a writer’s life – Peter Kenny: a writer's notebook

The wizard and the birdcage

Peter Kenny

May 24, 2022

It has been a while since I updated this blog. I like to lead a double life, and my commercial work with my favourite art director Keith Hardy has taken up lots of my time and energy. Luckily, I have made time to continue to present and produce the Planet Poetry Podcast with my pal…

a writer’s life, Blowing my own trumpet, Planet Poetry, Podcast, Poetry

Black Nore Review, Chad, Channel Magazine, Peter Kenny, Planet Poetry Podcast, Plato, Podcasting, Robin Houghton

Now, where was I?

Peter Kenny

October 7, 2021

I just finished another freelance job last night. And feel like a young otter released back into the wild. Is it just me, or do you do this too? As soon as I create a clear and focused plan about what I am going to do in my life, something else happens. My noble literary…

a writer’s life, Blowing my own trumpet, Horror, Planet Poetry, Poetry, Prose, Short Stories

14 Magazine, David Longhorn, Finished Creatures, Jan Heritage, Richard Skinner, Supernatural Tales

Doctor Spotlight

Peter Kenny

March 31, 2021

I don’t know exactly where I first heard the term ‘Doctor Spotlight’ to describe the way that being in the spotlight can momentarily conceal, for example, the terrible hangover or malaise you might be experiencing. In the early nineties I was knocked off my bicycle one morning cycling down Chiswick High Road, and sustained quite…

a writer’s life, Autobiographical, Blowing my own trumpet, Fiction, Short Stories, Theatre

Doctor Spotlight, Horla, Mario Petrucci, Matthew G. Rees, Rosemary Norman

Jazz Baby

Peter Kenny

February 22, 2021

So here is your humble blogger as a young hepcat. My parents were in their teens when I was born in October ’59. My father, last glimpsed by me when I was five, worked for a while as a policeman. My mother had served coffee at Ronnie Scott’s club in its earliest days and was…

a writer’s life, Family history, Music

Jazz, John Keats, Miles Davis, Ronnie Scott's

Proof positive

Peter Kenny

February 20, 2021

I want to heartily recommend Tess Jolly. Not only is she an amazing poet but she is also a fabulous proof reader. I asked Tess to proof a few of my short fictions which I am tentatively starting to assemble into a collection. She found a fair amount to fix: including a regrettable promiscuity with…

a writer’s life, Publishing, Short Stories

editing, proofing, Tess Jolly

Barking Mad! By Jane Mosse

Peter Kenny

May 17, 2020

Barking Mad! by Jane Mosse published by Blue Ormer What with one thing and another, I have found it hard to read lately. It’s as if a smoke alarm keeps going off in the house. Yesterday, having a hateful ear infection, I opted for a sofa day. When I wasn’t dripping antibiotics into my ear and moaning peevishly,…

a writer’s life, Book Launch, Fiction, Guernsey Literature, Novels, Reviews, Richard Fleming

Animals, Barking Mad!, Jane Mosse, Pet sitting, Pets

Watch Skelton Yawngrave TV

Peter Kenny

April 6, 2020

Hope all casual droppers-in to my blog are fine! Here’s a wee YouTube channel called Skelton Yawngrave TVwhere I am hoping, health allowing, to upload a chapter a day of my story Magnificent Grace during this time of lockdown.

a writer’s life, Children’s fiction, Reading, Skelton Yawngrave

Magnificent Grace, Skelton Yawngrave, Skelton Yawngrave TV

Magnificent Grace — now in paperback!

Peter Kenny

January 23, 2020

Magnificent Grace paperback now available here Few moments in life are like popping open a box of books you happen to have written. More accurately I should say written by my alter ego Skelton Yawngrave III. Skelton was wildly pleased with himself. Though cheerful, I remain cautiously optimistic. Properly armed with my 322 page book,…

a writer’s life, Children’s fiction, Prose, Publishing, Skelton Yawngrave

Magnificent Grace, Self publishing, Skelton Yawngrave

Magnificent Grace, by Skelton Yawngrave

Peter Kenny

October 9, 2019

If you happen to know a child of 9-12 who likes reading, and want a tale set in the run up to Halloween and Guy Fawkes night… then I have a full length story (a.k.a. my kindle experiment) for them. It’s creepy, funny, magical and dystopian and is about trying to bring together a divided…

a writer’s life, Art, Blowing my own trumpet, Book Launch, Children’s fiction, Fiction, Prose

Magnificent Grace, Skelton Yawngrave

The Dream Home

Peter Kenny

September 25, 2019

Very happy to have a new dark tale in the Autumn 2019 94th edition of the literary magazine The Frogmore Papers, edited by Jeremy Page. There are two other stories in this edition: A Citadel by Natalya Lowndes, and A Few Brief Words by Andrew Blair. I found both had a lovely balance of humour…

a writer’s life, Blowing my own trumpet, Horror, Poetry, Prose

A Citadel, A Few Brief Words, Andrew Blair, Jeremy Page, Laura Chalar, Natalya Lowndes, Peter Kenny, Stephen Bone, The Dream Home, The Frogmore Papers, The Nineties Revisited