500 Consecutive days writing: how many words did I write?

Yesterday was the 500th day in a row that I wrote 200 words or more. It feels like a huge milestone and I’m still reeling from the total word count (I’ll get to that in a minute)! If only I’d discovered the concept of #200wordsaday years ago! But what have I learned over the last

I wish I was a plotter! (Confessions of a pantser novelist)

Let’s be clear, plotting in advance of picking up your pen – or putting fingertips to keyboard – is the way forward. There are so many advantages, for instance: How do I know all this? From the bitter experience of being a “discovery writer” (a.k.a. “a pantser”). All the advantages of the above are the

Equestrian Author Interview: Anna Rashbrook

Today’s post is an interview with Anna Rashbrook, author of the Horses and Souls series amongst many others, so grab yourself a cuppa and settle down for some behind-the-scenes info about Anna’s writing, and about some of the horses in her life. When did you start writing – and what inspired you to take it

2024 Quarter 1 Review: Wrangling First Drafts and a Progress Report

Incredibly, we are already nearing the end of March (although, if like me you’re in the UK, you could be forgiven for thinking it’s still February – cold, grey, windy and still wet, wet, wet!), so today is not only time for a monthly review, but also a review of the first quarter of 2024

National Days and Newsletters!

Today is National hot chocolate day, so to celebrate this, may I suggest that before you read any further, you pop and make yourself a cup, and I’ll see you back here in five?  [Cue incidental music…] Right, cuppa at the ready? Magic. Let’s continue! As well as the aforementioned day, it’s also National Storytelling

2023: 7 ways this was the best writing year ever!

Friends, we come to the last post of 2023 – and what a year it’s been! By whatever measure you care to use, it’s been my best writing year to date. Here are my highlights: Thanks to all of you who’ve stuck with me this year, reading my blog, watching my silly TikTok videos, and

Christmas Fair

Ages ago I signed up for a table at our local Christmas Fair, then completely forgot about it as it then didn’t look as though I’d be able to make the date. I put it to the back of my mind thinking, oh well, maybe next year. Then I was sent a reminder email by

Wednesdays and wordcounts: how 2023 has been pivotal for me and my writing

Wednesday is writing day. Actually, that’s silly. As regular readers will know, every day of 2023 has been a writing day as I’m committed to writing #200wordsaday. But Wednesday is about more than the basic 200 words. It’s about some of the other stuff which is necessary if you want to write successfully. (And by

Mud, glorious mud! The truth about horse ownership in winter!

Ugh… Make it stop! It seems to have done nothing but rain for weeks. We’ve moved from a brief Indian summer straight into storms and wet, wet, wet (in fact, it’s just started raining again as I type this). And it’s still autumn – the grass won’t start properly growing again for months, and the

Equine Character Names – help!

Without a doubt At the Paddock Gate is the most successful of all my books – hands down. It is responsible for the majority of my sales, even though it’s a collection of short stories rather than a novel (yes, it’s still outselling Clear to the Last) and even though, if you like short stories,