“I’m not saying she was crazy but” said the taxi driver  “she screams at me. She says  ‘if you leave me  I’ll cut off your legs and sew them back on the wrong way so every time you try and leave, you come back'”. I didn’t know if it was true but it got me thinking about us, guys. Many  guys have had the lazy conversation about crazy girlfriends. But what we never realise is  that there is only ever one common denominator. Once you realise that there is only one common denominator you would ask the question. What is it about the common denominator that drives these women crazy?There it is. Right there.

Talking about guys brings another Guy to mind – Guy Ritchie, Madonna’s husband. Was Guy ritchie a part of the adoption adjudication process. I expect he must have been. And yet there has been hardly any  reference to him regarding the  the Malawian baby boy David Banda. David itself an interesting name. The most famous David being he who was plucked from the waters of the nile  Fortuantely for the adopters Guy Ritchie has left a body of work which should reflect his artistic, therefore personal view of Black people.   For any journalists looking for an angle, why not have a looka t Guy.

And talking of angles and stories. I was at The Writers Summit Salon  in Banff Canada the other week. The writers were novelists, graphic novelists, poets, short story writers, script writers, tv and film writers. In the bar – where the best stories flow – I got talking to a novelist who made a revelation which knocked me off me chair.

Some writers who are sales asset to the publisher demand, in their contract, that the publishers guarentees that their books are  put forward for a major prize – the prize is named in the contract.   Lets take The Booker Prize for an example. Each publisher is allowed to submit only a certain number of books –  I’ll guess, for the sake of example,  that the number is two.

The larger the publisher the more likely that they will have a writer that makes this demand.  The effect is that if you are a new writer who has a hit book on your hands you will be omitted from being submitted, not because your publisher doesn’t think your book  is the best of that year but because a big seller author has demanded his book is put forward. This is why, says the novelist, that it is sometimes better to be with a smaller more independent press. This novelist was on a smaller press and was an award winner and off to LA after the Salon, to discuss the film of her book with its producers.  he is not unsuccessful by any means.  This practise should be exposed for what it is.

 And I am sure that any editor or publisher would be happy that this  practise of authors and their agents,  be exposed, for what it is.