ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED 24 AUGUST 2013
The book divides my life into two main parts - pianistic and journalistic.
Piano: I've gone back to smaller pieces. To use the mountain-climbing analogy in the book, the Ballade is the Mattherhorn. And if I'm going to try monster peaks like this again I'm going to have to go back and train properly. I've had some strain in my right hand with the giant stretches in the G Minor Ballade. So this summer I've learned the six pieces in Childrens' Corner by Debussy. Not easy, but not crazy.
Journalism: Snowden. Which is a bit like Wikileaks and phone hacking put together. But I'm (generally) still managing my 20 minutes a day. Just.