Insights | Alison Morton Author

Writing Challenge Day 6: How the writing all began

Ampurias mosaic

I’ve always enjoy writing, but not fiction; essays at school (often fictional), civil service papers and reports, business plans, company PR materials, insurance analyses (so exciting!); corporate documentation, brochures, military reports and fifteen years’ worth of translation and editing.

Words fascinate me, how they’re derived, how they’re used and what they […]

To Zoom or not to Zoom?

Let’s face it, not seeing our friends, family and colleagues and not going to our favourite bar or pub, not being able to hug others or kiss them is a real pain. No more weekends away, in my case on a low-cost plane to the UK, no more work trips, let alone seeing my […]

Do writers live in permanent lockdown?

Writers spend much of their lives in lockdown. I don’t mean since March, but all the time; about 60-65% in my case.

But what really goes on in the head of that person hunched over a computer grunting and tapping away at their latest masterpiece? Are they dreaming up new plots, imagining engaging or repelling […]

Distraction in the time of plague, or can you still write?

Lockdown sucks.

But you’d think as writers we’d glory in all this time. We don’t have to go out, nobody calls, the television is dull, dull, dull. We can’t run (generally pointless) errands, waste time drinking too much caffeine in coffee shops, or even go gallivanting off to literary events.

On that last, three of […]

Is doing your highlights in time of crisis important?

We are scared. We feel unsafe. Our routine is shot. Our friends are distant. We can’t hug our children, parents or friends who live in other houses. No trips to the restaurant, pub or club. Not even a quick coffee with a friend before getting on a train to a meeting or show. And research […]