I was thinking this week about time. When we’re young it seems interminable, as if the awaited birthday or Christmas will never arrive. Then as we get older the days and weeks whizz past, and we can’t believe another month has gone already. It was also confusing when I signed up for a course based …
Category: writing
Pantsers, Psyche and garden paths.
I believe I started this blog in February around 6 years ago because ‘that’s what authors did.’ The intention was it would be a showcase for my books as they were published, and everyone would immediately rush out and buy them. It would make me rich and famous, and I could spend my life writing …
Not a Country girl
Having lived all my life either in, or close to, London, England I’m not exactly what you might call a ‘Country girl.’ I do remember coming home from school with a snake in a box having agreed to look after it for the long summer holidays. How was I to know my mother was petrified …
Forgotten Friends
I originally wrote this as a submission for a short story competition under the title ‘Heritage.’ When it didn’t win, I thought I would share it with you here. Although it’s fiction, there are certain elements of fact involved, but I’m not telling you which bits. ‘I don’t understand these computer things, Judy and I’m …
Books, blogs and marketing.
When I started my blog, the idea was to bombard you with ‘Buy my books’ messages so you all rushed out and bought them. That way I would be rich and famous and could sit around all day writing, which is what I love to do. It didn’t quite turn out that way and in …
Blogs, scams and nice people
I try to vary the content of my blog to keep it interesting, but it’s sometimes difficult to know which type of post people prefer. Should I keep it book related?Should I post more short stories? (These always seem to be popular but are very time consuming when I should be working on my next …
You should write a book
How many times have you heard that? After all, it’s easy, right? You put some words down on paper or laptop, find a publisher, or self-publish and sit back waiting for the royalties to roll in and make you rich. Easy, peasy. Er no, not quite. Anyone who has seriously tried to publish a book …
Safety online
I’m a great believer in privacy and although I’m happy to share personal information with people of my choice, it’s important there are rules and regulations in place to help prevent scamming. Unfortunately, it seems in so many instances lately common sense has gone out the window. A simple statement on a web site, Facebook …
Procrastination and Social Media
As an author it’s sometimes difficult to decide where to concentrate your marketing efforts. Facebook is probably the first choice, but then you need to get to know your readers so should your personal page include fans, or be restricted to actual physical friends and family? If you have a business page, should it constantly …
Writing and Publishing
‘You should write a book.’ How many times has someone been told that by a friend and thought ‘It seemed a good idea at the time?’ There are two routes to becoming a published author (or possibly three.) Write a book, perhaps find an agent, submit it to a publisher and do the happy dance …