I’ve never written a blog before, so I had to consider what the aim of my blog would be, other than to get some of my work out there. Recently, an old friend, said he ‘creates’ to be understood. I think that I write for similar reasons and to feel that I have a voice. So, my blog is an attempt to create understanding and connections with people who are like minded or adrift looking for somewhere or new things to explore for a while. I also hope to evolve and be changed by my experiences and interactions. This blog is another part of my writing journey, and it would be wonderful for you to come along for the ride.

8th March 2023


One of the few positive aspects of the COVID years is that it has encouraged many people to write and read, which is a fantastic thing. I’m a secondary teacher and know how difficult it is to encourage young people to pick up a book when they can get instant gratification and escapism from gaming and Youtube etc.

But how long has this decline in reading been going on? An article by Gurwinder shared by a colleague of mine on the impact of Tiktok, seems to sum things up quite well:

“We seem to be halfway there already: not only has there been grey matter shrinkage in Who smartphone-addicted individuals, but, since 1970 the Western average IQ has been steadily falling. Though the decline likely has several causes, it began with the first generation to grow up with widespread TVs in homes, and common sense suggests it’s at least partly the result of technology making the attainment of satisfaction increasingly effortless, so that we spend ever more of our time in a passive, vegetative state. If you don’t use it, you lose it.”

(Gurwinder, ‘Tiktok is a New Kind of Super Weapon’, The Prism).

I grew up in an avid reader, I was encouraged to read but sometimes found myself slumping in front of a television as an easy form of relaxation. It requires effort to pull ourselves away from technology and to pick up a good book. I always remember Arthur Seaton’s immortal words. ‘They have a TV set and a packet of fags, but they're both dead from the neck up.’ (Saturday Night, and Sunday Morning (1960). Now it’s a variation of the same theme, minus the ‘fags’.

I was reading an article about teachers helping their students to love reading in the classroom and my novel DNA will be an attempt to encourage students read outside the classroom too. The whole process of writing and producing a novel has been a massive learning experience for me, which I believe will also help me as a teacher because structure and crafting didn’t come easily.

So what’s the solution? How do we persuade people to abandon the instant hit of social media or gaming to read a book? By writing a blog, I have had to consider whether I am harnessing the devil myself. Only time will tell as I open Pandora’s Box and allow myself to be exposed to this new faceless audience. I hope it will open up will some interesting discussions and debates.

23rd March 2023


Writing my novel ‘DNA’ was an interesting experience. I wrote it originally before the Christchurch attacks in New Zealand and it has been cut and edited over four years. The novel was a response to terror attacks around the world and growing xenophobia, which make certain groups of society more prone to attack.

It’s scary to see how many teenagers, young adults and adults live through social media and online sites. Although this can be a good thing because it creates new ways become informed, the exposure to extremists peddling radicalisation, targeting the young, lonely, and vulnerable creates situations where fifteen-year-olds run off to become Jihadi wives although they’ve spent their life living in a western country, assisting terror attacks. Similarly, young white/ brown/ black males become so entrenched in hate that they carry out terror attacks. I wanted to explore how people become so full of hatred.

I was struck by the recent attack on a hostel housing refugees. If you read my novel, you will get the sense of life imitating art and people being sucked into movements that generate hatred. The ages of the attackers in Liverpool, were 13-59. How do 13 year olds become involved in racist attacks? My novel tackles such issues and will hopefully show how disenchanted, lonely young people become extremists.

2nd April 2023

Today I read an article about Christopher Eccleston and his reaction to the closure of Oldham’s Coliseum theatre that was home to aspiring actors such as himself and Maxine Peake. He said, ‘There’s no more actors like me coming through – you’ve got to go to public school.’ This is nothing new, but even from my teenage year in the late 70s and 80s, it has become increasingly more difficult for working class young people to aspire to become involved in acting when there is little access to the arts.

Similarly, I grew up on a council estate in Birmingham at a time when I was able to join the Birmingham Youth Theatre and the Aston Triangle Youth Theatre, which gave a space to explore and dream with others from working class or middle class backgrounds. As Eccleston went onto say, “If you grow up in the North West, you don’t feel the culture and the arts belong to you. You don't believe, if you come from a council estate, [that] you can be an actor, a poet or a painter.” I was extremely thankful for the theatre groups that were made available to me as a creative outlet, which made hard times in the Thatcher era tolerable.

To me, the 60s and 70s were a time when working class people fought their way to being seen; even middle class artists and musicians such as Mick Jagger, emulated the working classes. British Socio Realism and popular music was finally being produced, written and played by working class people. Regional accents were celebrated and estuary English was no longer poorly enunciated by upper class thespians, playing the parts of maids or taxi drivers. 'Working class' was finally cool…

Sadly, there is a return to the eradication of working class potential through schools and higher education that no longer support the arts. Instead, they offer ‘vocational’ and ‘useful’ outlets that offer nothing creatively. Creativity is an essential part of life; it removes us from the challenging and mundane by offering us an essential outlet to express our view of the world we live in. After all, everyone is 'someone'.

As a writer, lacking connections and independent financial means, writing is a struggle. I want to write about things that connect mankind and at the same time, tear us apart. It took me a long time to find myself in a situation where I had time to take a breath and finally write; I am 59 years of age. “The creative adult is the child who survived.” (Ursula Le Guin).

I hope that Eccleston’s outrage will be followed by the many voices of others who feel the same.

18th April 2023


Having moved house when I was thirteen years old, as my daughter did from the UK to New Zealand, I saw first-hand, how being torn away from what you know can make you disconnected, rootlessness and angry. I realised that it could become destructive when other forces come into play. Everyone needs to belong somewhere, and the internet holds so many dangerous and dark places that are waiting to suck people in. I moved from one side of a city to another as a teenager and felt completely adrift for quite a few years until I discovered music and youth theatre companies that gave me something to hold onto and a sense of belonging. Nowadays young people can stay in their rooms for ever and find online friends and communities. A recent interview with award NZ writer Eleanor Catton, really struck home when she said, "There's something about the facelessness of online spaces that is incredibly corrosive, I think." Some people see online communities as offering things that face to face communities no longer have access to. However, this ability of people who do and say things behind a keyboard has indeed become more sinister and as Catton has said, “corrosive.”

How many young people live lives that most parents are unaware of? Many make friends, experience intellectual and emotional connections online. Never have people of all ages had so much access to information, right and wrong from around the world, and never have they been so lonely. “Loneliness is now considered to be as bad for your health as smoking – and there is a loneliness epidemic.” (The Guardian) The days of neighborhood communities and family have been replaced by faceless communities that can fill that space.

28/ 5/2023

So, my first novel is out there! It has been an immense journey that has required a lot of determination and self-will. There were points when I wondered what the hell I had done but now it seems so worthwhile. It is a project that is very dear to my heart and embodies everything that I stand for. I’m hoping that it will entertain but at the same time make people sit up and think. I’ve already had some great feedback. Further confirmation of the storyline, comes from the long listing of the screenplay version from the UK Film Festival Script Competition 2023. Many have commented that it would be a good film. It would be great to see Birmingham on the big screen for a change.

I have learnt so much from the experience and will take this knowledge through to my next novel, which is ready to go. The next novel is a young adult novel too and this seems to be my growing focus as a writer/ teacher. Adolescence is such a challenging time when we are trying to discover and uncover who we really are. At that age we don’t realise that it is all part of the process of being human. I’m still growing and evolving now. Hopefully I will always continue to grow.

My new novel focuses on the trials of adolescence and the dangers facing our environment. I want to explore things that are really relevant. I think that this one will be a much smoother process, but I need the right cover. My uncle, Joe Butler painted my first one and I need his hallmark style again.
Every book I write allows me to develop my craft and express myself; it's such a wonderful journey.

4/6/2023

From beginning to end, producing my novel has been challenging, to say the least, with long drawn-out mismanagement that resulted in corrupted formatting and errors. Writing is such a personal process, and it examines issues that a writer wants to explore in a safe environment. It allows us to express and hopefully impart some of our own thoughts and concerns in a way that might have a positive effect on people and society. My novel examines my own concerns about a growing alt-right movement and is an attempt to open a discussion on identity, and racism.

I have had to examine who my target audience is and when I began writing it, was steered in the direction of it being a young adult novel as my main protagonist, Jake, is sixteen years old. During that time I have had to examine what is and isn’t appropriate. Within that ‘coming of age’ genre I believed sex, drugs, pornography were all areas that would be good to explore because many of them are already serious issues amongst teenagers. Similarly, as a teacher, I am aware of the language used by teenagers. However, I’ve been told that using the F… word and racial slurs (in context) are not acceptable, which has made me examine how it would affect getting my novel into schools.

I considered sanitizing the language to make it more acceptable and to make it more nuanced. But I had to consider why I wrote the novel, which was to face head on the ugliness of racism. The rhetoric of racism isn’t full of beautiful prose; it is violent and angry. It is also repetitive and cliché as it is used to target the most vulnerable.

My intention was to be edgy, and real. I sat questioning myself whether I should remove any profanities, but I can’t bring myself to water it down. A friend asked if I had written it for ‘nice’ middle class young people whose parents might be offended by some of the language. The answer to this question, is that I wrote if for people who want to examine another world and to walk in other people’s shoes. I wrote it for children who are being subjected to avert racism on council estates and covert racism in affluent private schools. I wrote if for people like me who want to confront and disarm it. DNA is an engaging story and the few words that might upsetting to some will remain. I write to have a voice and to show people the world as I see it.

Film and literature have always reflected its time. How much time are we going to spend rewriting history to make it palatable? I accept that parents have a right to choose what their children have access to; I am also a parent and a grandparent, but I want my grandson to be aware of the world around him.

DNA is my first novel; my next one is a young adult novel, which also explores the issues that affect young people and society in general. There are no profanities and has been dealt with in an entirely different way. After the technical errors have been resolved, DNA will go back on Amazon and have a kindle version. I won’t be targeting schools; I will save that for the next one. I am proud of my first novel; it was never written for wealth or approval. The feedback from adults and teenagers who have read it, has been very positive. But I will place a warning regarding language and issues that offend. It is aimed at year 12 and above.

29/08/2023

The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Creativity

Most human beings need to be creative; there is often a deep need for expression or something that takes us beyond the mundanity of daily life. This can involve gardening, creating a home, music or art in one form or another.

My main motivation for becoming a writer was expression, escapism and the need for a voice, which has been a driving force. The advancement of Artificial Intelligence has certainly thrown a curved ball because it rips up the rule book. As a teacher, AI is certainly a useful tool in terms of creating quick accessible resources but as a writer it has removed motivation. The full capability of AI is yet unknown but appears to be unstoppable. It can produce award winning photography, generic writing, music and art. Will human beings become obsolete? We all need a purpose and AI appears to remove the very thing that drives us.

I am about to release a second novel at a time when publishing is struggling and getting an agent is almost impossible. However, for me writing is a passion that I’m unable to push aside and forget. It has become essential. Many people would say that we can still write for ourselves, but I do it to create connections, question the world we live in and inspire. My next novel North Star Academy is another young adult novel that is set in New Zealand, my home for the last 20 years. It examines the challenges facing young people in the modern world, including the use of technology and environmental damage. The novel draws from my experience of working as a teacher of international students and mainstream English students.
I have started to write book 2 because I was told it would make great series. My first novel DNA was a great learning curve and I hope to gain from painful the lessons learnt from it.

Will AI kill my creativity? Hopefully not….