Category Writing
Three fifty-worder fics this week, sent to you from Norfolk where I have been on a family holiday – thirteen of us in a Georgian house complete with pantry, two foot thick walls, secret staircases and a row of little… Continue Reading →
I could go all metaphorical here and say that every writer is an island because ideas must spring from the writer’s head alone… But I won’t. I’m thinking about real islands and why I like them and why we humans… Continue Reading →
Here are three new fifty-worders – tiny microfiction stories of just 50 words each. In other news, I’m on the second part of the Split Worlds fantasy, plus the fourth part of Django Wexler’s Shadow Campaigns. I’ve… Continue Reading →
This week I have, again, been writing short-short fiction – but the fifty-word stories were starting to seem … lengthy. I recalled the story attributed to Hemingway and thought, why not try to write ‘a novel in six words’? Here’s… Continue Reading →
This week’s fifty-worder stories may have a slight circus theme. There’s a reason for that which you can guess if you’ve been following my Facebook page, namely that I saw The Greatest Showman this week and really fell in love with… Continue Reading →
I’ve been working on a secret project lately, and I’m excited to share it with you at last. But first I want to talk about the biggest problem we face as part-time writers. You already know it: time. Everybody has other… Continue Reading →
As a reader, if you crave a comfortable read, then you’ll be disappointed by books that don’t explain anything, placing you in the role of stranger. And if you like to think on your feet, learning as you go, you won’t enjoy a book which carefully explains a culture’s entire backstory before you’ve even stepped off the boat.
Conquer your fear of poetry, readers! Try the poetry diet! I’m not a poetry expert, but as part of my DIY-MFA I’ve been reading a poem a day as a kind of poetry diet since last February, and it is… Continue Reading →
I’m sharing more of my stuff this year – another personal aim. Continuing my fun with the haiku form of three lines and restricted syllable pattern of 5-7-5*, here are some haiku I wrote this week, recalling a work trip to London…. Continue Reading →
As a reader, I know what I want. And I very rarely find it. Toni Morrison said Write the book you want to read but sometimes I struggle to define what I want. James Scott Bell talks about essential scenes in every… Continue Reading →