Summary: Good progress on the third novel, with some other bits and pieces thrown in – though I really want to dedicate some time to a new short story next week. Monday: I broke my usual rule this morning and started out with several submissions and a Bear post, rather than Safeguarding. But, in […]
Category: Blog
Sticking With It
Fantasy author, Juliet McKenna, wrote a fantastic review of my debut novel, The Defiant Spark, recently, including some very interesting thoughts about reviewing in general. She also invited me to write a guest post on her blog and here’s what I came up with: I first met Juliet as one of my tutors at […]
Weeknotes – S05E10 – Breaking New Ground
Summary: I finally broke new ground on novel number three, which was exciting! I didn’t get quite as far as I’d hoped across the week, but all progress is good progress, and I’m very much on track for a completed first draft before the end of the year. Monday: Scheduled focus session with Ann […]
Weeknotes – S05E09 – Bears Must Suffer For Their Art
Summary (this was Feb 22 to Feb 28): Quite a range of writing activities this week, including a rather more hair-raising adventure with Bear than was anticipated. Monday: The now regular focus session with Ann got me up and organised to write by 9am. I started with the ‘single most important thing’, which was […]
Weeknotes – S05E08 – Maybe Actually A Novelist…
Summary: (This was Feb 15-21) Finalised and submitted my second novel to my publisher – suddenly it actually feels like I might really be a novelist! Monday: I did some admin and sorting out early on, then settled down to my regular focus session with Ann, starting with edits to a short story that […]
Weeknotes – S05E07 – Launch Date Approaching!
Summary: Exciting times with the upcoming official launch date of my debut novel, and a new website in the works. So, more marketing and admin this week than actual writing, but it’s all progress! Monday: Today was my eighth day in a row working on writing projects – so of course a voice in my […]
Weeknotes – S05E06 – Seven-Day Writing Week
Summary: A seven-day writing week this week – because I wanted to, rather than felt obliged to, so that felt good. It was really nice to be so excited about multiple writing projects that I actually wanted to work on them on what would otherwise be my days off from writing. Lots of progress on […]
Weeknotes – S05E05 – Some New Stuff In Development
Summary: Nothing much to report this week. Still chugging along with novel revisions. New ideas in development for upcoming competitions, and a new outlining tool ready for use on the next novel. Monday: I made a list, posted it on the UWR online session and then set to work. I revised five scenes of […]
It All Depends On Who You Ask
Submitting your stories for consideration by unknown editors is a scary business. And most often, it results in rejection. A lot of places respond with a form letter that just says something along the lines of: ‘Thanks for sending but it’s not right for us.’ This can be demoralising, but I totally understand that most […]
Weeknotes – S0504 – Scattered But Still Progress
Summary: I stumbled a bit on the novel revisions plan this week, but pulled it back in the end. A bit scattershot this week, but still progress. Monday: As I’d done some Colours revision the day before, and worked out that I had two spare days in my current schedule to complete […]