A Twist in the Tale

The beautiful thing about genre, is the reader has an idea of what to expect going in. Buy a romance and two people are going to fall in love. The requisite for a thriller is action, intrigue and pace, pace, pace. If you're reader of Epic Fantasy like me, you'd expect your hero to complete …

Veering Off Course: Postcards from NaNo – Day 15

Dear Blog Family, I've fallen asleep a few times on a train and woken up to find that I've not only missed my stop spectacularly, but I actually have no idea where on earth I am. It's even worse when you're in a foreign country, don't have any cash on you, and the only people …

Who Am I? Postcards from NaNo – Day 14

To my dear blog friends, For the first time since November ticked over I felt like I didn't try very hard at NaNo today. (And when you're not being strict on the word count - trying is pretty important). But I do at least have a writing-related excuse. Next month a new blog is being …

Overcoming the Mehs: Postcards from NaNo – Day 13

Dearest Blog Family, What a day. Almost half way through this NaNo junket and I succumbed to a severe case of the mehs; the delightful feeling you get when you can't summon up any enthusiasm for the task at hand. Everything else suddenly looked more attractive than writing. The pile of unread books by my …

Nuggets of Gold: Postcards from NaNo – Day 12

Dear friends of my blog, Greetings from the 12th day of NaNo. Sadly no Partridge in a Pear tree though. It's not been a festive sort of day. In truth the writing has felt a bit flat. In the battle between quality and quantity - quality is getting a bit of a bashing. And if …

Comparing Apples and Oranges: Postcards from NaNo – Day 11

Hello faithful blog-friends, After a wee bout of NaNo word-count envy yesterday, I had to give myself a good talking to about realistic expectations. 'Self', I said. 'Comparisons are rarely constructive. Stop looking at other people's word counts. These people are apples. You are an orange (or perhaps a kiwifruit). You need to love your …

Fatigue: Postcards from NaNo – Day 10

Dear Blog Friends, The only reason you can read this postcard is because it's virtual and I had to type it. If I were writing it in my own fair hand it would probably be sloping all over the place and the spelling would be shocking. No, NaNo hasn't driven me to drink; but I …

Send Me A Postcard: Postcards from NaNo – Day 9

Hello Blog family, Another day at NaNoland and yet another postcard. What juicy little titbits can I share? What marvellous things might capture your imagination? Real life was full on. Started with an early morning dash to the hospital - which thankfully had a very good outcome. With focus entirely on someone else, it was …

Feeling Pepped: Postcards from NaNo – Day 8

Dear Blog Family, How are you today? Just because I'm doing NaNo doesn't mean I don't think of you often (and no it isn't just procrastination...). We had a great pep-talk email at NaNo today. Lindsey of Team NaNo asked us to imagine November all nice and normal without our fledgling novels: Imagine your laundry …

Breaking Through: Postcards from NaNo – Day 7

Dear Blog Family, The metaphorical sun has come out today. (The actual sun did too - in patches - but the southerly had icy fingers so didn't really count). Which is a round about way of saying I'm feeling better. A visit to the chemist (not nearly as exciting as the apothecary of my book) …