The Adventures of a Blonde Writer
This book How to Craft a Kickass Protagonist – 10 Steps To Hero has become a permanent feature in my writer’s handbag and it has really helped me on my journey to publication. If only the author, Sacha Black, knew how bendy I’ve made the book spine (from excessive use), how many pages are now […]
Read More
When you become a writer there are certain things you can kiss goodbye to: 1. Being able to read a novel for pleasure. 2. A wardrobe containing NO tweed. Once you become a writer, tweed will find a way into your clothing style. Tweed – a fashion must for all serious writers. Respect to all […]
Read More
Welcome to my weekly writing diary! It has been an eventful week, so let’s get started. First, here’s the latest edition of the series involving my two pets; Harry the cat and Po the dog. Every week on this blog I record the highs and lows of their special friendship.
Read More
There is a stage during NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) where desperation strikes, 28k words in my experience. Words dry up, your plot sags, characters won’t follow casting direction and the mere thought of your story makes you want to go hide under the bed. During this dark stage, all your old ways of finding some […]
Read More
Here’s a secret about writing which I have discovered – some stories you write will not turn out the way you expected them to because they are meant to be improved and perfected by the future you.
Read More
After what happened to me last week I feel the need to talk about the dangers of the post writing daze and offer some advice to others on how to handle this fragile creative state. I have also been wondering how many accidents, slip ups, calamities, disasters, boo boos, costly mistakes, wrong turns, poor decisions and […]
Read More
In my experience the 10k word stage of a first draft is both a strange and challenging time. For my stories, reaching 10k words is like entering the Bermuda Triangle, some come out the other side, some take a completely new course and some are…never seen again. Over the years I have come to fear […]
Read More
Some books come into your life for a reason. I can’t remember how I came to buy this book on my Kindle. It wasn’t a book I went searching for. One day last week it sort of appeared. I know this sounds like I have been eating too much sugar again or I am in […]
Read More
You’re busy writing your draft romance novel. Things were going well…until you started getting a nagging thought; there is something very familiar about your new fictional character. You can’t put your finger on it. Why does it feel like you have met them before in another life? The hairs on your neck stand upright and […]
Read More
This post is a bit weird. Hang in there, reader. I am hoping this writer stage, which I am labelling as the ‘bird cage‘ stage is common. I have four draft books, possibly five. I also have a collection of short stories. This year I have worked so hard on writing, fine tuning and rewriting all […]
Read More