I’m in the NaNoWriMo trenches and it’s been a tough weekend. At one point things got so challenging I started procrastinating about how the life of a writer feels very similar to Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. Here are the similarities with Lord of the Rings and being a writer: Your story is the ring […]
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I am the owner of a small gang of unruly cats and an over excited dog. As an enthusiastic pet owner I often project human traits onto my animals. I am always talking to my cats and dog. They all have elaborate fictional histories and we often speak to one of my cats about his […]
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This weekend will be spent clearing out my dressing table and creating a temporary work desk. As I am working from home in my day job, the teenagers are off school due to half term, my husband is also working from home and we are in the middle of a strict lockdown, I cannot spend […]
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It’s not easy being a writer. We find ourselves drawn to tweed based outfits, berets, Twitter, book shops and attractive notebooks. We stare into space a lot, walk around with pencils permanently tucked behind our ears, get excited over word counts, cover our walls in post it notes and lose ourselves while reading books. One […]
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Inside the minds of most writers the same questions must rotate on a regular basis. These include: – Am I a good writer? – Am I good enough to write a book? – Do I have what it takes to write a decent book? – Do I have what it takes to sell books? – […]
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I believe brand new story ideas should be handled with care and attention. Looking back I wish I had read a post like this when I was starting to take my writing seriously. I was so excited with my shiny new story ideas that I wanted to tell everyone I met about them. The trouble […]
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Following on from my tweet yesterday about asking for someone to start a notebook therapy group I have decided to do a notebook based post which I hope some of you might relate to. Here are 10 things NOT to say to someone with a notebook obsession. These things will irritate us. We know we […]
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As a fortysomething writer with a full time (non-writing) day job, a husband, two teenage children (who are well into the socialising stage), a dog, three cats, a house that is never tidy (no matter how many times we clean it) and hormones which change daily (sometimes hourly), life can feel a little chaotic. My […]
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Bookish friends are special people ❤️ As a bookish person myself I think finding people who are mad about books is one of life’s many pleasures. Here are the essential skills that I believe are required for bookish friends. They must agree with you that happiness comes from reading books and talking about them. Romance […]
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I’ve seen too many writers on social media talking about deleting stories that don’t work. The thought of stories being deleted makes me shiver. So, this post and last week’s post are part of my one woman campaign titled: nothing is wasted when it comes to writing. Some of our stories will have potential, but […]
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