Tag: Writing
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How (not) to name your minor characters…
I may be having problems with my current work-in-progress… Draft one was completed and polished a few months ago and went to my fabulous editor for the first edit. (Edit 1 is mainly about the plot, structure and character development) Back it came, and I started on draft two, incorporating my editor’s suggestions for giving…
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A visit from Cass Grafton
I first met Cass on social media, but given that we both live in – roughly speaking – the same area in lovely Switzerland, it wasn’t long before we met up in person. Since then, we’ve been meeting regularly to share the ups and downs of the writing life, and drink the odd prosecco (or…
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The ‘J’ books… #A-Z books 📚
This is an adaptation of something I saw on Twitter – people were posting 26 books in 26 days, each title beginning with a different letter of the alphabet. Don’t worry – I’m planning on taking around 26 months to get to Z. Each month I’ll post a newish book I’ve enjoyed, plus a children’s…
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The Writing Life: 5 things on my desk…
Around ninety-five per cent of my writing is done at my desk. It’s not a very tidy desk, but it’s at a window overlooking a wood, so the view is spectacular in all seasons. On the photo, taken from my office chair (you can just see my screen bottom right), it’s around five o’clock last…
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Coming soon – book nine. 📘 And two goodbyes…
Who was it said that writing a book is a marathon and not a sprint? Two or three years ago, an idea started jogging around in my head. A couple of news stories had been hitting the headlines, about people who’d disappeared, sometimes for years, and then emerged again, to the joy and also the…
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Technology (or not) for writers…
I’m not what you’d call technologically gifted. In fact, I’d probably have been a lot happier writing books back in the days when you did it with a quill and inky fingers. That being impractical nowadays, I’ve had to get my head round a variety of pieces of equipment – and it does help that…
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NaNoWriMo ups and downs…
It started with a dream – something was buried in a garden… The idea swirled around in my head for a few days, becoming ever more detailed, so I noted it down. The note grew longer, and within a week I had a plan for the first half of a new novel. That was when…
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Pictures of a book… Stolen Sister
I’ve been holed up in my writing cave for many weeks now, getting the first draft of what will hopefully be book nine down – and yesterday, I typed THE END. (That’s my excuse for the lack of regular blog posts this year…) Meanwhile, book eight, Stolen Sister, is only a few weeks away from…
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The week the snow came…
At 430m above sea, my home here in the north-east is in one of the lowest areas in Switzerland. In winter, it regularly happens that while everywhere else is being sprinkled with scenic whiteness from above, we get rain. And to tell you the truth, that suits me just fine. Snow is fun for a…
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2018 – the best of times and the worst of times. A minimalist’s version.
I’ve done a ‘minimalist’s’ New Year post ever since my first book was published, but this year I have to say I hesitated. 2018 truly was an annus horribilus, starting with the death of my father in January and continuing through a prolonged bout of non-serious but incapacitating ill health that only ended in summer,…