Thank you for dropping by my blog. I post about a variety of topics including book reviews, my author journey, the writing craft and more. All my blog posts are listed below, but if you fancy looking at a particular topic, you can check the drop down menu on 'blog' on my main site menu. New blog posts added weekly, Monday or Tuesday afternoons GMT. Hope you enjoy!
This week on the blog, I review Songbird by Karen Heenan. I actually read this book back in November, but as the author re-released this novel in this past week, I’ve pressed paused on writing a blog review till now. So excited to share this book with you! Songbird – A Flavour This stunning novel is set in Tudor era England and tells the story of Bess, a girl who comes to the court of Henry VIII as a minstrel. As
Well, I did it – I won NaNoWriMo 2021! I hit the 50k mark around 11am on the 30th November. By the time I typed ‘the end’, I had a final word count of 51,122. What I wrote for NaNoWriMo I really enjoyed writing this story! It was set in Edwardian times (specifically 1909). It’s a historical mystery romance, that starts out with my main character Penelope having just got married to David as part of an arranged marriage. They once
This week on the blog, I thought I’d discuss using humour in writing. As is becoming a regular habit for me, I’m basing my post on something I’ve been thinking about in my own writing. It’s become a trait for one of my secondary characters to keep making wry sarcastic comments. This made me wonder about the ways humour can be effective in writing. 1. It develops your skills as a writer Putting humour in your scene is a great fun
Storytellers by Bjorn Larssen has taken me on a wonderful journey this week. I haven’t been able to put it down and it’s probably gone right up there as one of one of the best books I’ve ever read. I’m excited to share with you why. Here’s the blurb for more of a flavour. Storytellers: The Blurb On a long, cold Icelandic night in March 1920, Gunnar, a hermit blacksmith, finds himself with an unwanted lodger – Sigurd, an injured stranger
This week on the blog, I thought I’d discuss planning a mystery novel. As often happens in my writing craft series, it’s no coincidence I’m basing it on something I’m working through at the moment! As you might have seen, I’m writing a historical mystery romance project this year for NaNoWriMo. (If you’re unfamiliar, check out this blog post about NaNoWriMo I did a couple of weeks ago). To give you a flavour, it’s set in the late Victorian era (I
This week on the blog – I thought I’d tell you about my Giveaway! For 18+ UK participants only. 3 UK winners will have the chance to win a free copy of Lottie’s Locket, my fantasy novel! It will run 11th-25th November, with winners announced 26th November, 2pm GMT. On the 26th November, Lottie’s Locket will turn a year old. So to celebrate, I thought I’d host a giveaway! How to take part in the Giveaway To take part, you must
It’s NaNoWriMo time again! Where writers from all over the world flex their typing fingers and prepare for frenzied word sprints and quite possibly a few late nights. If you’re unfamiliar, NaNoWriMo (Nano for short) stands for ‘National Novel Writing Month’ where participants from all over the world commit to writing everyday throughout the month of November. The goal is to have a 50k word novel by the end. It will be my fourth time participating in Nano so as you
This week on the blog, I review To Take a World: The GhostMaker by Niamh Schmid. I only just finished this book and I’m excited to tell you my thoughts! This is the second novel by Niamh Schmid, following debut novel ‘Of Shade and Shadow’ (also authored by Rebecca Schmid). (Head here for my review of the first novel). GhostMaker is not the sequel and takes place in another world to the first book. Here there be Drogans – similar to
This week on the blog, I thought I’d talk about being an ARC reader. ARC here stands for ‘advanced reader copy’. The way it works is you receive a free copy of an unpublished book and commit to giving it an honest review. The reader then posts the review on or immediately after the publication day and perhaps shares a bit about the book on social media. Possibly the ARC reader might offer the author some last minute author feedback or
This week on the blog, I thought I’d talk more about the story snippets I’ve been sharing recently on social media. In particular, I thought I’d give some sneaky peeks into a bit more context about the character and what’s going on in the scene. Hopefully without any spoilers!. First, though, I’ll tell you how to make one, in case any writers fancy giving it a go! Story snippets – how to make one I’ve found making story snippets a relatively