Revised Draft Woes!

The revised draft of Against the Clock is almost complete. There is a beginning, middle and end. The gaping plot holes have been cobbled together. The continuity errors have been sorted (I think!). It will go to my developmental editor at the end of the week. I should be really excited, but instead I feel

Character Interview with Ellen Ingram (main character in ‘Angel in Disguise’)

And we find ourselves in May already! How did this happen? As usual, life is galloping by, and no, book 2, Against the Clock is still not finished… (Some irony in that I am now very much against the clock myself as I struggle to get the manuscript ready in time to meet my developmental

Lynne Reid Banks: an inspiration

Lynne Reid Banks died last week at the age of 94, after battling cancer. During her long and accomplished life, she wrote over 40 books for both adults and children, and for me, reading them over thirty years ago, they were inspirational in a truly motivating way. Like a lot of teenagers, I took myself

Harnessing Happiness: 3 simple ways to find joy

It’s International Day of Happiness, so today’s post is all about three ways to boost your happiness and wellbeing. Much like reading, the physical act of writing can also encourage a zen-like flow state where you become unaware of the passing hours and are totally immersed in your fictional world. Creating something – a story,

Mums in life and fiction

As we have just celebrated International Women’s Day (Friday 8th) and Mother’s Day (Sunday 10th), I’ve been thinking about my own mum, and mums in fiction. My mum was super. (I suppose the vast majority of us think that about our own mums, but even so, I’m confident that mine was really super.) She was

20 Years of Read an Ebook Week!

Incredibly, Read an Ebook Week has been going for 20 years – yes, 20 years! I really can’t get over that fact. Twenty years ago, I’d never even read an ebook, let alone written one. So, hurrah for Rita Toews, who was ahead of the curve, and who had the foresight to get the ball

A mini writing-retreat: the novel-in-progress and an end-of-month review

Feeling like the luckiest girl in the world right now. We are staying up in Scotland for a few days in a stunning cottage, and while my other half is out and about (he has a few work-related things on while we’re up here) I get custody of the log burner, peace and quiet, and

Romance, Lent & the love of reading!

Happy Valentine’s Day, all! Yes, it’s 14th Feb, the world is all loved up, and there’s red roses, choccies and hearts aplenty. Me, I love love! Feeling it, reading about it, writing about it – not just the romantic stuff, but all the other ways we love – the friends who are there for us

Consider the flowers: thinking about marketing in a different way

Looking out of the window at the rather barren garden the other day, it occurred to me that if you’re a plant that wants to attract pollinators this time of year, you don’t have to try particularly hard since you don’t have much competition. Sunshine is limited, so you don’t have much energy to produce

Great advice that hasn’t worked for me! 🤔

There’s never a shortage of great advice for writers – whether directly from fellow authors, or through podcasts, blogs, books, social media or a wealth of other sources. Some of it is great, some of it less so. But often what works for one person simply doesn’t work for someone else. Here’s a few examples