I spend so much of my time writing. Yet I don’t think I have any photos of myself actually doing it. So the one above is rare indeed. I was on a writing retreat in Spain, in the hills above Aracena. I took this photo as I wanted to work out the self-timer on my new …
Author Archives: neilsbaker
A poem full of holes
Here’s a quick update about an interesting project I worked on recently. Writer John Simmons asked me and a few other people to create a collaborative poem on the theme of ‘home’. The idea emerged from a conversation between John and designer Mike Abrahams about a residential property development Mike was working on with Jaccaud Zein Architects. A …
A mad hat, a simple poem
I went to Oxford’s new Story Museum last week for the launch of the 26 Characters exhibition. It’s the product of a great idea: photograph 26 children’s authors dressed as their favourite fictional characters; ask 26 other writers to create short poems inspired by the photos. I was part of the editorial team that pulled the …
Excellent narrative
I entered a piece in the Labello Press International Short Story Competition last month. I was long listed, and then shortlisted. I didn’t finish in the top three, but I did win an Excellence in Contemporary Narrative Award. I’m happy with that. They will publish my story, The Passenger, in their 2014 anthology, called Gem Street. …
Running pictures
Training for a marathon, I run 20 miles every Saturday. To distract myself from the pain – and sometimes the boredom – I externalise, focusing not on myself but on the world around me. To help with this, I take photos with my iPhone. The harder the run becomes, the more photos I take.
Talent + effort = success
What kind of effort does it take to get a first collection of stories published? There’s no one better to ask right now than Dan Powell. I’ve been a fan of Dan’s writing for a long time and he’s done me the honour of beta reading some of my stories. So I was delighted when …
Hearse rake the coals of my heart
The 26 Words exhibition – “exploring the DNA of language” – opened in London last week. Among the works on display was the piece that I made with Mark Noad, inspired by the death of my mum earlier in the year. Here’s the project in a nutshell: Take 26 pairs of writers and artists – …
Plant life
My main contribution to the gardening at home is to cut the grass and dig holes where I’m told to. But I enjoyed the ceramic flowers I found on a summer visit to the Botanic Gardens in Ventor. Frances Doherty‘s pieces were strange, unexpected and beautiful. I particularly liked the simple words that came with …
How to find story ideas
Where do I get my short story ideas from? Mainly I just make them up. But once in a while I’ll find something like this, an item in my local newspaper. What makes this the germ of a good story? For me, it’s not the fact that this arch criminal was trying to escape the …
The strange power of the pen
Every year, when I take a summer holiday, the first items to go into my suitcase are always the same. I pack my notebook, a spare notebook, my pens, spare ink, a few pencils – my writing tools and accoutrements. And that’s where they stay – in the suitcase. I always think that when I’m …