I see that it’s been nearly two years since I wrote a post for this truly occasional blog, so here’s a brief update. I spent the 2022–23 academic year working as a lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of St Andrews, bookended by a couple of stints teaching for the Scottish Universities International Summer… Read More Careering: A postdoctoral update
Near my desk is hanging a reproduction of this picture, which shows a sailing ship in the grip of a giant octopus. In my head, it’s titled ‘My Dissertation and Me’. I’m pleased to say I successfully grappled with the octopus and gained my PhD last year. In the process I learned lots about aspects… Read More Five things I learned struggling with the octopus
As the final leg of my PhD has coincided with the onset of a global pandemic, I’ve been thinking a lot about how we represent not only achievements but also things we haven’t accomplished. I’m lucky that my research and writing were not impacted by the lockdown in any major way: library access is not… Read More Success, failure, and neither
Apparently, if you were to read a chapter of War and Peace during each match played at Wimbledon, you would easily finish the book before the end of the tournament. I’ve been reminded of this helpful schedule recently, not only because Wimbledon has just finished, but because this summer I’ve decided I’m finally going to… Read More Tricks and techniques for summer reading
As a poet, I have a love-hate relationship with writing prompts. Perhaps it’s simply a dislike of being told what to do, but I feel an instinctive resistance whenever I’m urged to write in response to an idea suggested by someone else. Logically I know I should get over this, because one can’t write a… Read More On overcoming resistance to writing prompts