Ashleylister

LATEST ARTICLES ( 2177 )

• Keyboard

  

  I promise you that I do not do this sort of thing usually. Ever. I have just counted the number of keys on this keyboard. There are 106 and that’s without the... Read more

  Posted on 08 May 2024 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• This Writing Game

  

  Leonard Cohen once asked Bob Dylan “How long does it take to write a song, Bobby?” To which Dylan replied “You tell me first.” “It takes three years”, said... Read more

  Posted on 05 May 2024 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• That Despicable Feeling

  

  I've noticed a tendency over the years for writers to talk about writing as if their way of approaching the craft is the only way. Read more

  Posted on 03 May 2024 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• This Writing Game

  

  What with Birmingham City looking like we’re going to be relegated and be playing Blackpool next season I was a bit reluctant to be thinking about football for... Read more

  Posted on 01 May 2024 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• This Writing Game - Where Does It Start?

  

  I’ve always had ‘this writing thing’, ever since I could hold a pencil and form letters, which was long before I started school. Read more

  Posted on 01 May 2024 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• And So To Bed

  

  I love my bed. Who doesn't? I had to leap out of it at 5.30 this morning in order to travel from Blackpool to Reading for the Seasiders' final league fixture... Read more

  Posted on 28 April 2024 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• The Emperor and Boris Johnson

  

  Isn't it frustrating, the way you tend to forget your dreams the moment you wake up? (If you're one of the lucky few who don't, rest assured most of us do). Read more

  Posted on 26 April 2024 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• The Second-Best Bed

  

  So you’ve invited a new friend or the boss or perhaps a new girl or boyfriend round to your place for the first time. There’s a knock on the front door, you ope... Read more

  Posted on 24 April 2024 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Bed

  

  The days are getting longer – and the nights are getting lighter. And warmer. I trust that I am the only person to know how, generally, my husband is fast aslee... Read more

  Posted on 22 April 2024 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Wyrd

  

  We derive our word weird from the Anglo-Saxon wyrd whose original meaning was fate or destiny. But because fate very often throws us unexpected and often... Read more

  Posted on 22 April 2024 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• One Weird Night: A Short Story

  

  Janine is a heavy sleeper. I read somewhere years ago of a house getting blown up in a gas explosion. The only occupant was asleep in bed at the time. Read more

  Posted on 19 April 2024 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Weird Physics

  

  I’m writing this in the week that we lost Professor Peter Higgs who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2013 for discovering the Higgs Boson (The God Particle). I... Read more

  Posted on 17 April 2024 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Weird - In My Crazy Dreams

  

  ‘Venus is the only planet that spins clockwise.’ Is that weird? As long as it doesn’t knock me over, I don’t care. I don’t take much notice of planets, apart... Read more

  Posted on 16 April 2024 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Weird: The Strange, Unusual and Surreal

  

  There’s a lot of weirdness that has shaped my life, ultimately influencing the creative work I produce: Dad constructing non-conventional furniture, Psychology... Read more

  Posted on 15 April 2024 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Stars

  

  When you look up at the stars they sometimes seem to be within touching distance. This may be due to their familiarity and reliability of always “turning up”... Read more

  Posted on 15 April 2024 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Photographing The Stars

  

  "Twas in another lifetime, one of toil and blood ". Ah yes, that was when I taught English and Drama at a comprehensive school in north London in the late 1970s. Read more

  Posted on 13 April 2024 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Stars

  

  Back in my twenties I used to work nights and sometimes during my break used to go outside at about 3 am and look at the stars and wonder. One night I brought i... Read more

  Posted on 10 April 2024 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Furthest, Fairest Things

  

  , stars, free of our humbug, each his own, the longer known the more alone, wrapt in emphatic fire roaring out to a black flue. Read more

  Posted on 10 April 2024 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Lancashire Dead Good Poets' May Open Mic Night

  

  Here's the poster for our May virtual open mic night...Hoping you'll be able to join us.Steve ;-) Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Read more

  Posted on 09 April 2024 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Stars

  

  It is true to say that I read a fair bit of poetry. And it seems to me that a recurring theme that many poets have in common, is a fear of dying. Read more

  Posted on 09 April 2024 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION