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!
I’ve moved home! Welcome to my new website! A few weeks ago, I had no idea I would have to design a website from scratch. However, for a few months now I’ve been considering starting a newsletter, where I send a monthly email to subscribers a new way to communicate to readers about what I’m up to and spread the word a bit about my books. It’s a bit less ‘flash in the pan” than advertising on social media and a
It’s been a while since I last shared a blog post about writing, so I thought I’d do one today about character development. This is quite handy timing, as I am about to start thinking properly about prep for NaNoWriMo (affectionally named by participants as Preptober). If you’ve somehow not heard me talk about Nano before, it stands for National Novel Writing Month and it is an organisation inviting writers to try to have a 50K novel written in 30 days.
This book was an incredible read. This gripping historical fantasy follows the journey of Amaria, a young woman from an Amazonian tribe descended from a warrior bloodline. Amaria is beginning her final training quests that, should she succeed, will deem her worthy of picking up her shield and becoming a true warrior of the tribe. Fast paced and packed full of action, but with enough moments of stillness to reflect upon Amaria’s journey and growth. It is also immensely readable, with
Hey everyone! Hope you’re all keeping safe and well. Today’s blog post contains an exciting update – just today I signed off on the final amendments for my MG (Middle Grade, meaning 9-12 year olds) Fantasy novel, Lottie’s Locket. I’m hoping it might come out in the next couple of months, but I’m just now waiting to hear from Olympia about a provisional publication date. Last week I signed off on the front cover, too – the picture on my left
Hi, this is a short story in response to the picture prompt below, entitled on the prompt site as ‘Just Visiting’. Picture taken from here. All other images from Pixabay. The woman stands at the window, wearing the coral blouse and cardigan that always reminds her of her mother. A small smile graces her features. Could he finally be here, after all these years? After she had almost given up hope that he would come? It is typical that he would
Hi everyone! Gosh, this year is flying by. I hope everyone and their families are safe with everything that’s been happening with the virus and the lockdown. I apologise that it has been such a long time since my last blog, but I thought it would be a good time to update you. Back in January, I set 4 goals for 2020: – Finish first round of edits for my third historical fiction novel – Finish 1st draft of my new
It’s been a while since I last blogged, again! I think everything with the virus has made routines difficult, as I’m sure it has for all of us. I hope you are coping with lockdown okay and staying safe and well. It’s been very helpful for me to have the distraction of Camp NaNoWrimo. It’s the more flexible version of the main NaNoWriMo event that happens in November (with participants writing 1,667 words a day and aiming to have a 50K
Hi everyone! Hope all of you are well and none of you have come down with the dreaded coronavirus. I thought it would be a good time to update you with my writing goals so far this year, especially now one of those goals has been met. Last Tuesday, I finally finished my first series of edits on my third historical fiction novel, following ‘The Boy from the Snow’ and ‘The Veiled Wolf’. I actually finished writing the first draft of
The discussion around plot-driven writing vs. character-driven writing is an important one, so I thought it could be a fun topic to think about. If you’re unfamiliar with the terms, here’s a quick overview: Character-driven writing is when the heart of the story is all about the character. Their story, how they relate to others and to the world and the decisions they make, to the point where if a character changed a decision or acted in a different way, then
This week I thought I’d give you a bit more detail about my novel Lottie’s Locket, especially since on Monday 20th I signed a contract with Olympia for them to publish it – rather exciting! Lottie’s Locket is a fantasy/murder mystery for a Middle Grade (MG) audience. MG, broadly speaking, is in between children’s fiction and Young Adult fiction (12-17). I think it will be on the upper end of MG, so my ideal audience would be 10-12 year olds. Here’s