It’s a bright, breezy, rainy day and everyone is at home, with no plans to do anything. And I have a lot of writing on my to-do list. This can go one of several ways, but almost all of them are noisy. I’ve never been…
Continue reading Rainy Day Writing (or, Writing When Everyone Wants A Piece Of You)
I write every day, in some form or another. Sometimes I write physically, with a pen, in a pretty notebook, or a boring notebook, or the back of an envelope or a scrap of paper. Sometimes I write ‘formally’ on Scrivener (my writing program of…
Continue reading Writing Happiness
While it is one hundred per cent worth the investment to pay a professional to do your cover art for a full length book, especially one that is going to be printed and distributed through bookshops, I knew it would be more cost-effective to create…
Continue reading Jumping In At The Deep End: Creating Book Covers Yourself
Editing and revision is alternately my greatest joy and the bane of my writing existence. Sometimes both at the same time. Getting notes back from a good editor (see my post about Choosing An Editor here) can feel almost life-changing – there’s something so very…
Continue reading Help! My Timeline Is Broken! (Or, How To Start Editing)
I’ve recently been doing the edits on the first book in the Merryshields series, and it has been such a new and interesting process, and unlike anything I’ve done before. The first time I had this book edited, in the spring of 2021, I used…
Continue reading Choosing An Editor: 6 Interesting Things I’ve Discovered
The rain is torrential here in Northumberland this Halloween, and the sky is dark. It is all very fitting for the Day of the Dead, and I’m quite happy to remember my loved lost ones from the warmth of inside! The beauty of researching a…
Continue reading Historical Research on All Hallow’s Eve
You know when you put a casual question into the search engine and before you know it, three hours have passed by and you’ve learned a whole lot of things. you didn’t really need to know and probably have already forgotten? This is the world…
Continue reading Historical Research, or, They Were All Drunk
Time-travel books have been amongst my favourites since I was very small and reading the adventures of Penelope in A Traveller In Time and Tom in Tom’s Midnight Garden. I loved the main character in Charlotte Sometimes and identified with both her longing to fit…
Continue reading Outlander & Other Time-Travel Books
I have so much to say about not only this book but this whole way of life. This book (and it’s predecessor, Delay, Don’t Deny, and also the associated podcast The Intermittent Fasting Podcast hosted by Gin Stephens and Melanie Avalon, author of What, When,…
Continue reading Fast, Feast, Repeat
Wim Hof There are so many reasons to love this book. I am a sucker for solid, scientific facts, but what really pulled me into this one and held me there was Wim’s enthusiasm and absolute joy in what he teaches. “Breathe, motherf***er.” Wim Hof…
Continue reading The Wim Hof Method