Insights | Alison Morton Author

Via Domitia - the background

Several people have commented on the new look of this blog (which is lovely of them) and asked me about the background.

Of course, it’s a Roman road and in particular it’s the Via Domitia at Ambrussum, near Nimes in southern France. The Via Domitia provided a fast and sure link from Spain to Italy. […]

What if?

Ever mislaid something, convinced you’d left it on the kitchen table and then found it on the bed? Or been somewhere completely certain of having made the journey before?

One answer could be that you did and you have, but you’ve shifted a nano-interval into another reality, according to a short story I’ve been reading […]

Take a blank sheet of garden…

Talking about muck-raking, sorry, rock-raking, reminded me about the parallels of writing a novel and creating a new garden.

With a novel, you start with a blank sheet of paper, or a blank computer screen, with a garden you start with something like this.

You carry out a survey and draw […]

Rock-raking is the new editing.

Friends who follow me on Twitter (@alison_morton) have been hearing about my rock-raking in recent days. Let me explain. We live on top of a chalk cliff. The view is magnificent, but the soil is crap. That’s a bit harsh. The soil is fertile, fine, and the weeds grow as if on Viagra. But there […]

Confronting my first novel...

When I starting this scribbling business in 2009, I wrote the second part of my trilogy first. I didn’t know I had at the time. I sat down one morning in front of my computer and typed for three months.

As a professional translator, I knew it would have to edit anything I produced. I […]