My story, Safeguarding the Future, is part of the Oct-Dec 2016 issue of The Lorelei Signal. The wonderful piece of art produced for it is by Marge Simon. You can read it here – and, if you like it, you can show your appreciation by donating to the magazine using the Donate button at the […]
Author: Annie
Major Milestone
I am learning the inevitable lesson that life as a writer, and interaction with the publishing industry in particular, is unpredictable and sometimes frustrating. There were a couple of months over the summer where everything suddenly felt as if it was coming together. Four of my short stories were accepted for publication, I was offered […]
The Owl
An eagle eye Surveys my heart Noting the changes since it awoke Whispering wings Convey my love Feather soft and strong as oak
The Waiting Room
The room was bright, perhaps a little too bright. The space was difficult to define, stretching as it did perhaps only a few dozen feet or perhaps to infinity. The undefined whiteness made it impossible to tell. The five of us sat in a group of comfy armchairs, somewhere in amongst the brightness. Clay very […]
Under The Microscope
In this month’s Writing Magazine, author James McCreet analysed the first 300 words of my novel, doing a line-by-line commentary and providing a summary overview of his thoughts, as well as a suggested re-write. When I first heard that this was going to happen (so many months after submitting that I’d forgotten all about it), […]
She Loves Me
I watch her cooking Each movement precise and confident Concentration and grace Punctuated by joyous singing along to the radio I watch her entertaining Talking, laughing, making sure everyone’s glass is full The perfect hostess Queen of her domain and ruling with benevolence I watch her working The cute frown line forming between her eyebrows […]
The End of All Things
I wait. Formless yet conscious, just beyond the edge of reality. I know I have a role to fulfil. The passage of time has no meaning for me yet, but my time will come. Nothing can remain static forever. All things change and, when the change comes, I will be ready. There is a shift […]
My Writing Day
Write every day – that’s what we’re told, isn’t it? It’s the only way to cultivate good writing discipline, and train your mind to see every day as a writing day, no matter what. Well, in order to hit a self-imposed target of 100,000 words written in the first half of 2016, I ended up […]
Preparing to be eviscerated!
There’s a regular column in Writing Magazine, called Under the Microscope, in which author James McCreet analyses the first few hundred words of a reader’s novel. He’s notoriously unflinching in his critique and really gets into the nitty-gritty of what works – and mostly what doesn’t – in those all-important opening paragraphs. Aaaaand, in the November […]
The Benefits of Forced Focus
Writing is a tricky business. It’s the thing I most want to do with my time, and it’s the thing I least want to do with my time. This seems to be true of all the writers I know. We desperately want to create amazing things – and in fact can’t imagine life without writing […]