Reviews that Set Your Book on Fire

Reviews that Set Your Book on Fire

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As a novelist on the road to publication, I was urged early on to register as a reader and reviewer on sites such as Goodreads. To quote the great tutor, Stephen King: “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time or the tools to write.”  Immersing oneself...
Celebrate Writing in the Leap Year

Celebrate Writing in the Leap Year

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We have this extra day! What shall we do with it? It’s Leap Year! Babies born today will only get to celebrate the true anniversary of their birth once every four years. It’s special. I woke up this morning thinking I should write something extraordinary: A...
Satisfy your Creative Passion

Satisfy your Creative Passion

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Last month I was thrilled to have one of my short stories read out on BBC radio. “The Summer of ‘76” is set in my teen years in the mid-seventies. The story is a work of fiction, but evokes memories of people and places in my adolescence. It has made me reflect on the...
Get into Character and Read Aloud

Get into Character and Read Aloud

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If you’re a writer, you probably spend many hours isolated in your shed or at the working end of your dining room table, alone with your literary thoughts. Some writers believe their creativity is enhanced with a little background music. But most of us prefer to work...
Exercise the Writer’s Mind

Exercise the Writer’s Mind

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My last blog talked about the dreaded phenomenon of Writer’s Block, and last week’s article in The Woolf told of the advantages of displacement on a writer’s retreat with the intention of triggering creativity. Basically, getting writers out of their comfort zone....