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Continue reading →: Book Review: The Roman Mysteries I – The Thieves of Ostia by Caroline Lawrence
“…exactly the kind of thing older children want and young adults expect in a satisfying book.” On a sudden whim, I bought the entire collection of the Roman Mysteries series by Caroline Lawrence just recently. They take me back to my days of teaching in Bangladesh when my children were…
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Continue reading →: Reflection: The Roman Mysteries by Caroline Lawrence
Back in the days when my family and I lived and worked in Bangladesh, the kids were quite young and that meant plenty of children’s books got read. As they grew, I either read them Young Adult literature (such as the brilliant Wheel of Surya trilogy by Jamila Gavin) or…
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Continue reading →: Book Review: Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter
“…painful, sometimes ugly and always honest…” This was, without a doubt, an intriguing novella. I can see why – so I am told – Cillian Murphy (of Oppenheimer and Peaky Blinders fame) considers it an excellent book. It doesn’t hurt that he played the lead role in the stage adaptation…
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Continue reading →: A Brief Guide to Writing: 7 – Feedback
My good writing friend Shannon wrote a post recently that really resonated with me and what I see aspiring writers struggling with. Her post is good and I recommend you click the link and have a read before carrying on. There’s a great quote she uses from a superb writer…
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Continue reading →: Review: Small Gods by Terry Pratchett
“Pratchett has the ability, second to none, of bringing us characters who will become our friends.” It is always a delight to read one of Pratchett’s Discworld novels. It is a forever mystery to me how he managed to write so many (uncharitably, you could say ‘churned out’ so many)…
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Continue reading →: Book Review: Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban
“…the science fiction equivalent of Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake albeit far more interesting…” This book was not one that had crossed my path and been added as a ‘classic must-read’. I’d honestly never heard of it before until a friend suggested I might like it. This friend’s suggestions are normally spot…
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Continue reading →: A Brief Guide to Writing: 6 – The Writer and The Black Dog of Doom
or looking after your mental health as a writer “The days of the depressed writer… killing himself after burning all his manuscripts and considering himself a failure, are over – or they should be.” The Covid Pandemic seemingly brought grief and joy in equal measure albeit often with some getting…
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Continue reading →: A Brief Guide to Writing: 5 – Mistakes, editing and you
I started this piece quite some considerable time ago. At the time, my novel was in the early stages with the publishers. It has been published over a year now, which tells you something about how long it takes for me to get a job done sometimes! By sheer fate,…
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Continue reading →: Book Review: Paper Aeroplane by Simon Armitage
Having reviewed Armitage’s latest book a few months ago and not finding it quite as good as some of the selected poems I’ve read over the years, I decided to see if I could rekindle my love for this poet by reading his collection of – presumably – his best…
Hello, I’m Ken.
Welcome to Write Out Loud, my blog dedicated to all sorts of things to do with writing.
This page will be updated constantly every week with book reviews and writing-related stuff.
The blog is the baby sister of my personal blog kenthinksaloud where I write ‘Monday Murmurings’—insights into life and philosophy. Get a clever take on politics with ‘Wednesday Banker,’ and ‘Future Friday’ for the latest in psychology, environment, and tech.
I will use this blog to give helpful advice, tips, tricks and resources as I come across them to other writers and to advertise my own writing especially as my books start to be published.
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Write Out Loud (Reviews and Writing) 