Are you a pantser or a plotter?

Picture shows woman writing on laptop

Photo courtesy of Jessica Bell

Do you sit down at the keyboard and just write, a vague idea of the characters and their story swirling around in your head? Do you just throw stuff at the characters and see what happens? Then you’re a pantser* who writes by the seat of […]

Copyright scam – A salutary experience

The other week, I received a very legal seeming email for a German based company called Copytrack alleging that I had breached copy right of a photographer they represented and demanding the following:

Image license (valid for 1 year from date of purchase) 389€ Compensation costs (past usage) 350€ Payment due June 5 2025

(Can’t […]

Boycotting Amazon?

Woman reading ebook

Photo: AllaSerebrina

Love it or hate it, Amazon, is now part of our lives. Even if we prioritise buying local, we slip into the seductive single click of buying online from the world’s biggest universal supplier.

As part of the popular antipathy to large corporates prevalent in the digiverse at present (for a multitude […]

How to enjoy a productive writing life

Photo of Alison Morton writing at her desk

Writing as a life choice isn’t easy. It’s actually a bit mad. But those who have the urge just can’t stop.

However, everybody will give you advice and I suppose I’m doing the same here. 🙂

Not advice about punctuation, dialogue or how to set the scene or bring characters to life – that’s craft […]

The evolving writer

When I started this scribbling business in 2009, I sat down one morning in front of my computer and typed for ninety days.

As a professional translator, I knew I would have to edit anything I produced. I joined a writers’ group and survived the terror of reading my offering aloud for the first time […]