"The cure for writer's cramp is writer's block."Inigo DeLeon

My favourite book is "The Collins Book of Best-Loved Verse." I had a beautiful illustrated copy of this book as a child which is now rather well worn. Poems such as The Owl and the Pussy Cat and The Fairies excite the imagination of children and adults alike.

Up the airy mountain,
Down the rushy glen,
We daren't go a-hunting
For fear of little men;
Wee folk, good folk,
Trooping all together;
Green jaket, red cap,
And white owl's feather!

From The Fairies by William Allingham (1824-1889)

Nowadays my favourite poems deal with slightly more in-depth subjects. Many people complained about the poetry we studied in school. I admit I was not a fan of Ted Hughs but Philip Larkin was rather enjoyable and "The Whitsun Weddings" is magical read. However, it is the old classics which are my favourite. I adore emotive poems such as "Charge of the Light Bridage", Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and Rudyard Kippling's "Boots" or "If".

If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distant run,
Yours is the earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!
Rudyard Kippling

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogroves,
And the mome raths outgarbe.
Lewis Carrol

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Do I write poetry I hear you ask eagerly? hmmm .....

So now we move onto novels. In my 21 years of reading I have read hundreds of books. However, novels never touch me as much as poetry and plays. I have a soft spot in my heart for childrens novelist such as Roald Dahl and JK Rowling, for crime writers such as Agatha Christie and Sue Grafton and for classic writers such as Bronte and Dickens. My favorite books are the "His Dark Materials" trilogy by Philip Pullman and I was very disappointed when I missed him talk at the Edinburgh International Book Festival a couple of summers ago. However, at the book festival I did manage to see Terry Pratchett talk. He was as hilarious in real life as in his Diskworld novels.

I have attempted to write so many different novels. I am fantastic at the first few chapters of a novel. However, when it comes to the middle of a novel, or even the end of a novel, I have either run out of ideas or have become board with the subject or with board of writing altogether. One day I will finish one of the many books which are stored on my computer and you will all be able to enjoy them.

Would you believe that I have actually written, published and sold a novel? I admit I was in primary school at the time, my mum typed it out for me and I sold it for pennies to all my school friends. It was also based heavily on the Nancy Drew books I was currently reading. However, there are not many people that can say they have sold a book and it is something I am slightly proud of. It was published in two installments (before and after the summer holidays) and the plot was actually not to bad for a 12 year old. I found a copy of it a couple of months ago and had an enjoyable read.

When it comes to plays everyone follows the cliche of saying "my favourite playwright is William Shakespeare." I have to admit that I do love Shakespeare's work and adore reading "A Midsummer Night Dream." However, my favourite playwright is George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950); the esteemed writer who could not spell, who developed his own version of punctuation and even had his own alphabet, the Shavian alphabet. Pygmalion is a classic which everyone is aware of through its imortalisation as "My Fair Lady." I think what I love about Shaw is his ability to impart us with a social message while writing in a light hearted manner. Many critics would disagree with this view and complain that Shaw is too condescending and preaches too much to us during his plays. However, comedy writing has always amazed me as it is something that I find incredibly difficult and the ability to do both comedy and social comment at once is admirable.

when I was in primary school I must have been quite keen on writing as, in addition to a novel, I had time to write and direct a play. It was on the subject of bullying and even contained a song I wrote. I remember everyone being rather impressed with it, apart from the people who bullied me at school as the characters were obviously based on them. Unfortunately, the middle page of my play has been lost to time and I have absolutely no idea what happened in it.

Have I written any plays more recently? Yes, but yet again, your not reading them, yet ....