A Writer's Diary Podcast

Today's entry makes a few small points about the small points left behind by pencil sharpeners. It's amazing how attached writers can be to their means of production, and how passionate in defending their choices. Here are mine. Get full access to A Writer's Diary at awritersdiary.substack.com/subscribe

Today's entry is about mechanical pencils. Probably preferable to wooden pencils, but maybe not. They break and can't be fixed. I admit, I don't love them as much as pencils. They don't smell as nice, for a start. Get full access to A Writer's Diary at awritersdiary.substack.com/subscribe

Today's entry is simple enough - pencils. What's good about them. And I really can't find anything bad about them. The big question, however: to use the eraser or not? Get full access to A Writer's Diary at awritersdiary.substack.com/subscribe

I was interrupted by three things I read, and one thing I had to do, and so today's entry is about that. Those three things I read were Roger Hallam's blog, 'The Elite Death Project', Anna Kornbluh's book 'Immediacy' and an article by Fiona Harvey, Guardian Environmental Editor, titled 'Biodiversity Collapse Threatens UK Security, Intelligence Chiefs Warn'. All discussed and linked to here. Get fu...

Today's entry is on fountain pens. I love them, use them, recommend them. Here are some reasons why they are so good for everyday use. Get full access to A Writer's Diary at awritersdiary.substack.com/subscribe

Today I'm beginning a series of entries about what writer write with - pens, pencils, laptops. Rather than the ubiquitous ballpoint, I'm starting with dipping pens, which have unexpected advantages (and some clear downsides). What do you write with or on? Get full access to A Writer's Diary at awritersdiary.substack.com/subscribe

Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin. Today's entry is about writing posture. If you're in this writing milarky as a long game, you'll need to be ergonomically sussed. Not like one of those copyright free images of writers sitting cross legged with a cup of matcha. Get full access to A Writer's Diary at awritersdiary.substack.com/subscribe

Are you constantly distracted by your phone? Have you found out the secret of overcoming or working through this? Today I share some advice in a draft chapter from On Drafting, the writing manual you're helping me write. Get full access to A Writer's Diary at awritersdiary.substack.com/subscribe

Who are the ghosts that haunt your writing space, or your mind as you're writing? Is it Lydia Davis or Tolstoy? Dickens or someone I've never heard of? Today's entry is another go at an introduction to On Drafting, the writing manual you're helping me write. Get full access to A Writer's Diary at awritersdiary.substack.com/subscribe

Today, following up on my Guardian review of Elizabeth McCracken's writing manual A Long Game: How to Write Fiction, here are a few, slightly freer thoughts about it. tl;dr - I recommend it. It's very good. Get full access to A Writer's Diary at awritersdiary.substack.com/subscribe

Today I'm talking and writing about how to keep going with writing when you're feeling down. I think this is something most writers face every single day, and these are some first draft thoughts on good reasons for going on. Get full access to A Writer's Diary at awritersdiary.substack.com/subscribe

Today's subject is writing in the dark - what Donald Barthelme called (in a famous essay) 'the not knowing'. I'm starting with an even more famous quote from Henry James, and talking about what it feels like to be lost and perhaps bewildered. Get full access to A Writer's Diary at awritersdiary.substack.com/subscribe

Today I share three exercises that might work if you don't have any idea what to write next. The first is based on something I do in Creative Writing workshops, encouraging students to write the worst dialogue ever. The second comes out of a trip I paid to Foyles Bookshop in London. And the third is inspired by the very inspiring Wes Anderson, and his plain yellow notebooks. Get full access to A W...

What are my principles as a teacher of writing? I tried to get them down on a single page, and succeeded. There are five different principles, and here they are. Get full access to A Writer's Diary at awritersdiary.substack.com/subscribe

Here I'm sharing a draft opening to my writing manual. It talks about different writers different ways of drafting. Perhaps one of them is similar to yours - but I'd be surprised if you drafted like Proust, Flaubert or Kerouac. Get full access to A Writer's Diary at awritersdiary.substack.com/subscribe

Here's a bill of fare, a draft contents section, and a sneak preview of what's coming up in the next few weeks and months. How does this compare to what you know about a book when you begin drafting it? Get full access to A Writer's Diary at awritersdiary.substack.com/subscribe

Today's podcast is about who you are on the page. Is it the writer described in your blurb, or is it a person you've decided to be, for the purposes of what you're writing? Get full access to A Writer's Diary at awritersdiary.substack.com/subscribe

What do we think about before we start writing? What context are we writing in? For me, Climate (to call it that) is front and centre. Here's what I've got to say about acknowledging that's the ground I'm on. Get full access to A Writer's Diary at awritersdiary.substack.com/subscribe

Hello, Happy New Year and welcome to Writer’s Diary 2026. This is slightly different. As you can tell, I’m going to be speaking, as well as writing, and the subject this year is going to be writing a book, which I’m going to be starting doing. You can hear a train go by. I’m going to be starting doing that, and I’m going to be asking for your help, and I’m going to be bouncing things off you, doin...