Blog Archives

Limits

Posted on January 12, 2013 by Cathy Dreyer — 4 Comments

Wasn’t it the Austrian-Jewish-British philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein who said ‘whereof you cannot speak, thereof you must be silent’? Well I never fully understood Wittgenstein beyond loving his idea that we can prove the existence of other people by the existence…

Tagged with: challenging texts, limits, social skills, Stella Duffy, Suzanne Moore
Posted in censorship, criticism, feminism, literature, Poetry, women, Writing

What not to do in Poetry Class

Posted on October 8, 2012 by Cathy Dreyer — 9 Comments

Bollocks. Why do I take these risks? I forget that the stakes are quite high in these places and that it matters, or at least it does to me, how I feel when I go out the door. I’m talking…

Tagged with: Getting it Wrong, kim hyesoon
Posted in creativity, criticism, feedback, feminism, life writing, literature, Poetry, reading, women, Writing

Fifty Shades of Nonsense and why I love E.L James (with adult content)

Posted on June 25, 2012 by Cathy Dreyer — 14 Comments

The stink of envy hangs around a lot of what’s being written and said about E.L James’s blockbuster. Take this on twitter: ‘Write a fanfic based on an already bad book and then change the names. #badwritingtips’ I have to…

Tagged with: E.L. James; talking about sex, Fifty Shades of Grey
Posted in feminism, women, Writing, writing novels

The self-cleaning loo and the origins of creativity

Posted on November 15, 2011 by Cathy Dreyer — 11 Comments

When we had just one baby, more than a decade ago, a book was published saying – again – that despite the gains of feminism, women were still doing far more cooking and cleaning at home than men. I heard…

Tagged with: creativity, feminism, literature, stories, women, writing
Posted in creativity, feminism, life writing, literature, reading, Uncategorized, women, Writing

Revenge of the unseen, non-exploding penis

Posted on October 17, 2011 by Cathy Dreyer — 2 Comments

First, a statement. This is all true. Everything, especially the bit about the penis, is fact and it really happened. But you’ll have to direct your gaze downwards for that. Second, an apology. To all women in London’s gymland. Friends…

The Fanny Files: Part 4 The end of privates

Posted on October 8, 2011 by Cathy Dreyer — 7 Comments

Some people have asked me why I am writing about pubic hair. I suppose it isn’t something that people want to spend a lot of time thinking about. It’s the stuff that pokes embarrasingly out of your swimming costume and…