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

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

Are conferences good for you?

With critique writing partner Denise Barnes (Photo: Anna Belfrage)

Spring and summer are the conference seasons and can sometimes create quite a hectic schedule; I’m on and off planes all the time with a few days in between. And then you squeeze a holiday in somewhere. The airports seem to blur together after […]

July 23rd, 2018 | Tags: , , , , | Category: Authors, Events, Insights, Romantic Novelists' Association, Travel, Writing life | 2 comments

2018 Dublin Writers' Conference

Back in Dublin! From arriving at the airport, riding into the city from the airport and stepping down from the bus in O’Connell Street, there was something rather familiar.

Once again, I’d been invited by Laurence O’Bryan who heads up the Books Go Social group to speak at this very friendly festival. Although I’m waving […]

June 25th, 2018 | Tags: , , , , , | Category: Authors, Business skills, CARINA, Getting published, Readers, | Leave a comment

Jane Davis's Counterfeit Self

What a pleasure it is to welcome the talented Jane Davis back as my Thursday guest! Jane is the author of seven novels. Her debut, Half-truths and White Lies, won the Daily Mail First Novel Award and was described by Joanne Harris as ‘A story of secrets, lies, grief and, ultimately, redemption, charmingly handled by […]

October 13th, 2016 | Tags: , , | Category: Authors, Books, Characters, Guests, Writing life | Leave a comment
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