The terror of writing

You stare at the stodgy sentences. You can’t think what words to write next. You are starting to bore yourself. Your characters are boring each other. Nobody will want to read this drivel.

And so it goes round and round in your head.

You’ve written ten novels or none. You’ve won prizes or you’re just […]

January 4th, 2020 | Tags: , , , , , | Category: Authors, Books, Insights, Writing life, Writing skills | 8 comments

Discovering gold - a critique writing partner and how to find one

I enjoy a ‘writerly’ Skype with another novel writer, Denise Barnes – my critique Writing Partner (CWP). We swap hints and tips, recommend and exchange books, encourage each other about courses and competitions. But the best thing is that we read each other’s work and critique it. Now you have to get on well to […]

November 5th, 2019 | Tags: , , , , | Category: Authors, Books, Getting published, Writing life, Writing skills | Leave a comment

A writer's progress, or 'Do not despair'

2012 PR shot

It’s ten years since I started thrusting books on the world and I’d like to I share some expurgated diary extracts and experiences with you.

But first, a word of motivation… You know how they say it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at something? If you take a […]

October 21st, 2019 | Tags: , , , , , | Category: Authors, Books, Getting published, Insights, Personal, Writing life, Writing skills | 8 comments

How to write a book review – please do!

Authors love reviews – this is not a secret!

But after you’ve closed a book, why should you bother to write one? How do you do it? And who can write a review? What’s considered a ‘good’ review?

Whoa! Let’s take a step back…

Why write a book review? Analysing and expressing your thoughts about […]

September 9th, 2019 | Tags: , , , , | Category: Books, Getting published, Readers, Review, Writing life, Writing skills | 2 comments

Inspired or over-imaginative? On the Alliance of Independent Authors podcast

Absolutely thrilled to be invited on to the Alliance podcast, hosted by Howard Lovy. And even more so as it features ‘inspirational authors’ Not quite sure I’m inspirational, but that’s enough imposter syndrome. 😉

Like many people, I always take a (mental) deep breath before an audio interview as you can’t see who is going […]

September 2nd, 2019 | Tags: , , , , , , | Category: ALLi, Alternate history, Getting published, Podcasts, Q&A, Writing life, Writing skills | Leave a comment
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