Patience. It was all going so well. Too well. My writing tackles difficult subjects while still trying to keep the shape of the embedded stories that resonate with readers. In my current WIP I’m looking at issues around grief and stress and what they can do. But the story is uplifting as well as a quest narrative. It’s complicated. Because of this I know […]
Writing with friends. Today was the first Oldha Writing Group of the year Oldham Library. We sat down with coffee and each other and talk about our work. This is such a valuable process, where we get to air the inevitable self-doubt that working in isolation brings. We also share and receive tips and experiences. Last night we looked at opening […]
Things aren’t always what they seem. One question I get asked all the time is: is your main character based on you? Is it you?’ This picture is one of my favourite views. It’s of Hartshead Pike, a landmark that my mother always lived in sight of. I took this picture on Christmas Day 2017. The sky was blue and […]
Every so often I talk to other authors.
Early mornings. That’s when I love to write. Before the day really starts.
So what does Adele’s song ‘Hello’ have to do with writing a novel? Apart from the fact that her music is fabulous and that she collected her MBE two people in front of me, I don’t know much about her. What I do know is that her song ‘Hello’ achieves what all writers want to do: identify […]
Late September I went to the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester to watch Margaret Atwood in conversation with Erica Wagner. Flashback to six months previously when I had seen the tickets go on sale and hovered in excitement over the ‘buy’ button until exactly 10am and then feverishly filled in the space in my diary, and […]
November means Nanowrimo. National Novel Writing Month. The time when I write 50000 words in 30 days. Which isn’t novel length, and the length isn’t the only thing that’s different. I really look forward to November. It’s just after my birthday, just before Christmas and it’s usually cold. So when I discovered Nano many of […]
There’s a dilemma lots of writers face when researching ideas for a novel. We can easily see what’s successful and it’s tempting to follow the trend. Then again, a novel needs a unique concept in order to catch the attention of an agent or publisher. So is there a middle way? It’s true that the […]