Views from the Bike Shed: and a writer's guide to blogging

For Mark Charlton, blogging is 'a road of chance and discovery', one which has shaped the person he's become; a journey that is 'happenstance on acid.' In Views from the Bike Shed he not only shares a selection of engaging, articulate and deeply-felt posts from the eponymous blog, but also charts his praxis as a writer. Advocating for blogging as a process and form that deserves serious attention, Charlton shows how it changes our writing and opens up unexpected opportunities along the way. Interspersed between blog posts on life and landscape, objects and artistic process there are also 'Interludes'. And together these interludes not only give insight into how to blog, but dive into the depths of why blogging is such a rich resource in our writerly and human toolbox. Exploring how writing from our experience can become an inclusive and authentic means of connecting with readers, allowing them to make their own discoveries, Views from the Bike Shed is at once eminently practical as well as giving a vital meditation on the ways writers can push their own boundaries through this medium. Mark Charlton's Views from the Bike Shed blog has been an addiction of mine for years. Mark's views are wise, finely expressed, broad-ranging, acutely observed and scintillatingly intelligent. A published collection is cause for widespread rejoicing. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did the originals. - Jim Perrin