I get overwhelmed driving down the road considering how many times in my life I've driven down that damn spot, how much of my life has been wasted in my car driving over that grey tarmac. It's not really the journey. It's what it represents: all the moments of my life I've wasted on mundane... Continue Reading →
I was finding it hard to write because of the daily grind so I asked myself what might help me to focus and decided to watch a Ted Ex talk about achieving your biggest dreams. The guy said to make minor adjustments to achieve huge goals. So that's what I did. I set myself a... Continue Reading →
Heard from Hellie who gave me feedback on the new plot outline I wrote for her, so last week when I'd been planning to write loads I ended up pulling out one of the themes from the manuscript (I'm halfway-ish through writing it). She's right of course. It's better without. I was trying too hard... Continue Reading →
Been so determined to finish the new draft of King of Rabbits, but life happens. Damn it! It's really hard to be disciplined when I'm so easily distracted, although I average 5000 words a week. So not too bad, just wish it was double that, but then there are Dad's hospital appointments, working for the... Continue Reading →
Two things: currently 20,000 words into my, hopefully, "new and improved" manuscript and my new year's resolution was to read two books a month, at uni we read a book a week so it seems slow in comparison (I'm on my 19th book by June so am chuffed). During the MA, we were taught to... Continue Reading →
When I studied for a Masters in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University, everyone said, 'Just write' when I splashed around wondering how to start. Just write? I know that's important, but I needed tips and found people lacking any useful ones. Obviously, each personality will respond to different strategies, but I thought I'd share... Continue Reading →
26th May 2018 One of my best friends Whatsapped asking for advice on getting started on an idea he had for a story. My answer: I will tell you everything I wish I knew at the start (for me this was only a couple of years ago and I'm still very much a novice who... Continue Reading →
May 10th 2018 On Monday I stopped in Glastonbury. Couldn't not, I love Glastonbury. Possibly my favourite place. If there was a beach and mountains, it would be. It was a sticky, hot, wet-at-the-top-of-the-thighs kind of day. Perfect for a beer at The King Arthur, I thought. But it was shut so I mooched to... Continue Reading →
May 3rd - to my first meeting with Hellie Ogden at Janklow & Nesbit. BEFORE 10:50am. On the bumpy train on the way to London. Good temperature this morning. Usually find trains too hot or cold. Before it arrived, the tracks buzzed from the train's vibrations, first time I'd ever noticed that. Next to a... Continue Reading →
