session with his friend Sam Griffiths. Sam’s a designer who delights in being playful and enjoys turning labels into robots, and cardboard boxes […]

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How to manage your mind in a pandemic

How can you control your anxiety during a pandemic? We’re bombarded by news with headlines designed to terrify us: ‘global pandemic’, ‘rising death rate’, ‘temporary mortuary’. The economy is tanking worldwide, many have lost their livelihoods and don’t know when or how they will get them back. We fear for our own health, and for […]

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The everyday joy of mindful creative writing

Mindful creative writing doesn’t have to involve meditating on a mountain top with a notebook by your side, or looking out across an Alpine lake, with a pen in one hand and a glass of kombucha in the other. It’s something you can do in a café or during your lunch break. You can write […]

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Help protect the forest elephants of Africa

I’ve recently had the pleasure of working with the Environmental Investigation Agency on their winter appeal to protect the forest elephants of Africa. The charity does amazing work to tackle environmental crime worldwide. So if you possibly can, please do support their work. The plight of the forest elephants of Africa The forest elephants of […]

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Looking for the creative leap

A day as a writer in residence at the Bloomsbury Festival As part of the 26 group of writers, I was asked to spend a day as a writer in residence at the Bloomsbury Festival this year. My task was to attend festival events and write about what I saw going on around me. Here’s […]

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Ten tips for corporate video interviews

What’s the best way to interview people for corporate video content? I’ve always loved interviewing people, whether it’s a contortionist, a climber or a naturist vicar. But usually I’m sitting opposite someone with a tape recorder or typing away madly on the end of a phone. Here’s what I learned from my first time standing […]

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How to be creative: five ideas from The Story 2019

What helps you be creative? Speakers shared their ideas last week at The Story 2019, a one-day festival of storytelling held in Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London. Here are five of the best. 1. Investigate random objects Creator and performer Alison S M Kobayashi loves to investigate random things, like the tapes left in […]

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Chestnuts roasting over an electric hob

Roast chestnuts as a route to inner peace. Plus recommended reading material for a temporary escape from the modern world. As I write this, drones have brought Gatwick Airport to a standstill, plastics have been discovered in the Mariana Trench and the Government’s advising us not to go on holiday after 29 March next year. […]

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Copywriter chat: Ten minutes with Nick Asbury

Nick Asbury is one of Britain’s most-awarded copywriters and a thoroughly good bloke to boot. He consistently produces truly inspiring work for everyone from Little Chef and Unicef to Cambridge University. Nick always has a creative side-hustle on the go, whether that’s Corpoetics (found poetry from corporate websites), his Perpetual Disappointments Diary or, most recently, […]

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Snapshots from D&AD Writing for Design 2018

It was a sign. On the street leading up to the Truman Brewery in East London, there was an empty Argos microwave box bearing the slogan ‘Heat. Ding. Done.’ This clever packaging project won a D&AD Writing for Design award two years ago, the last time I was on the panel. I kept an eye […]

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Iris. Daffodil. Iris. Daffodil. Stilling the mind with walking meditation

If you’re nervous about a presentation, an important meeting or an upcoming performance, walking meditation might help. When your brain’s gone into overdrive, the simple act of walking slowly can help still your mind and bring your body back to earth. Walking meditation in New Mexico How do you learn how to do walking meditation? […]

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Writers and wine: uncorking two pleasures at once

You can’t become a wine connoisseur just by scattering words like oenophile around. You have to study the grapes, the terroir, the methods. Here’s what happened when I took the first step towards becoming a wine buff at a ‘Writers and Wine’ workshop at the new wine museum in Bordeaux. If you ever want to […]

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