Creative people need strong encouragement.

I dropped my gardening tools, threw my bicycle over a hedge and went in search of fortunes laid beneath the hangman’s noose.

You have to feel the bite of the wind to appreciate the warmth of a winter coat.

Look back, but never look down.

The thing that matters most is what matters to you, not anybody else.

As a child I would play with such imagination that the ‘real’ world was never real at all. It was full of mystery, adventure and possibility.

A man can never have too many books. Neither can he have too many fountain pens, hats, fishing rods, waistcoats, tea caddies, paintings or whatever helps him to feel at home in his surroundings and...

Committing your thoughts and feelings to words is like putting your soul on a plate and hoping the diners will like what they eat.

May, more than any other month of the year, wants us to feel most alive.

Writing ink is the magic that allows nothing to become something. It catches the fleeting idea and seeks out the glances of those who wish to see. Even a random ink splat will mean something...

There is a fine line between fair criticism and jealous assault.

Satnav will get us quickly and all-too-predictably from A to B, but the path of life is more interesting when we’re allowed to explore the side streets.

A man can never be truly free when he knows that he is neglecting his duties elsewhere.

Being here is such a contrast to where I’d otherwise be.

Think about it: send SLASH receive. Email is the frenzied killer of proper communication.

Time alone helps us to remember who we are.

Publish a book before you’re too old to read it without glasses.

Editing one’s writing is as easy as lighting a match while riding a bicycle.

Life can be impossibly tough. At times it seems like there is no escape from either the pressure or monotony of a world where you are corralled into being something or someone you are not....

Walk free from the long shadows cast by small people.

What compels me to write now is the same as all those years ago. It is the love of writing and storytelling, driven by a desire to escape.

Nature or nurture? A talent needs both.

The only person to blame for your situation is you.

Putting pen to paper without first deciding the route and pace at which to scribe is like setting off on a bicycle without first checking the tyres.

Only the present exists. The past is gone, and the future has not yet happened. There is only ever time present.

Writing with a biro is the emotional equivalent of giving your loved one a plastic rose on Valentine’s Day.

Being an author is to have a toe in the creative pool and a foot in the vat of commerce.

We all need to believe in something, a dream that gives us optimism and faith.

If we spend enough time dreaming, then the dream might eventually become real.

Where the writing takes place doesn’t matter to a publisher, but it matters a great deal to the author.

I keep on dreaming, but to find freedom, one must first search inwards.

Angling is just a way of relaxing and escaping in the countryside.

I am happiest sitting against a tree, with my notebook or sketchpad on my knee, capturing the moment.

I like working among ‘creative clutter’. It gives me a sense of activity and achievement.

Proper writing ink comes in a bottle, can be swirled like brandy in a glass, and smells like apple blossom after rain.

Never interrupt an author when he or she is ‘in the zone’, else you’ll understand the real meaning of ‘writer’s nib’.

I needed some space to lay myself out, so that I could decide which pieces I wanted to pick up.

A perpetual world; a world within a world. Of my mind and outside my mind. The real world is the dream world.

Life in the wild, as I’m observing, is about survival as much as pleasure.

A traditional Englishman drinks tea to the point where his blood has long-since been replaced with an infusion of Ceylon, Assam, and Darjeeling.

Status: the perpetual carrot that entices us from the front and prods us in the back.

When sitting down to write a letter, it always pays to calm one’s mood, collect one’s thoughts, and have a plan.

People might consider you eccentric for being different, but this is good. Leaders and visionaries are not conformists afraid of standing out.

As with writing by candlelight, one’s greatest ideas come from ‘the flickering’ between darkness and light.

What I am interested in, what I write and care about, exists in the slow lane, somewhere between hand-ploughed fields and a pint of real ale.

Water creates so much beauty, life and mystery.

We are all Clapping Monkeys, but while some of us smile, others look around to see if anyone has noticed.

Eight months in the woods have hardened me, or at least firmed up my beliefs that if a man’s going to fend for himself, then he needs to leave his credit card at home.

Sounds simple, doesn’t it, this notion of simplicity? Simple things done simply by a simple person. But it’s not as simple as it seems.

Leaving the rat race is easy. All you have to do is quit your job, sell your house, and go and live in a tent in the middle of nowhere. It’s staying out of the...