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!
The process of writing a novel can be almost as unique as the story itself. There are three broad categories a writer might fall into – a plotter, a ‘pantser’, or someone who is a bit of both. At the end I’ll let you know which one I am and how that has shaped my approach to NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month, an online event in November). Plotting is fairly self-explanatory – a plotter outlines everything until they are sure where
It was quite a few years ago when I first fell in love with the Lake District. I had just started at Lancaster University (incidentally this was where I met my husband) to study Linguistics. I was soon invited on a trip to the Lakes with some friends from church. I had never visited the Lake District before, but I was instantly bowled over by the huge stretch of Lake Windermere, with towering fells in the distance. I have gone to
Hi all! After asking for some feedback, it seems people would be interested in hearing about my journey as a writer and bits about the writing process. So today, I thought I’d share with you a common rule of thumb for writers – to ‘show not tell’. Simply put, ‘show not tell’ is about building up a scene in a reader’s imagination. You don’t simply tell someone something, but you allow the reader to experience it for themselves, putting them right
This is a story I scribbled down yesterday afternoon (Sun 22nd September 2019) after my eye caught how the raindrops sparkled on my patio window doors. I’m usually a plotter, but this story just seemed to emerge and develop all on its own. It was fun to try writing in present tense for a change too! I didn’t have an idea yet for a blog post for today, so thought I would share this with you so you can get a
I was thrilled when I came across a tweet back in June, about Danny Rurlander’s debut children’s novel, Spylark, coming out on the 1st August. Danny is actually a friend – he is the pastor of Moorlands Evangelical Church Lancaster, the church my husband and I attended when we were students. Ironically Danny and I didn’t know the other wrote at the time, as I’m sure we would have had great chats about writing over a coffee or two! I did
You don’t have to know me for very long to find out Jane Eyre is my favourite book. I think I first read it when I was about 11 and instantly fell in love with it. I was gripped from the very first lines: “There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. We had been wondering, indeed, in the leafless shrubbery an hour in the morning; but since dinner (Mrs. Reed, when she had no company, dined early) the
Hi everyone! Sorry it’s been so long since I last did anything on this blog! For a while my main engagement focus has been more with social media, particularly setting up my Facebook page. It’s been a busy couple of months over the summer, too, what with a couple of small holidays and having Holiday Club for children at our church. With now coming into September, it’s hopefully going to be a fresh start! I’m intending on starting a Facebook Group,
On one otherwise ordinary day back in August 2016, my finger hovered over the ‘submit’ button. I had just finished filling out Olympia’s online submission form, inviting authors to send in the first three or four chapters of their manuscripts. I’ve always wanted to be an author. I’ve always loved the power and beauty of words, as well as being aware of their dangers and their potential to harm. As such, I’ve been scribbling down stories for as long as I